WARNING: IF YOU ARE A DONALD TRUMP MINION
THEN JOHN’S BOOK IS PROBABLY NOT FOR YOU!

When John was asked about his writing style, he said: “The only thing I know and own about my writing style is that I am a self-entertained writer, meaning that I am always looking to amuse myself, and maybe even lure myself into a state where I enter a suspension of disbelief. It is there, in that altered state of mind, when I view myself as a moderately adequate wordsmith.

“In the end, it is not a writer’s job to define his or her style or quality of writing. Readers will decide that for themselves, unless they are susceptible to the opinions of critics. Regardless, writers should avoid placing any faith in external adulation or admonishment—both are temporal and unique to the source, and therefore neither should be taken seriously.

“Writers should discover something about themselves each time they pour their thoughts, hearts, and souls onto paper. Self-discovery is why I write.”

KEEP THE SHINY SIDE UP

Biker, street performer, cab driver, magician, IT/IS specialist, long-haul trucker, soldier, and oil field worker John Richard “Little Ricky” Hall has done damn near everything in this life—and taken more than his fair share of hard knocks in the process. Red, White, and the Blues is both a riveting account of a fateful cross-country motorcycle ride and a searing indictment of the American Dream.

In 2011, North Dakota’s Bakken oil boom was turning the earth (literally) and men (figuratively) inside out, even as it generated unprecedented wealth. John R. Hall was on the verge of securing his future in the Bakken when a confrontation with a coworker led him to leave it all behind and head across the US on his Harley “Deuce.” Pursued by the screeching demons of abuse, financial distress, and his own tortured thoughts, John would find heartache and rough terrain on the open road—but also the kindness of strangers and sights of heartbreaking beauty.

Part memoir, part collection of essays, part political treatise, Red, White, and the Blues is a must-read for motorcycle enthusiasts and anyone who’s struggled to find their place in the world. At turns funny, emotionally devastating, and incisive, Hall’s work will enthrall readers as he offers affecting commentary on racism, politics, and depression—as well as friendship and the incomparable freedom of riding long and hard.
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TIME IS THE AMERICAN DREAM

John R. Hall is a true wordsmith—a master of his craft: finding and organizing words for the human experience.

My name is Kory; I was the one tasked to typeset all 149,000 or so of John’s words into book form. I completely fell in love with Red, White, and the Blues when I read its introduction (“Sursum Corda”); specifically, these words:

The term “struggling artist” invokes images of impoverishment, which is certainly appropriate, but the artist’s struggle continues even after monetary matters are resolved. An artist is constantly trying to make sense of the world and society while searching to find his or her place.

Screaming Yes! inside, I kept on reading, prepping with notes on how to best typeset his book. I was taken back by my red pen underlining sentence after sentence of beautiful, moving prose. As I got into the heart of the book, my own heart begged to know more about a man who seemed to have done/been through it all. So I kept on it, at the edge of my seat as two semi-trucks crushed his ribs, while misfortune blended with blessings seemed to hit him at every corner.

Solace in my heart was found along with John’s finding of his own American Dream—only to be stripped away once again. But through it all, John learned life’s most valuable lesson: the most valuable currency is . . . time!

—Kory Kirby, Book Designer & Publisher for Little Cabin Press
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LIFE IS LIKE A LONG RIDE

BOTH ARE INDIRECT JOURNEYS

Motorcycle enthusiast and wandering spirit John R. Hall did what few dare: write a book as unconventional in structure and intent as the man himself. Red, White, and the Blues recounts a coast-to-coast motorcycle ride during which John took stock of his fifty-two years—and confronted sometimes painful realities of a life lived over treacherous terrain.

Nearly a decade after traversing America’s roadways for thirty-six isolated days and nights in August 2011, John sat down at his computer to pound out the story not only of his once-in-a-lifetime bike ride, but also of his life. Red, White, and the Blues reflects that life with all its unexpected twists—devastating and heartwarming, confusing and crystal clear.

John’s account rambles, then pulls into sharp focus. It asks questions and provides answers. It is chaotic and serene. Angst and ecstasy reign supreme while disillusionment and enlightenment become bedfellows. Its pages are filled with yin and yang.

Like life itself, John’s book is an indirect journey, rewarding those who stay the course—and John’s book is also a scathing examination of the American Dream. Thoughts on capitalism, Trump, America’s 2020 election, and religion bleed through the narrative at every turn.

As a child, John was deeply moved by Socrates’s words: “The unexamined life is not worth living.” In Red, White, and the Blues, John shares his personal journey, aptly demonstrating that the examined life is one hell of a roller-coaster ride. Readers of John’s work will be rewarded as the pages of Red, White, and the Blues turn, but John also offers the following traveler’s advisory: “treacherous terrain lies ahead.”
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ALL BIKERS RIDE ALONE

THE ROAD DEMANDS IT!

Red, White, and the Blues is the searing account of a thirty-six-day cross-country motorcycle ride undertaken by wandering spirit and jack-of-all-trades John R. Hall. Piloting his beloved Softail Deuce, John made his way across the country and back while coming face-to-face with the American Dream.

Somewhere around the tenth hour of riding is where it happens. The biker is dug in deep, in it for the long haul, committed to riding long and hard. The biker becomes one with the bike, in synch with the tires on the road and his own weary limbs and the roar of the wind. For John, this is when he escapes the ravages of life and dives deep inside, the only place he can truly arrive at the core of his existence and find what he most craves: his share of peace and self-acceptance.

In this searing account bikers find all-too-relatable experiences, from expensive repairs to fielding questions from biker wannabees to the mortification of dropping your motorcycle. Red, White, and the Blues is the perfect read for bikers everywhere—or for anyone who’s ever dreamed of life on the open road.
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KEEP ON TRUCKIN’

Lots of people complain about their jobs. For John R. Hall, his bad day at the office meant getting crushed between two semitrucks.

In Red, White, and the Blues, jack-of-all-trades and wandering spirit John R. Hall delivers the riveting account of a fateful thirty-six-day cross-country motorcycle ride. Part and parcel with the events of that journey, John’s remembrances of his time as an over-the-road trucker lend texture to a narrative of undeniable impact.

After 9/11 put paid to John’s chances of opening a restaurant franchise, he found himself adrift and in search of direction. Then inspiration struck. The trucking industry held much of the glittering promise he’d always found on his bike: most particularly in the form of the open road and the forced isolation he craved. So for eight years, John traversed America’s highways, commanding eighteen wheels in what was essentially an eighty-thousand-pound missile. But when a fuel-stop chat with a fellow trucker saw him nearly crushed to death after being trapped between two semitrucks, John knew his days in the industry were numbered.

John’s recollections of life as an over-the-road trucker share space with equally engaging insights into his many other occupations, including street performer, cab driver, magician, IT/IS specialist, soldier, and oil field worker. Red, White, and the Blues is a must-read for anyone who’s ever dreamed of riding alone into the sunset.
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SEEING THINGS DIFFERENTLY

John R. Hall had a story to tell, and dyslexia was a part of that story.

In Red, White, and the Blues, John R. Hall delivers the account of a thirty-six-day cross-country motorcycle ride he took in 2011. When John set out to write his book, he knew he had an important story to tell, but little in his life has been easy, and embracing his dyslexia would prove one of the final steps of his journey.

John is blessed with the natural ability to transfer his voice to the page, a rare thing for writers. But dyslexia means the words can swim about on that very page, seeming to willfully defy his attempts to get them back in order. In writing Red, White, and the Blues, essentially the story of John’s journey through life, told through the narrative of a thirty-six day motorcycle trip across the United States of America, John had to overcome not his dyslexia but his fear of turning his work over to the world and being judged for spelling, for misordered words, for any of the literary pitfalls that dyslexia can exacerbate. Finding a trusted editor, John didn’t so much as overcome his dyslexia as he partnered with it, and in the process he fulfilled his life’s dream by bringing his book into the world.

Red, White, and the Blues is the story of a man’s journey to the heart of his being—a landscape of alternating barrenness, beauty, and vulnerability. For anyone afraid to put pen to paper because of dyslexia, this book is itself a triumph. And for readers everywhere, this book is a riveting account of a life, a journey, and a head-to-head collision with the American Dream.
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ROCKIN’ THE BAKKEN

In Red, White, and the Blues, jack-of-all-trades and wandering spirit John R. Hall recounts his 2011 motorcycle odyssey across the United States—a journey that saw him beat a hasty escape from, and eventually return to, the oil field boomtowns of the Bakken, North Dakota.

The American Dream. Boomtown, USA. The Bakken. In the get-rich-quick landscape of an oil field boomtown, fortunes can be made in a near heartbeat. But one indisputable truth cannot be avoided: for every boom, there’s a bust, and it’s always waiting in the wings.

From 2010 through 2015, John had experienced more boom than bust in North Dakota, having survived the constant danger of inadequately policed roadways, comically insufficient infrastructure, and the state’s extreme weather patterns—not to mention a workforce pushed to the very edge by fatigue and oil companies’ unquenchable thirst for more oil, more blood, more of the almighty dollar. Snapping after a confrontation with a dishonest coworker in 2011, John did what many dream of: he quit his job on the spot and rode off into the sunset.

Red, White, and the Blues is an unforgettable story of a man coming to terms with his own demons the only way he knows how: by losing himself on the open road. This is the story of a man, of a country, of debilitating lows, and, ultimately, of redemption.
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