No Thru Traffic

The two riders represent two very different cross-sections of entitled millenials and to the untrained eye you may think they are a poorly matched duo. One rides a sport bike, the other an old-man standard. One is an artist and the other an aspiring adman. One is a vegetarian and the other merely a picky eater. Yet despite these differences, both share friendship and a yearning to experience the world.

Alex is a graduate of the University of Oregon where he majored in Business Administration and minored in Communications. Before this great adventure (and hopefully afterward, too) he strived for a career in advertising. He even blogs about it for Advertising Age. Although he has worked towards this goal in both Portland and New York for the last four years, he has also picked up some other interests along the way. He has been incredibly fortunate to be able to travel and it has become a sort of obsession. Mechanically, he knows a little about maintaining a Kart, which he raced for several years, so a motorcycle can’t be too different. And like so many others, he considers himself an aspiring amateur photographer and tech geek.

Ryan is also a graduate of the University of Oregon, where he will return in the fall for a 5th year Fine Arts program. He has traveled abroad many a summer, but has yet to experience the “American Dream”.  Ryan believes this trip to be a lot like Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas. Two guys hitting the open road to find the American Dream, strung out on all sorts of uppers and downers on their way to Las Vegas to cover the big motorcycle race…. but without the uppers and downers, Rolling Stone or the Las Vegas motorcycle race.  Just the two guys on the open highway searching for the American Dream.   So maybe more like Easy Rider, again Two gritty guys on their choppers hitting the open road, going to communes and brothels, taking all sorts of crazy drugs and running into bloodthirsty rednecks…. but without the communes, brothels, drugs and rednecks.  So maybe more like The Graduate.  A fresh college grad, trying to figure out exactly where life will take him becomes twisted when he gets involved with an older women and then falls in love with her daughter….. but without Mrs. Robinson, her daughter or the cool underwater shots.  So its not really comparable to any of those movies….  but more of  just two great friends hitting the open highway, freshly graduated and looking for that great experience that the American West has to offer.   Kinda like Stand By Me, without the dead body, Pez or gangs of bullies….