Rik Palieri: Journey of Doubt, Determination, and Friendship

Road kill stew, hobos, sheep, pipestone, the American West, and yes, truck camping.  Here's another adventure with Rik Palieri.

Singer-songwriter and truck camper Rik Palieri

Rik (left) plays the Polish Bagpipes with a friend

Apache exploring the American West

The first person we interviewed for Truck Camper Magazine, almost two years ago, was singer, songwriter, and truck camper, Rik Palieri.  We discovered Rik while searching the internet for truck camper users with a story to tell.  Boy did we score with Rik.  Rik has shared more unique truck camping stories with us than we can shake a turnbuckle at.

Today Rik returns to Truck Camper Magazine with another unique story of doubt, determination, friendship, and the lessons he learned on the road this summer.  Thank you Rik for sharing yet another heartwarming truck camping story with us.  We are fans.

TCM: Tell us about your latest truck camping music tour and adventure.

Rik: I had promised my German friend, Wilfred, a taste of the real American West.  Even though gas prices were probably the highest they had ever been, I decided to bite the bullet, mount Apache on the truck, and take a trek across the country.  The shows are very important to me and traveling is a big part of who I am and what I do.  At the time, I was wondering if this might be my swan song for this kind of touring. 

TCM: So you were unsure about this trip?

Rik: Definitely unsure.  I’d like to say that I tour for the love of it, but the truth is that I really need to make money to justify a trip.  And this trip could have ruined me.  The only way I can travel economically anymore is with my truck camper, Apache.  Back when I started, you could get a hotel room for $25 a night.  Those days are long gone. 

TCM: Tell us about your itinerary and concerts.

Rik: The trip started with a mad dash to Nashville for a house concert.  It was a great experience and I was really floating after leaving Nashville.  From Nashville, I visited a friend in Arkansas and then drove to Oklahoma to play at a Winery.  That was great because my friend drove, which meant I could drink.  That was good. 

Then it was a long drive all the way out to Phoenix with a few stops along the way including the Big Texan Steak Ranch on Route 40.  The Food Channel was there filming a show and interviewed me a little bit.  Who knows if anything will come of that, but it was interesting. 

I did a bunch of shows in Phoenix including house shows and folk festivals.  Then I met up with my German friend, Wilfred.  From Phoenix, Wilfred and I traveled to the Grand Canyon and hiked the Bright Angel Trail.  We didn’t go all the way down to the floor, but we got the feeling of having really seen the canyon.  That night both us slept in Apache, which is an experience that is usually only reserved for my wife.

TCM: How did that work?

Rik: Wilfred had read my book, “The Road Is My Mistress” and wanted to travel with me in Apache.  Apache is a very small truck camper, so Wilfred and I had to have rules.  For one, you can’t get up at the same time.  I slept on the side with a sleeping bag and Wilfred slept in the cabover.

TCM: Where did you go after the Grand Canyon?

Rik: We drove straight to Zion and camped overnight.  We had to pay for a RV Park that night as all the campsites in Zion were taken.  That was a big lesson as the campground charged quite a bit of money, as much as a hotel. 

After Zion, we drove all the way to Yellowstone in one day.  We camped overnight in Yellowstone and woke up to Elk bugling in the field.  It was cold, I mean really cold that night.  We then headed towards Idaho for the Trailing of the Sheep Festival.

TCM: The Trailing of the Sheep Festival?

Rik: The Trailing of the Sheep Festival is a celebration of sheepherders and ranchers from many countries.  We met Navaho, Scottish, and Peruvian sheepherders and ranchers.  It’s an incredible festival with music and stories about sheep and sheep herding.  Thousands of people go.

At the festival, we met up with sheep ranchers and were invited to their potluck meal.  We played music and they had road kill stew.  It was literally elk and deer that had been killed on the road.  There were cowboys and ranchers singing old cowboy songs.  They had an argument about how to put a brand on sheep and cows.  It was a real part of America and a highlight of the trip.  After the festival, we had another week of shows in Montana.  Then Wilfred went back to Germany.

TCM: More room for you in Apache.  Where to next?

Rik: Next I visited Custer’s Last Stand, the Badlands, Mount Rushmore, Crazy Horse Memorial, and Wall Drugs.  I then played in Britt, Iowa at the Hobo Museum.  The Hobo Museum is very interesting and the real deal.  There’s been a National Hobo Convention in Britt, Iowa every August for 106 years. 

From Britt, I drove to Coffeyville, Kansas for a community outreach program.  I camped all five days in Coffeyville in Apache parked at a rest area.  I met with the rest area’s morning and evening shift and they said it was safe and that I was welcome to stay.  It was very clean and there was hot running water.  At the end of the five days, I gave them CDs of my music and thanked them for their generosity.  Staying there made that gig work financially.  Sometimes you have to sacrifice.

The final concert was in Topeka.  It was a last minute concert series at an Unitarian Church filled with people.  Then I rushed back and got home on Election Day just in time to hear the victory speech by Barack Obama.  I opened a bottle of wine with my wife and listened to our future President give an inspiring speech.

That’s the loop I ran.

TCM: What were the highlights of your trip?

Rik: Most of the trip was old friends and the joy of all the communities that I’ve made friends with.  Seeing the people and celebrating their lives and sharing music and food together.  I met a really interesting Native American pipe carver in Pipestone who gave me a lot to think about.  Sometimes you just meet amazing people. 

TCM: Pipestone?

Rik: Pipestone National Monument in Minnesota is not on any tourist map, but it’s just as magical as any national park.  Pipestone has ancient quarries where Native Americans go to retrieve thin layers of stone for carving peace pipes.  The place is sacred to their culture and, walking on the sacred ground, you can feel it.  The waterfalls are deafening.  All you hear is water rushing and it brings you into this magical place where time is forgotten and you’re really in the now.  It’s a beautiful feeling.

TCM: Looking back, are you glad that you got past your economic concerns and went on this trip?

Rik:  During my planning for this tour, I asked myself if what I do is valid.  Is it something in my head or is it valuable to the communities I visit?  On this trip I got a very affirmative answer.  First, people were more generous than I could have imagined and the trip was financially successful.  And second, it really becomes the idea of the old style troubadour.  People need music and stories in their lives.  When I play, people forget about the daily grind.  I’m very blessed that I’m able to be part of a very old tradition.

TCM: Do you believe there might be a lesson in your experience for the rest of us?

Rik: Our dream, especially for those who are truck campers, is that feeling of being out on the road.  It’s really hard to put that dream away.  Part of what people all over the world admire about America is the traveling we do.  Wilfred was living the dream of everyone in Europe who wants to see the American West.  To be in a truck camper driving down the open highway in Arizona looking at the most spectacular views one can imagine. 

I’ve traveled the back roads of America many times and each time it’s like seeing America for the first time.  Each time I fall in love with this country all over again.  I’m in awe of what America has to offer.  Europe was great cathedrals and old buildings, but we have some of the most incredible landscapes earth has to offer.   Zion, Yellowstone, and the Grand Canyon are just a few places we visited on this trip.  It’s like going to church.

Ralph Waldo Emerson said, “Do the thing you fear, and the death of fear is certain”.  Traveling might be more expensive than it used to be, but you’ll find a way.  Sometimes we have to take risks in life in order to enrich our lives.  We can always take the safe route and stay home.  The true education is out on the road.