I present to you: the Abernathy kids, two boys from Oklahoma who, without adult supervision, took several cross-country trips in the US.

In 1910... /1

... they rode on horseback from Oklahoma to Manhattan. Once in New York, they bought a car and drove back to Oklahoma.

Minor detail: they were 10 and 6 years old.

#generationtiktok

I'm not even kidding.

Their parents were probably busy on Instagram.

"Sorry, but you’ve got nothing on Jack Abernathy. In 1909, he sent his sons Temple (age 5) and Louis (age 9) on a 1,300-mile horseback ride from Guthrie, Oklahoma to Roswell, New Mexico and back. The reason? He felt his sons were soft as Froyo." https://www.fatherly.com/love-money/abernathy-boys-solo-cross-country-1909/

Louis grew up to become a lawyer and practice law in Wichita Falls, Texas. He died in 1979. Temple followed his peripatetic father into the oil and passed away in 1986.

https://www.adventure-journal.com/2016/10/the-abernathys-were-the-original-free-range-children/

I'm colorizing them. Of course.

The Abernathy boys march in a parade to welcome Teddy Roosevelt back to New York City on June 18, 1910. (Library of Congress)

I love to research/share these stories with you. Thanks for being here!

And now I'll spend 85 hours trying to find out what happened to their motorcycle.

I'll never get over this story.