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- [Narrator] On June 17th, 
they rattled out of town

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heading for Wyoming and 
quickly made 30 miles

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until the hub and bearings 
on a front wheel gave out.

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In Montpelier, Idaho, they 
borrowed some bearings

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from a farmer's mowing 
machine and once again

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had to rely on a local 
blacksmith to install them.

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The delay cost them 
the rest of the day.

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But Jackson's optimism 
was undiminished.

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- [Jackson] Darling 
Swipes, just a line to say

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that everything is all right 
with your wondering boy.

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I can't write much as 
we sleep, then work.

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When you hear that we have 
reached Rawlins, Wyoming

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you will know that I 
can make the trip a go.

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So bet all the money 
that you have got on it.

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Well old girlie, I 
can't say anymore.

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You know how I feel.

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I shall make up for 
lost time, Nelly.

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- If ever there was somebody 
who saw the glass half full,

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even if it's only a quarter,

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it's got to be Horatio 
Nelson Jackson.

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Every time, every single 
time it seems that something

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goes wrong with his 
car, and at a time when

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you know, a rational 
person probably would say,

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I've gone far enough, 
give it my best shot,

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I'll catch the train, go home.

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Instead, he writes to 
his wife and it's this

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sort of I don't think 
it was all bravado

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or just trying to reassure 
her that everything was okay

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I think he believed it.

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He thought, if I just 
get over this next thing

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it's going to be smooth 
sailing from here on out.

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And he said that time and 
time and time and time again.

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Every obstacle 
that he encountered

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was going to be 
the last obstacle.

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And of course it never was.

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[Guitar Music] [Thunder]

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- [Narrator] Things got 
even worse on June 20th,

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after they had 
crossed into Wyoming.

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A tremendous cloud 
burst struck the area,

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after they passed through 
the town of Granger

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flooding and washing 
out the road.

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They now resorted to 
trying to navigate

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across the open country.

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Changing direction every 
time they encountered

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a gully too deep to cross.

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And getting hopelessly lost.

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We zig-sagged as best 
we could, Jackson wrote,

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sometimes we went 
North instead of East

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and others we even 
went Northwest

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bringing us back where 
we had been before.

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They struggled along for hours,

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ultimately going 69 
miles out of their way.

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[River Babbling]

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- [Jackson] Coming to 
the bank of a river

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we judged from our 
maps and compass

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that it was the Green River.

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And we resolved to follow 
its downward course.

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When night came on we 
made camp beside the car,

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and having lost our cooking 
outfit and provisions,

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and it being an 
uninhabited region,

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went to bed without any supper.