Throttling the Bard, a modern tale of motorcycle road trip mayhem, has been described as Don Quixote meets Easy Rider. Hilarity ensues when an antiquated English professor and his grad student travel the state of Nevada encountering cults, drugs, and the Burning Man Arts Festival. Within the pristine halls of academia lurks the unsavory department of financial aid, and an English professor who has bilked that system in order to redistribute its wealth to students of a lower socioeconomic class. When the Great Basin Student Loan Corporation discovers Dr. Don Vendicarsi's illegal means of obtaining student loans, they demand his presence at their Reno office. Fearing that his teaching career will end prematurely, Vendicarsi must ride to Reno to face the inscrutable loan board. Graduate student Quentin Mann goes along for the ride, thinking that the trip is the perfect opportunity to force dissertation comments from Dr. Vendicarsi. Together they embark upon a quixotic motorcycle trip across Nevada where they encounter everyday Americana: a book burning cult, drugs, captivating women, and the Burning Man arts festival. Harried by the Great Basin and inspired by a demolitions expert at Burning Man, Vendicarsi ponders the ultimate definition of a teacher's sacrifice by eradicating all records of student loan debt, while Quentin realizes that spending borrowed money on yet another degree is not what he needs to become a recognized author.