Got a Girl Crush On: August and Adeline Van Buren - the first women to make the transcontinental journey across the US by motorcycle

Surely Rachel Kushner drew inspiration from these ladies for her 2013 book The Flamethrowers.

Gussie and Adie did not have the right to vote in the summer of 1916, but “they set out from Sheepshead Bay in New York City to begin their transcontinental journey on July 4th and arrived in Los Angeles on September 8th after traveling 5,500 miles over hazardous roads.”

Find out more about these intrepid ladies and their descendants who are planning a 100th anniversary memorial ride in 2016 over at vanburensisters.com.

And stay tuned for our post on modern women in moto later this week!