The Mom and Pop tour is about visiting family. You might ask “Ted, why the hell would you take vacation time to visit family? Why don’t you go to an exotic locale with equally exotc women that refuse to wear more than a square foot of material?” Now that I read that question from the comfort of my Mom’s glider rocker I have to ask myself the same thing. Truth be told, I don’t see my family all that much. I have lived in Germany, Japan, both US coasts and points in between. Travel for the sake of seeing something different was a job for my family. Vacations were used to remind relatives what we looked like.

The first week of the tour was spent with Dad. Alexandria, MN doesn’t offer much in entertainment or unique scenery. I do miss the open fields and rolling hills. The big event for us was participating in escorting the the Traveling Wall from St. Cloud, MN to Long Prairie, MN. We rode with a group of forty bikers from the Patriot Guard Riders, a group of veterans. The ride was about eighty miles total and lead by local highway patrol, sheriff, and fire department. Riding bitch offered me a perch to capture images of the countryside.

Seattle is a deceptive city. Full of trees. Access to open water. Lots of parks and nature friendly pathways. It’s still a city cluttered with concrete and glass. Sure everything I want is a walk away. However, I scuff my knuckles on facades when I try to spread my arms wide. Minnesota is a prairie state. Once away from the Cities, the landscape opens up. It’s cornfields, lakes, ponds, and the occasional farmsteads a’la Rockwell. From the back of a motorcycle (“ridin’ bitch” if you didn’t already know) affords the traveler an unobstructed perch like no other. No vertical roof supports to dice the horizon. No glass blocking the Sun and wind. It might have been only a day in a life, but the seven hours on the back of Dad’s bike is worth seven in the sun anywhere else.