On the 225th anniversary of his namesake's April 18th midnight ride from Boston to Lexington, rocker Paul Revere began a motorcycle ride to Washington, D.C.

Revere - who'll play for the 14th annual Rolling Thunder rally of Vietnam veterans near the Lincoln Memorial on Memorial Day - started from Portland after another memorial service, this one for his band's original drummer, Michael "Smitty" Smith.

Revere borrowed a Harley-Davidson Springer Softail from Tauni Hemminger of Vancouver (WASH.) Motorbike Co. and rode to Seattle for a kickoff concert at Paul Allen's rock 'n' roll museum. Next stop is Las Vegas, accompanied by Raiders' drummer Omar Martinez.

Harley-Davidson will lend the pair new bikes to retrace a trip that Revere took 30 years ago. In 1971, Revere undertook a cross-country trek to promote the Raiders' single "Indian Reservation," stopping at 300 radio stations to persuade them to play his tune. Although his idea was considered "uncool" at the time, it worked - the record sold 4 million copies.

This time Revere is promoting the band's first recording in 20 years, "Ride to the Wall," the proceeds from which will go to veterans' causes.

Rocker Paul Revere is re-creating his own 1971 cross-country motorcycle ride to promote the Vietnam veterans' Rolling Thunder reunion in Washington, D.C., on Memorial Day.