Every so often, several events will line up to create a perfect storm. Or in this case, a family vacation in a distant land. The first thing that happened was sometime last year, my dad decided to take a sabbatical to ride his bicycle around the country. Now this is no Walter Anderson girl bike. He had a specially made big dummy bicycle that can easily hold saddlebags. There's also a piece of wood that rests behind the cyclist that can be stood on like a surf board.
The second thing that happened is my little sister found out she had to have surgery on her ACL again. She lives in Missoula, Montana, which oddly enough, has one of the best knee doctors in the country. She set a date for June 23 (I think) and dad decided that he'd drive up to Missoula, help her with her recovery, then start the trip from Missoula. Of course mom decided that she had to be there as well. Then my older sister and her husband hopped on board too. That just left me.
And I'm trying to finish up this MBA program and make money in the meantime. But is it really worth missing out on a family adventure? No. And in fact, I decided to spend the entire summer providing vehicular assistance to dad on the bike trip.
Here's what I know so far: We're driving a dying school bus with all the stuff we want (canoes, rafts, bikes, kayaks, camping gear, any friends who want to join) from Louisiana to Montana, and we'll take a couple of weeks to get up there. We'll hang out in Missoula with Isabelle until she feels that she can get around on her own. Then we're heading either east or west from there to visit every ESA alumnus on the way, while taking time to visit national parks, sights of interest, microbreweries, etc. I'll be heading back to Louisiana in early August to start up school again, while dad continues on his journey. But everything could change.
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