In 1925, Dr. Perry Doolittle stood near the shores of Atlantic Canada and prepared for an epic voyage that would help put Canada on the map.

All the dignitaries were there, making proclamations of the adventures to come.

But Doolittle wasn't heading east from Halifax and sailing out of the harbour.

He turned west -- to motor across Canada.

Today, we jump in SUVs -- capable of driving straight up a mountain face -- and conquer most square kilometres of our country with ease.

But only because of people like Doolittle, who were early rubber-on-the-rocky-road advocates of creating a Trans-Canada link from coast to coast -- as well as safe routes connecting our smallest towns.

Doolittle's pursuit is now something we take for granted.

But during his era, the "King of Canadian Roads" was a futuristic figure, as newspapers would follow his path -- he was one of the first physicians to use a bike and car to visit patients -- and listen to his prescription about how connected Canadians needed to be.

He even petitioned for speed limits to be increased.

There were others before him, including English journalist Thomas Wilby, who was driven across the country in 1912 -- while never bothering to name his driver in print.

But it was Doolittle who sold the idea of motoring on modern roads.

"We jumped right out of civilization into wilderness," he recalled in a 1925 speech of what he found 10 miles after leaving Halifax and heading west.

He passed the 300-ton schooners resting on the mud banks near Truro, N.S., the clam-diggers of Bathurst, N.B., and the Matapedia Valley region of Quebec: "Which can only be seen at its best from the seat of an automobile."

He drove through intimate small towns of Ontario and across the lonely Prairies of the west and "Through the deep canyons of our great Rocky Mountain area, with its 50 Switzerlands rolled up in one."

And then, near Vancouver, passing under trees that were 76 metres high, he saw the country in his rear-view mirror and the future clearly before him.

Roads were our unifying link, he knew.

It would be many years after his death that his Trans-Canada Highway dream became real. But he's as much to credit as the engineers who plotted the course.

So when you pull out onto just about any highway in Canada, setting waypoints on your GPS, you can thank Dr. Doolittle for first showing us the way.

Timeline

• Born March 22, 1861
• 1867 -- Canada's first automobile is unveiled in Quebec.
• 1899 -- Doolittle buys the first used car in Canada -- a one-cylinder Winton from John Moodie of Hamilton, Ont.
• 1904 -- Others see the future and potential of the automobile. Henry Ford opens a factory in Windsor, Ont.
• 1920 -- Begins serving a 14-year reign as president of the CAA.
• 1925 -- Is the first Canadian to drive from Halifax to Vancouver. He used a the first Canadian-built Model T Ford and even swapped out his tires so he could drive on rails for some distance.
• By 1927 he had driven 240,000 km.
• Dies 1933.
• 1950 -- Work begins on the Trans-Canada Highway.
• July 30, 1962 -- The world's longest national road -- his dream -- is formally opened at Rogers Pass, B.C., though 3,000 km were still unpaved.

Road stories

• Doolittle campaigned for better roads and signs, and convinced legislators -- by taking them for drives -- that they shouldn't fear increasing speed limits.
• On-the-road Quote -- "In the development of the Trans-Canada Highway, one of the chief objects of our association, I feel we are doing more to create unity within the empire than can be accomplished by any other single factor."
• Getting from point A to B -- During his cross-Canada journey, Doolittle exchanged the tires on his car so he could drive on rail tracks for part of the way.
• Nick-name -- "King of Canadian Roads"
• Well known? During the height of his campaigning, Canadians from coast to coast recognized his face -- and mission.