4284 miles: The 1916 journey of Joe Bruce and Lester Atkinson

America was on the edge of greatness. The world was on the edge of war. It was the summer of 1916 - the last days of innocence - when two young men, Joe Bruce and Lester Atkinson mounted their bicycles in Colorado Springs, Colorado and pedaled off for New York City.

The Lincoln Highway was little more than a muddy path across the nation. Automobiles were in their infancy. Few had ever heard a radio. Fewer yet had seen an aireoplane. Suffrage and prohibition were confronting the conscience of voters. Labor was rising up. Wall Street had begun an experiment called capitalism.

As two completely obscure high school boys make their way across the nation, shark attacks begin to terrorize New Jersey's shore. A parade is bombed in San Francisco. A railyard of munitions is blown up on Black Tom Island. The shadow of the great war raging across the Atlantic is creeping toward America.

Woven into this coming-of-age tale of independence, unfulfilled destinies, and simpler times are thought provoking themes of equality, freedom, and the cost of liberty.