An American Sketch
“The doors of An American Place are ever open to all...”
Alfred Stieglitz, 1937
“The doors of An American Place are ever open to all...” Alfred Stieglitz, 1937
February 2024
This is a series of articles about a 16,000-mile, four month road trip I made between March and June 2024.
It encompasses some of the best and least well-known destinations in the USA and bordering Canada. Travelling mainly solo also meant I met a varied cast of characters. The majority were affable, welcoming, mainstream Americans but adult film performers, retired cannabis growers, cult members and political obsessives also feature.
While motorcycling, roads and landscape are the common denominators, the articles that resulted include observations on art, architecture, literature, cinema, television, music, history and the socio/political climate, past and present. Food & drink also feature prominently along with occasional autobiographical details.
‘Background’ is what it says on the tin…
I penned ‘Nuts & Bolts’ and ‘Ticking Boxes’ as a few people have asked how I went about planning the trip including shipping a motorcycle across the Atlantic, insuring it while it’s there and so on. Consequently, these are more relevant to people planning something similar.
‘The Great Wide Open’ talks about where and when the idea for this tour came from. While writing it, I realised it had been lurking in my subconscious for the best part of forty years so ‘High Hopes’ has a stab at unpicking this.