Easy Rider 2006: The Red State Tour

They say the highway is just one big road, and leads from here to there (as sung by the Seattle Men's Chorus, taken from the movie "A Mighty Wind").

Here we go, taking the very 'blue state' Seattle Men's Chorus and Seattle Women's Chorus into the very 'red' states of Idaho, Utah, Wyoming and Montana so we've unofficially dubbed it the 'Color Purple Tour'. Having reached my mid 40s and deciding to revert to my childhood and take up motorcycling and heading out on the open road like Peter Fonda did in Easy Rider, (albeit without the flowing locks of hair), Tony and I decided to ride the Harley's for the trip. Originally we decided we'd just rent bikes in Salt Lake and ride the concert portion with the Chorus, flying to and from SLC to give us time with the family, but about three weeks ago Tony decided that he'd like to ride the whole way. I think seeing the movie "Cars" a few weeks ago also stoked our passion for the open road and slowing down a bit. So here we go.

If you saw the movie Cars, you know the central story is about finding the side roads where time has stood still. We'll then be avoiding the Interstates at all costs -- but there will be a few stretches where we unfortunately have no choice since the Interstate was built on the old road. But where possible, we'll be taking the 'Route 66' variant, and as a consequence, it's going to take a lot longer to get there than the 12 hours we used to drive non-stop from Seattle to Salt Lake on the freeway in the Hummer.

If you are so inclined, get out your Rand McNally's and follow along -- here's the projected itinerary. We'll leave Seattle after rush hour traffic today (June 27th) and head towards Yakima taking Washington 410 over Chinook Pass. We'll spend the night in Yakima and get up early on the 28th and head out across Central Washington to avoid the heat, aiming for Walla Walla and Lewiston, Idaho. In all my years in Washington I've never gone to Walla Walla and am looking forward to seeing that corner of the state. Time permitting we'll stop at a State Senate Republican fundraiser and scare them before dropping off some campaign checks. Ideally we'd like to get beyond Lewiston, Idaho ­ heading south on US 95 towards McCall. We'll spend the night somewhere on that stretch of highway.

The morning of the 29th well keep heading south on US 95 to Boise, where unfortunately we have to pick up the Interstate for a short run to Mountain Home. There we'll pick up US 20 and go east through Craters of the Moon and south towards Pocatello, and depending on time, weather, and general butt soreness, we'll keep going towards Salt Lake. I expect we¹ll spend the night somewhere near Pocatello and get to Salt Lake on the morning of the 30th.

We'll rest up in Salt Lake, have the bikes tuned, and then bright and early on the 2nd of July, we head north with the Chorus to Pocatello for the first show. From there it's on to Jackson, Wyoming over Teton Pass, then up through Yellowstone and over Beartooth Pass to Billings for another show. From Billings we'll take a long and loopy route to get to Bozeman for another show, then head south again to Salt Lake City for the final show on July 8th. On the 9th we'll again point the bikes toward Seattle ­ but have yet to determine an exact routing.

All in all, it should be about 3,000 plus miles, and we are due back to work in Seattle on the 12th of July, so the trip home might be a bit more rushed than it was going south. Nonetheless, here we go ­me aboard my 2006 Harley Dyna Street Bob, and Tony on his 2005 Harley Road King. The bikes are loaded and ready to go, and shortly we will be too.

Still in the driveway, waiting for rush hour to die down ---



Gary and Tony