After losing his sight in 1920, Jack Lockett decided to ride a tandem bicycle across country to gain publicity and funding for a procedure to have his eyesight restored. Beginning the trip in Dallas, Texas, Jack and his son rode to Rochester, Minnesota to be evaluated at the Mayo Clinic. The doctors at the clinic told Mr. Lockett that his vision loss was due to glaucoma, and that the doctors and the Clinic could do nothing for him. Having been so impressed by the experience, however, Jack decided to make a second trip to New York to consult more specialists. Although he was again told that doctors could not restore his eyesight, the adventures he had experienced gave him a determination and patience that he never would have had otherwise.

It was a very peculiar and rather funny incident that first caused me to think Of such an extraordinary method of transportation, which it might not be out of order for me to repeat. Necessity is the mother Of invention, it is said (although I've never heard anyone say just who its father was) and it had certainly proved to be a fact in my case.

Since losing the use Of my optical Vision, it had been constantly necessary for me {to invent different ways of seeing and doing things. TO this I attribute the idea Of crossing the country on a tandem bicycle.