Easy Rider: 50th Anniversary Trip

Welcome to LA. Enjoy a relaxing afternoon by the pool and the sights of LA before meeting up with your fellow riders. We’ll head to our favorite local watering holes for a bite to eat and a few cold drinks. There's simply no better way to get to know the people you'll be riding with for the next two weeks than by twisting a few caps together. Wyatt and Billy wouldn’t have it any other way.

After picking up our bikes, we’ll ride to the spot near LAX where the infamous drug deal that funded their journey was filmed before heading towards Death Valley. California holds a lot of Easy Rider secrets, and you'll experience them all. Many buildings still look like they did in the movie fifty years ago. Tonight we'll enjoy a bonfire at our hotel and pass around the guitar under a blanket of stars

Today we'll ride towards the Route 66 town of Needles like Billy and Wyatt did in the movie. This part of America looks like it did in 1969 with abandoned motels and old gas stations. You are in the heart of the Mojave today, and you can almost feel Easy Rider in your blood. We’ll end our day with a swim in the warm waters of the Colorado River before finding some mischief to get into in town. 

We'll cross the mighty Colorado River on Route 66. You’ll see the spot of the famous bridge crossing from Easy Rider. We’ll ride through the “Old West” town of Oatman and onto more Easy Rider locations. The Pine Breeze Inn, from the opening scene still stands today. The neon “No Vacancy” sign that the owner of the Inn switches on when he sees Billy and Wyatt is in a bar just down the street.

Heading north through Navajo Indian lands there’s wide open spaces lending themselves to beautiful stretches riding. We’ll visit the Indian ruins where Billy and Wyatt camped, as well as the Sacred Mountain location from the famous gas station scene. A few hours later you’ll ride between the majestic, thousand foot sandstone spires of Monument Valley.

Your Easy Rider journey continues today as we follow Billy and Wyatt through one of the most famous landmarks in the Southwest—the Four Corners. You’ll stand in a spot that most motorcyclists dream of visiting. You might look a little funny with your feet in Colorado and New Mexico, and your hands in Utah and Arizona, but it will make for a great photo and lots of laughs back home.

Today is at your leisure to rest and enjoy the distinctive flavor of this wild west city. Perhaps you would like to take a ride along the famed Million Dollar Highway, enjoy a sunrise hot air balloon ride, or play cowboy for a day on a horseback ride along a mountain or canyon trail.

The ride from Durango to Taos is epic. It will have you feeling like you are shooting a scene from Easy Rider right out of the gate. Taos happens to have been the location for some of the most memorable scenes from Easy Rider. Parts of the hippie commune scenes, as well as all of the jail scenes were shot right in the heart of Taos. We will have a chance to visit both locations as part of this epic day.

The only thing better than the ride from Farmington to Taos is the ride from Taos to Amarillo! Our first stop is in New Mexico. The exterior of the jailhouse scene was shot here and you couldn’t miss it if you tried! Tonight our friends from the Big Texan Steakhouse will pick us up at the hotel in a fleet of vintage Cadillacs and cook us some of the biggest steaks you will find in the state of Texas!

The only real gap in the actual Easy Rider route is between New Mexico and Louisiana. The story is that the cast and crew dispersed and all took different routes through Texas and Oklahoma to get to Louisiana where the final scenes were shot to give them a break from the tyrannical directorial style of Dennis Hopper. Our route takes us through the Texas Panhandle and into Abilene.

As we continue on our way to New Orleans, there is simply no doubt that we have to include an overnight in our favorite Texas town, and the live music capital of the world, Austin. Our hotel is in the heart of the 6th Street music district, which enables you to walk from bar to bar all night long while enjoying some of the best live music in the country.

Some of the most memorable scenes from Easy Rider were shot in the southern bayou state of Louisiana. Today we start our ride East out of Texas and into the heart of the south. This is a bit of a long riding day, but the miles will fly by with anticipation of Louisiana, with all of her southern charm which will feel like a foreign land compared to the places we have been thus far.