Mesannie Wilkins

Annie "Mesannie" Wilkins (1891–1980) was a 63-year-old farmer who made national headlines by traveling over 5,000 miles across the United States from Maine to California with a retired race horse named Tarzan, a packhorse named Rex, and a dog named Depeche Toi (French for "Hurry Up").

Personal life Wilkins was born Annie Mabel Stuart in Minot, Maine on December 13, 1891, to James Stuart and Sarah Libby Stuart ; who were early settlers of the area of German, Scottish and English descent. Her family lived on a farm that her grandfather started in Woodman Hill, West Minot. Wilkins dropped out of school by the sixth grade to help run the farm.

In September 1954, while battling a bout of pneumonia, As Wilkins had to sell off all her livestock to pay medical bills, the doctor, realizing Wilkins was "dirt poor", offered to get her into a state-funded retirement home. The farm house built by her grandfather had burned down and Wilkins was now living in an outbuilding used for storage. enough to buy supplies and a horse. Her mother had always wished to visit California, so, in her memory, Wilkins decided to journey there and "take a dip in it." On November 8, 1954 at the age of 63, Wilkins left her home in Minot with two horses, one named Tarzan, a former race horse purchased at a nearby summer camp, She left in November with the idea that the weather would warm as they headed further south. However, New England and states south of Maine still proved to be experiencing winter for several months thereafter.

According to columnist Linda Caroll, Wilkins did not "act like a lady" in "polite society".

Wilkins tied feed pails to her horse (hoping people along the way would be generous and provide food) and a bedroll for herself. As news spread of her journey, people would offer food and a place to sleep for Wilkins and her horses. Small towns let her sleep in their jails, while fancier hotels would offer her free room and board. Sometimes people would give Wilkins money, and a farmer even gave her a free spare horse. As news spread of her travels, each town expected her arrival and Wilkins was often given a police escort. The Chadds Ford Historical Society varies in this retelling by saying that Wyeth specifically came to meet Wilkins and her traveling companions; and furthermore states that Wyeth and Wilkins got drunk together. In August 1955, Wilkins arrived in Cheyenne, Wyoming and experienced their annual "Frontier Days", which claimed to have the largest rodeos in the world. and 7,000 miles (6,437, 8,047 and 11,265 km) across the United States. Similarly, sources vary on how long the trip took. Some say Wilkins arrived in Redding, California, in December 1955, others state 17 months (502 days) with an exact date of Thursday, March 22, 1956; while others assert a year and some days. While being interviewed on You Bet Your Life, Wilkins told Groucho Marx that her trip took "Pretty near two years."

Obituaries at the time of Wilkins's death announced that she died at the Country Manor Nursing Home in Coopers Mills, Maine, where she had been a patient since 1979; while others say that she died in Whitefield, Maine.