author
C. K. Shepherd
A World War I veteran turned travel writer, he is best remembered for a lively 1922 account of riding a motorcycle across the United States in 1919. His work blends adventure, sharp observation, and the excitement of seeing America at road level in its early motor age.
1 Audiobook
Across America by Motor-cycle
by C. K. Shepherd
About the author
Charles Kenilworth Shepherd, who wrote as C. K. Shepherd, was born in Birmingham, England, in 1895. Research published alongside later editions of his work identifies him as a Royal Flying Corps and Royal Air Force officer during World War I, where he served as an equipment officer and rose to the rank of captain.
After the war, he arrived in New York in June 1919 and set out on a solo motorcycle trip to San Francisco on a Henderson four-cylinder machine. That journey became his best-known book, Across America by Motor-Cycle, published in 1922. The book has lasted because it is more than a travel log: it captures roads, towns, people, and the feel of the United States at a moment when long-distance motor travel was still a bold undertaking.
Some later research suggests there is more to Shepherd's life story, including a later name change, but the clearest confirmed picture is of an English veteran whose cross-country ride produced a vivid early motorcycle classic. For listeners interested in travel writing, motoring history, or firsthand snapshots of postwar America, his book remains an engaging time capsule.