At the age of fifty-seven looking over this shoulder at heart disease Gary Paulsen acquired his first Harley-Davidson and began a journey of a lifetime. From New Mexico to Alaska through Minnesota and the Rockies Paulsen also travels through the landmarks of his life. There was the tough cop who kept him from becoming a juvenile delinquent and the whore who told him not to leave the army; high-stakes poker games and wrangling dogsleds through the Alaskan wilderness. Funny moving and full of adventure Pilgrimage on a Steel Ride reads like the best kind of travel writing celebrating not the destination but the ride.