My son, Zachary, is graduating from high school next weekend. He turned 18 last week. Last night we went to a gathering at the school where all of the seniors were recognized in one way or another (grades, character, sports). The teacher who spoke about my son mentioned that he had raced all over the US. That started me thinking about how many states he had raced in with me. Then that started me thinking about how many states I had raced in and then how many states we had visited going to races. The best I can figure, I have visited all of the states but Alaska and raced in 25 of those. Zachary, at 18 years old, has visited 40 states and raced in 20 of them. I'm pretty sure there's not a kid in his school that has travelled as much as he has.
He and I have spent a lot of quality time together racing and traveling to races. We've had the chance to talk about a lot of things that kids and parents don't get to discuss. A lot of times there has been someone with us but quite often it has been just the two of us. I think it was in 2009 that we went out to the National Enduros in Wyoming and Montana. I was working for Husaberg then so went through Texas and Oklahoma to see some dealers on the way. Zachary had just turned 15 but did not have his learner's permit. We got on I-70 in Kansas and my GPS said the next turn was in 438 miles. I pulled over and said "Hey....your turn to drive!". He drove us all of the way to the hotel in Colorado Springs.
That same year we got up to the race site in Montana on Thursday. KTM had a trail ride planned for Friday that I wanted to do. On Thursday afternoon Mike Lafferty let Zach borrow his 690 Adventure and he was gone for hours riding the dirt roads in the area. He still talks about how much fun we had on that trip.
Now I have a new goal. I want to race with my son in the 48 states on the continental US. It may take a while but I think we can pull it off.
Have any of you ever done this? Do you know of anyone who has raced or even ridden in all fifty states? Of course I mean off road. Pavement doesn't count!
Clay