It must be about his shot at fame. Bob Seger, a Michigan boy, chasing fame as a young man, making the move from Michigan west to LA/California (crossing the "great divide" - either the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada on the roads west to California). A metaphor for a young man moving on, leaving his boyhood days in Michigan (via "Mackinaw City") to become a man chasing a career and fame west in Los Angeles. Also, as other comments here have alluded, reflects on the freedom of being a young man, encountering young love, moving on, having no regrets (she wasn't the one for him), no ties to hold him down (mortgage, marriage, young family).
No doubt the "northern plains" and "high plains" refer to the Dakotas, traversing them on motorcycle with freedom.
The days of being a young man when you can make impulsive choices and decisions at the drop of a hat - "Took a look down a westbound road, Right away I made my choice".
It must be about his shot at fame. Bob Seger, a Michigan boy, chasing fame as a young man, making the move from Michigan west to LA/California (crossing the "great divide" - either the Rockies or the Sierra Nevada on the roads west to California). A metaphor for a young man moving on, leaving his boyhood days in Michigan (via "Mackinaw City") to become a man chasing a career and fame west in Los Angeles. Also, as other comments here have alluded, reflects on the freedom of being a young man, encountering young love, moving on, having no regrets (she wasn't the one for him), no ties to hold him down (mortgage, marriage, young family).
No doubt the "northern plains" and "high plains" refer to the Dakotas, traversing them on motorcycle with freedom.
The days of being a young man when you can make impulsive choices and decisions at the drop of a hat - "Took a look down a westbound road, Right away I made my choice".
What an evocative song.