The Book of Charlie: Wisdom from the Remarkable American Life of a 109-Year-Old Man

Von Drehle’s friendship with White deepened over the years. He noticed that most of White’s stories were incredibly positive. Even though White lived through the years of World War l and the Spanish flu epidemic, he was not directly affected by these tragedies, and instead felt optimistic and curious about the future. At age 16, he decided to buy a car and drive to California with his friend. This adventure became his “defining story,” which he retold to Von Drehle more than any other anecdote (49).

White followed the long tradition of settlers heading west in one of America’s newest inventions: the Model T Ford vehicle. These early vehicles were complicated to drive and broke down more often than modern cars. At the time, taking such a long journey by car was an adventurous undertaking, as many roads were in disrepair and there were few traffic laws. As such, most people traveled by train, and few people had ever crossed the whole country by car.

In 1922, White and his friends Bob Long and Ed Snow left Kansas City. They persuaded their parents to let them leave, ostensibly to make money for college. Bob Long had money from his family, while White and his friend Ed Snow found work on a farm where they helped harvest wheat.