It was an unlikely friendship—but it was one that blossomed in the Everglades. Born in 1837, John Burroughs was a prolific nature writer, who just so happened to hate the Model T with its loud, clanking machinery. Henry Ford was a fan of Burroughs’ writing, and felt the automobile could actually be a way to enable quick escapes into nature. So as a way to sway Burroughs, he sent him a gift: a Model T itself. It worked, as Burroughs became enamored with the vehicle.

Ford and Thomas Edison had homes in Fort Myers (now preserved as the Edison and Ford Winter Estates) and invited Burroughs to visit in 1914. They explored the Everglades via the Model T.

The trip was a hit, and the group started taking regular road trips around the country along with tire magnate Harvey Firestone. They called themselves the Vagabonds, and they ventured to the Great Smoky Mountains, the California coast and other remote areas of the country. They may not have been roughing it in the truest sense—they often traveled with a cadre of support staff to prepare meals, set up camp and help film the expeditions—but the Vagabonds looked forward to their annual adventures as a means to disconnect. “We react against our complex civilization,” Burroughs wrote in his essay “A Strenuous Holiday.” “We cheerfully endure wet, cold, smoke, mosquitoes, black flies, and sleepless nights, just to touch naked reality once more.”