Pubdate: Fri, 13 Apr 2001 Source: Associated Press Copyright: 2001 Associated Press

HARRELSON TRAVELS FOR GOOD LIVING

SEATTLE, Washington - Actor Woody Harrelson has launched his "Sustainable Organic Living" free-speech tour - a 1,500-mile bike ride down the coast to Los Angeles.

Harrelson planned to speak at eight colleges en route, starting with the University of Washington on Thursday night, and conduct spontaneous yoga classes and go camping in state parks. The actual journey begins Friday and ends May 20 in Los Angeles.

With Harrelson will be his yoga teacher, documentary filmmakers, "the best raw-food chef I've met," and others traveling with "the mother ship," an old Chicago transit bus that runs on hemp fuel.

"It has solar panels on top and hemp cloth on the ceilings and walls," said Harrelson, perhaps best known for his role as a bartender on the long-running TV sitcom "Cheers."

"We have wheat grass growing inside. It's going to be one of the healthier buses you run up against," he said Wednesday.

The ride down the Pacific coast is intended to raise awareness about lower-impact lifestyles and what Harrelson calls "going off the grid" - - getting away from corporate products and influence.

Harrelson, 39, is a longtime activist. In June 1996, he was arrested and acquitted after planting hemp seeds in Kentucky. Later that year, he was arrested with others for climbing the Golden Gate Bridge to protest the cutting of redwood trees.