LA to LA tells the true story of two friends and their journey across America by motorcycle, it’s a relatable tale told well by its author Bronson Bigelow – a man who’s work you may have encountered before as he’s the founder of Poet Motors based in New Orleans.
Road trips aren’t a new concept of course, they’ve existed since the very earliest days of the motorcycle and the automobile. The first motorized road trip took place on the 5th of August 1888 when a 39 year old Bertha Benz drove from Mannheim to Pforzheimwith, driving a Benz Patent-Motorwagen Number 3 – all without telling her husband, the vehicle’s inventor Carl Benz, and without the permission of the relevant authorities.
Bronson Bigelow and Nick Hines packed light, they rode their motorcycles across the United States covering 2,727 miles from Los Angeles to New Orleans.
Motorcycle road trips, particularly cross-country record setting “Cannonball Runs” were used in the early 20th century as a way for motorcycle manufacturers to showcase the reliability and toughness of their machines. The most famous rider was Erwin “Cannon Ball” Baker who set innumerable records in his life, and by the time of his retirement he had completed 143 cross-country motorcycle speed runs covering approximately 550,000 miles in total.
Of course for many of us, the cross-country road trip isn’t about showcasing a new invention, as was the case with Bertha Benz, or setting new national speed records as was the case with Erwin Baker. It’s a much more personal and introspective experience that always seems to leave you changed for the better in some way.
Perhaps Mark Twain said it best – “Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts.”
In this image you can see both men, Bronson is seated in the shade and Nick is reflected in the window above him.
LA to LA tells the story of Bronson Bigelow and Nick Hines as they rode their motorcycles 2,727 miles from Los Angeles to New Orleans across the United States. It’s a true story of adventure and the America they found along the way, told in words and photographs.
“I was inspired by Easy Rider, the seminal film about two bikers on a journey not unlike the one we were about to undertake – Los Angeles to New Orleans – minus the drug money stashed in the tank. Of course, Easy Rider is not really a film about motorcycles. It is the story of America at a moment in time. It just so happens it is told by motorcyclists, the stewards of counterculture and symbols of freedom.”
“I wanted our motor- cycle adventure to likewise be an exploration of America, the real one, not the one our chosen pundits tell us is out there. On two lanes and two wheels, the prejudices of life have a hard time keeping up.” – Bronson Bigelow: LA to LA
La to La is now available in hardcover form on both Amazon and from Poet Motors directly, it sells for $35 per copy.
Articles that Ben has written have been covered on CNN, Popular Mechanics, Smithsonian Magazine, Road & Track Magazine, the official Pinterest blog, the official eBay Motors blog, BuzzFeed, Autoweek Magazine, Wired Magazine, Autoblog, Gear Patrol, Jalopnik, The Verge, and many more.
Silodrome was founded by Ben back in 2010, in the years since the site has grown to become a world leader in the alternative and vintage motoring sector, with well over a million monthly readers from around the world and many hundreds of thousands of followers on social media.
