Orville Ewing billed himself as an "artist from the Old West". He traveled the United States with his covered wagon/trailer and menagerie for about 30 years starting in 1938.

3000 chilometri spingendo una cariola. Globe-trotter ne abbiamo visti e ne vediamo tutti i giorni: sportsmen che fanno chi il giro del mondo in aeroplano, chi in auto e chi anche, più comodamente, in un lussuoso yacht. Ma fare il giro d’Italia a piedi spingendo una carriola e guadagnandosi il vitto — non diciamo l’alloggio, perché nell’estate l’albergo della luna o quello delle stelle è sempre gratuito — non è cosa troppo comune né tanto facile.

There were no rules in the race, except that the first car to Paris would win the prize of a magnum of Mumm champagne. The race went without any assistance through countryside where there were no roads or roadmaps. For the race, camels carrying fuel left Peking and set up at stations along the route, to provide fuel for the racers. The race followed a telegraph route, so that the race was well covered in newspapers at the time. Each car had one journalist as a passenger, with the journalists sending stories from the telegraph stations regularly throughout the race.