The journey west begins on Father’s Day.

After an early morning father’s day breakfast with Dan (my stepdad) we all say our goodbyes. Before I get on the road, I give my mom a ride on my bike. This is the first time mom has ever been on my motorcycle and she seems to genuinely enjoy the ride. A lot of people ask what my mother thinks of me riding a motorcycle, and until she jumped on the back today, I always felt like she had plausable deniability. I think it’s a special experience for both of us for her to take a brief ride with me before I set out for my journey west.

[from my moms perspective]

[me and mom]

I’m meeting up with my dad and stepmom for lunch at the Turning Stone Casino, about two hours west. The ride out is extremely grey and I get rained on a few times along the way. It’s great to see my dad on fathers day and we manage to keep our donations to the casino to a minimum. We have a great lunch together, before saying our goodbyes and I continue west.

[slightly cloudy skies]

The last stop of the day is to hang out in Rochester, NY with my stepsister Emily for the evening. She lives and works there and I really look forward to seeing her place and the life she has established. She gives me the tour of her apartment, then we walk down the street to a very happening row of bars and restaurants. We enjoy catching up over great food and drinks. Eventually her good friend Katelyn joins us and we walk to a few other favorite neighborhood bars. At some point along the way, after discovering that both Emily and Katelyn have tomorrow  (Monday) off from work, we decide to go to Niagra Falls for the day. We have a fun night of laughs and late night pizza, before finalizing the plan for tomorrow.