From Booklist
La Plante presents a subdued but genuine piece of bikerlit. Afflicted with writer's block and awaiting two monumental,life-changing events--the birth of a second child and the delivery ofa custom motorcycle--La Plante freewheels to the notorious annualmotorcycle-related festivities in Sturgis, South Dakota. Afterpersevering in wretched weather (the "floods of Iowa" figureprominently) and a trip made more arduous by age, an injured knee, andseparation from his family, La Plante partakes of the soul-cleansingSturgis experience, where "the stars spilled like a chest ofrainbow-colored gems above" and "Willie Nelson's voice waft[ed] outfrom an open window." This is good stuff for chopper pilots with aliterary bent and those who love them. It is also an excellentshelfmate for La Plante's Hog Fever (1995) and Hunter Thompson'sseminal Hell's Angels (1967). There probably aren't enough sex anddrugs, though, for boomer Harley poseurs and adolescent thrillseekers. Mike Tribby
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Review
“I had a great laugh over the whole story. Richard La Plante is having one helluva good time and passing that along to the reader.”—American Rider

“Like many a fancier of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the ‘hog’ of song and story, La Plante became hooked, then obsessed, then broke. He’s still hooked, obsessed, and broke.”—Los Angeles Times

“This book is a Bible for the first-time Harley rider and anybody else who’s ever dreamed of a life in the wind.”—K. Randall Ball, editor of Easy Rider Magazine



Review
“I had a great laugh over the whole story. Richard La Plante is having one helluva good time and passing that along to the reader.”—American Rider

“Like many a fancier of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the ‘hog’ of song and story, La Plante became hooked, then obsessed, then broke. He’s still hooked, obsessed, and broke.”—Los Angeles Times

“This book is a Bible for the first-time Harley rider and anybody else who’s ever dreamed of a life in the wind.”—K. Randall Ball, editor of Easy Rider Magazine



Review
“I had a great laugh over the whole story. Richard La Plante is having one helluva good time and passing that along to the reader.”—American Rider

“Like many a fancier of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle, the ‘hog’ of song and story, La Plante became hooked, then obsessed, then broke. He’s still hooked, obsessed, and broke.”—Los Angeles Times

“This book is a Bible for the first-time Harley rider and anybody else who’s ever dreamed of a life in the wind.”—K. Randall Ball, editor of Easy Rider Magazine



Book Description
Author Richard La Plante had always wanted to ride cross-country to Sturgis, South Dakota-to the famous motorcycle rally that has become the mecca for the American biker. But at the age of 53, still bruised from a divorce, newly remarried, and a father for the first time, he thought the trip would remain an armchair fantasy.

Then came the summer of 1999. Pressured by work, another baby on the way, and being temporarily homeless, he made a decision: Escape-out of the armchair and into the saddle.

On a borrowed Big Dog motorcycle, he set off for the Black Hills of Dakota. Moments of crazed introspection mixed with the sheer euphoria of the ride all add up to the metaphor of a life's journey.

Told in La Plante's humorous and self-deprecating style, Detours is a wild ride, all the way home.

FROM THE PUBLISHER

Author Richard La Plante had always wanted to ride cross-country to Sturgis, South Dakota. To the famous motorcycle rally that began as a small gathering of the Jack Pine Gypsies MC in 1938 and grew to become the Mecca for the American motorcyclist. But, by the age of fifty-three, still bruised from a divorce, newly remarried and a father for the first time, he thought the trip was destined to remain an armchair fantasy.

Then came the summer of 1999. Again his wife was pregnant-with a second child. The family was temporarily homeless, he was suffering from writer's block, but a Big Dog motorcycle that he had been designing by phone was finished and ready to ship. With no place to live, a new wife and child, another baby on the way, a blank computer screen, a teetering bank balance, a twenty-five thousand dollar motorcycle ready for delivery, and a mind that felt parboiled, La Plante made a decision. Escape. Out of the armchair and into the saddle.

On a borrowed bike, he set off for the Black Hills of Dakota. Waiting at the end of the ride was a week-long party, a cast of outrageous characters, a sea of chrome, steel, and rock'n'roll, and his Big Dog motorcycle. But the real story is the miles in between. Moments of crazed introspection while stranded beneath a highway underpass in Iowa waiting for the floods to stop, the sheer euphoria of watching the sunrise in the mirror with the wind in his face and the bike roaring west, the anguish of being hopelessly lost on the wrong side of Chicago, all add up to the metaphor of a life's journey.