by Diana Pratt

We thought you may be wondering just what is a Neil Peart Inspired National Park Road Trip? What makes our trips Neil Peart inspired? How can you take one yourself?

A great place to start is by reading Neil Peart’s books. Roadshow: Landscape with Drums, Traveling Music: Playing Back the Soundtrack to My Life and Times, Ghost Rider: Travels on the Healing Road, and what I like to call the Far Trilogy (Far and Near: On Days Like These, Far and Wide: Bring that Horizon to Me, and Far and Away: A Prize Every Time) all contain pieces of Neil Peart’s national park adventures. Beyond that, each book, The Masked Rider: Cycling in West Africa included, provides a glimpse of how Neil Peart liked to travel and some of the things that he was interested in; great travel journals of a life well lived.

Sarah and I started planning our first national park trip in 2017, over a full year in advance of our August 2018 departure. As fans of Rush, we learned long ago that doing anything with a Rush theme is more fun than just doing, well, anything. It’s not just a band, it’s a way of life! As a fan of Neil’s writing, I knew he had visited all the national parks and scoured his books for ideas and inspiration. Thus, The Official Neil Peart Inspired National Park Road Trip was born. Prior to that first trip we read every book taking note of any mention of a national park visit with a What Would Neil Do? (WWND?) idea in mind: how he got there, where he stayed and dined, what stops he made along the way, what he did there, and any travel tips he gave were considered as part of our plan. Since then we have melded our trips into something uniquely our own, with, of course, a Rush flare. We always go back to Neil’s books where we continue to draw inspiration. Below are ten ways to take a Neil Peart Inspired National Park Road Trip.

Travel in Style. If you really want to travel to the national parks like Neil Peart, you will want to travel in style. Many of Neil’s visits were on a red BMW GS motorcycle. He was also known to travel by fancy sports car like the BMW Z8 he drove to Big Bend National Park. He visited many of the parks while on tour with Rush, in between shows, and he loved to travel via back roads whenever possible. For our trips, not being on tour or having a long hiatus, we usually take the fastest route possible. Our latest trip was 3,500 miles in eight days. We have chosen not to travel by motorcycle! One day we would like to visit a park in a Red Barchetta.
Keep a Journal. Like Neil, we do keep a journal. I have found this to be an extremely enjoyable part of the trip, especially when I push myself to keep it up to date, writing every single day. It’s also a fun souvenir and traveling as we do, mother and daughter, will hopefully be a nice keepsake for Sarah one day. She better keep it! But I should try to write more neatly.
Prepare Your Playlist. On your journey you will want to listen to a great playlist. In “Traveling Music,” Neil shares his playlist on a trip to Big Bend National Park in Texas. We recreated this playlist on Spotify on a set called National Park Roadtrip Playlist. You can listen to a sample on our website at nptour.net/playlist. We also enjoy listening to, you guessed it, Rush. Sarah prefers to pick an album and listen through in the original order.
Take a Ghost Rider Picture. Many of the national parks are located in remote areas. In “Ghost Rider,” Neil describes how the title of his book came to be. On a remote, desolate road he pulled over for a break and then with no cars in sight, set up his bike on the kickstand in the middle of the road and took a picture from behind. The picture appears as if the bike is moving riderless down the road. You may want to recreate the look yourself. We have tried a couple times, most notably somewhere southwest of Death Valley, which we describe in our blog “On a Desert Highway.” After some disturbing adventures on an eerie landscape it took some convincing to get Sarah to take that first shot and the effect was admittedly not as cool in an SUV.
Plan Your Activities. Once in the park there is something for everyone. Neil often wrote about hiking and bird watching. We research ahead of time by reading Neil’s books and using the national park website, maps, books, and various other sources. Sarah plans out our days with places to stop, hiking, and other activities. Sometimes we do what Neil did, coincidentally or on purpose, and sometimes we do our own thing. Often he has written about something that sounds cool so we work it into our own itinerary. Planning ahead is key especially for the more popular, crowded parks or when you plan to stay overnight inside a park. Reservations are typically suggested to be made 9 to 12 months in advance. Another great tip from Neil is to be near enough to your park destination the night before so you can enter early in the morning. This way you can enjoy many of the scenic spots and trails prior to the crowds or heat of the day. We like to do our hiking early in the morning for this very reason. By the time we are done, the visitor center is open. We pick up anything we need, grab our stamps (see number 7), then rest during the hot part of the day or spend that time driving in our air-conditioned vehicle to the next destination. Take it from Neil, and us, it’s a great formula for a successful visit.
Go to Park Visitor Centers. Neil has made a great case for stopping at the park visitor centers. He has written that national park visitor centers are a great resource for reading material. After you have been to several of the parks you may tire of the traditional souvenirs, but that’s where that journal comes in. And here’s another tip from Neil: purchase postcards and stickers. In my opinion, the lost art of sending postcards ought to be revived. Neil liked to send postcards to friends and family. During his Ghost Rider travels it gave them a much-needed update on his whereabouts and relieved their worry. I have a good friend, Cathy, who thinks postcards are outdated. I try to send her at least one on every trip! I never figured out what Neil did with his stickers, maybe put them in his journals, but we like to purchase the ones designed for our passport books (more about that later). Finally, if you do happen to be traveling by motorcycle, Neil notes that stickers and postcards are small and flat and can easily be carried in your saddlebags. While we typically don’t need to worry about space, we do like to purchase something because proceeds go to the parks, and it’s a fun way to support them.
Get a Passport Cancellation Stamp. The best part about the visitor center is collecting your national park passport cancellation stamp. Passport books can be purchased online or in most visitor centers and, of course, Neil Peart had one. Once full he would put return visit stamps in his journals as well. Sarah and I accidentally got the giant collector edition version, but the smaller pocket size edition is readily available. The goal is to, like Neil Peart, collect every stamp, and, as mentioned, ours have room for the stickers as well.
Drink The Macallan. In “Roadshow,” Neil says: “When I’m riding my motorcycle, I’m glad to be alive. When I stop riding my motorcycle, I’m glad to be alive.” We feel a similar way after being in the car all day. As you wind down for the evening, follow in Neil’s footsteps and finish off the night with three fingers of “The Macallan,” as Neil referred to it. For those of you like us who aren’t big drinkers, we have also learned that he enjoyed the occasional milkshake or a glass of lemonade (preferably) served in a mason jar glass. The Macallan was a nightly ritual to look forward to after a long day on the road.
Don’t Forget Your Souvenir Tour Shirt. Our Official Neil Peart Inspired National Park Road Trips have filled a void for us that was left when Rush retired. With no more Rush concerts to look forward to, we decided on our first trip that our tours would not be complete without the souvenir shirt. We were lucky to find a vendor who can supply our very small orders - our shirts are never for sale. We do have a fun time creating them and Sarah does a great job designing them. You can view ours, and find the link to our vendor, on our website at nptour.net/merchandise.
Do the Most Excellent Thing You Can Do. As Neil Peart taught us, every morning when you wake up, ask yourself, “What is the most excellent thing I can do today?” Then do it!

We are grateful for the music Rush has given us and the books that Neil wrote. His words and ideas have inspired us to follow a passion and to visit all the national parks. Whether it is the music or the lyrics, or maybe even the books, we hope you find your inspiration as well.