Al Kitchel was born in Oakland, California. In his adolescence, his family moved to Pleasant Hill, where he grew up, before moving back to Oakland to finish high school. He was always industrious. At thirteen, he built a motorbike in his school’s metal shop, a project that sparked a passion for riding motorcycles that he maintains to this day. He married his high school sweetheart at a young age and began raising a family soon after.

After a few years playing in bands and taking whatever work he could find, Al moved his young family to the backwoods of North Idaho. Without the training of a carpenter, he built, by hand, the log house that he and his wife still call home today. He loves adventure: he is a class four whitewater rafter, an occasional backpacker, and a professional musician in two bands alongside musicians of the highest caliber. His love of the woods runs deep. He maintains a hundred year old Douglas fir forest on forty acres, selling logs to the local lumber mill and using the rest to heat his home through the long Idaho winters.

Al and his wife have ridden together on his Harley Davidson for more than 85,000 miles throughout the Northwest, often tent camping and collecting the kind of funny, challenging stories that only the road can produce. The Other White Line is one of those stories, a journey he took with his lifelong friend Joz, whom he has ridden alongside since their high school days. After retiring from an eighteen year career in the financial markets, and a short stint as an emergency management consultant, Al’s need for challenge and the unknown led him to write his first book.

Pull Quote Suggestion:

Free as a bird, I rolled into the deepening gorge.