We bid our friends goodbye 
We promised we would write them 
And headed north up 95 Into the great unknown 
We turned up our stereo 
And felt so reckless and alive 
We didn't know who we would be 
We didn't know where we would end up 
When we headed down that road 
A little food and our guitars 
In the backseat and that old cello 
The one that would get stolen 
In a town in Idaho 

And it's a long way to Michigan and back 
And it's a long way 
Cause it's a long way, the clouds upon our backs 
And it's a long, long, long, long way 
And I have never seen 
Reflections of the cleanest 
Of blue as the Minnesota lakes 
Those were the longest nights 
Of wood smoke and Northern Lights 
As we talked until the morning came 
The light of glowing embers 
As sweet as I remember 
Among the rustling of the trees 
The legend of the harvest moon 
And sweet ballad of the loon 
I felt as ancient as I was meant to be 

And it's a long way to Washington and back 
And it's a long way 
Cause it's a long way, the clouds upon our backs 
And it's a long, long, long, long way 

I called you from a payphone In windy, cold Missoula 
And then from Midland in the rain 
A place as proud and sad as 
The South Dakota badlands 
It touched me more than I could explain 
The dirt poor reservation 
Where the Avala nation 
Tries to hang on to its ways 
Feather and Peyote pipe and 
A six pack of Miller Light 
Sits on the dashboard of a beat up Chevrolet 

And it's a long way to Tennessee and back 
And it's a long way 
Cause it's a long way on the worn out heels of Kerouac 
And it's a long, long, long, long way 

Out in California 
We touched the other ocean 
And I still have that jar of sand In the Arizona desert 
The sky goes on forever 
You've never seen a thing as grand 
And North Montana was cold 
She keeps her secrets frozen 
Under glaciers way up north 
And people have got lost up there 
In the home of the grizzly bear 
And you can ask the mountain 
But the mountain doesn't care 

And it's a long way to Delaware and back 
And it's a long way 
Cause it's a long way, the clouds up on our backs 
And it's a long, long, long, long way 
Cause it's a long way on the worn out heels of Kerouac 
And it's a long, long, long, long way