August 1918, a group of friends gathers in Western Pennsylvania for a two-week camping road trip, but these were not ordinary friends—and this was no ordinary time.

A Chance to Breathe follows Thomas Edison, Henry Ford, John Burroughs, and Harvey Firestone, along with a caravan of vehicles and a slew of helpers, on their thousand-mile journey through the heart of America a little over a century ago. Their unlikely and fascinating friendships are matched only by their individual stories. Traversing the countryside by car, the famous campers would be some of the first participants in what would later become a traditional summer staple known as The Great American Road Trip.

Having largely invented the modern world, these “vagabonds” were hoping, at least for a moment, to escape it. And who could blame them? Life in 1918 was exhausting. World War One raged in Europe while humanity braced for yet another wave of the Spanish Flu, which in the end, would prove to be more like a tsunami. Racing through America’s first frontier, the story of Appalachia and West Virginia are brought to light, as are the stories of the people and places encountered along the way. In the end, A Chance to Breathe is a story of friendship, adventure, and the indomitable human spirit.