Bucket list ride

My father ended up with prostate cancer a few years back but with a lot of effort was able to beat it for the time being. He's been scratching things off his bucket list ever since which is the reason he put together a big family reunion last year in Arizona. A few months back my dad mentioned that one of the things on his bucket list was to make the ride to Sturgis for bike week and wanted to do it with his 2 brothers and his 2 sons. I immediately said yes. The timing of the trip became a problem with 1 uncle and my brother. We decided to put it off this year and make it the following year with plenty of advance planning.

Well the cancer has reared it's ugly head again. While talking to my dad about it this last weekend I suggested that we make the ride to Sturgis anyways and to hell with whoever couldn't make it. He was ecstatic that I would go. He called the others and only got one uncle to commit right away. I'm still working on my bro but dad and I have offered to pay his way so there's really no excuse except that he's whooped. Within hours we made our reservations in Rapid City and were raring to go.

This is gonna be a great trip. Dad lives in Seattle so that's gonna be our starting point. My uncle Cliff lives in Palm Springs and will be riding to Seattle on his own. I'm gonna fly in and rent a bike there. 3 of us will make the 5 hr trip through the Cascades the next day to Spokane, Wa. where my bro and sis live and spend the night. The next day we'll make the 12 hr ride over to Sturgis. Hopefully my uncle Pepe will ride up from Colorado and meet up with us. We'll spend 4 days there riding and just having a good time. Gonna take 3 days for the ride back to Seattle and I'll spend another day visiting with mom.

This will be the longest amount of time I've spent with dad since I was a kid. I moved to Miami from Seattle almost 30 years ago at the ripe old age of 17, 2 weeks after graduating high school. I always knew I wanted to spend my time in the Keys and on the water and haven't looked back since. But I haven't spent too much quality time with my family since either. There's been 4 and 5 day trips to Seattle every couple years but that's not really a whole lot. Dad has only been down here once in all those years and mom has made 6 or 7 trips. We talk on the phone on a regular basis but that's not the same thing. So this is a trip I'm really looking forward to.

Any of you guys ever made the trip that could throw me a couple tips? I've got some buddies that make the trip every year and they've been a big help so far but they're going up from down here. I've made a few rides to Daytona and Key West but this is a different beast. Gonna live off the bike for a while. Really looking forward to it! :rockon