A road journal. Reflections, stories, and show notes from the road — nine ceremonies across Southeast Idaho, Las Vegas, Phoenix, Northern Utah, Central North Dakota, Wisconsin Dells, Central Kentucky, Allentown, and Kingston Ontario. The moments that don't quite fit on the map but deserve to be remembered.
Departed Minot with all the kids, two puppies, a donkey, and our officiant riding the Road Glide behind us — pulling what amounts to a small warehouse of things we may use or just clutter the next two weeks with.
We have a feeling we are on to something. Hopefully something good and bigger than us. Or maybe it's just us losing our minds. Both can be true.
Arrived super late in Southeast Idaho last night and set up camp in our little slice of the world for the next few days. Kids are happy to be out of the car. Puppies, also happy.
Parents are considering a tactical retreat to the hot tub. Tomorrow is the first day of the insanity. Wish us luck.
She walked down the aisle in the puke dress. Yes, that's a literal statement, and yes, there's more to come on the podcast.
Randy didn't get lost — but he also didn't have his phone.
Amazing day. 11/10, would recommend.
Hit the hot springs later. Also recommend.
Went to the Idaho Falls Zoo. Voted for the penguins — the ones in South Africa, specifically. Celebrated National Donut Day appropriately.
Took the kids to Yellowstone, saw Old Faithful do its thing. Ravens ate Randy's motorcycle seat — no further comment needed.
Our resident geology buff was, surprisingly, not as excited as we expected.
Pro tip: the gift shop sells $1.50 cans of a local pale ale, and you can probably walk around with one. Probably.
Drove three kids back to North Dakota from Idaho — they had their first Krispy Kreme experience along the way. Got home to really tall grass, because someone fertilized the lawn and left the sprinklers on. Also: 90mph winds with severe storms. Cool, cool.
Keisha and crew peeled off south toward Las Vegas.
Up at 3:45am for a 5am flight that got delayed, which made me miss my connection to Las Vegas — and lose my comfy seat in the process. In a first for me, the pilot walked out of the jet bridge and announced, "We're going to the other plane!" 11/10 pilot, for the humor alone.
Randy discovers poke nachos in Las Vegas. Keisha and I split oil cans of beer at an Outback she used to work at, then had dinner with friends.
Made it to Phoenix in time for ceremony two tomorrow.
It is so damn hot. We got married in front of friends at high noon, with video managed by a nephew of one of Keisha's old friends — someone she used to babysit. Pretty cool full circle moment.
Went on a coffee run after the ceremony and made friends in the shop. Great hospitality and a meal at one of Keisha's favorite spots from her younger years.
Retreated to the rental house to inspect the pool-worthiness of the property. It passed inspection with flying colors.
Screamed back to Las Vegas to board the puppies for the night — no puppies allowed at The Venetian. Dinner at Sushi Fever, where Randy and Donkey confirmed it's the best sushi ever and that we did not oversell it.
Went to see the crew we rolled in with and got married by Batman — sorry, I mean Bruce Wayne — at the Little White Chapel. Most people there were not expecting that.
Waxed philosophical with a nine-year-old about why you can't watch Disney+ on casino resort TVs.
Early morning adventures on the strip in search of $5 blackjack for Donkey. Search abandoned in favor of Taco Bell Cantina. Put five miles on the strip between 1am and 4am.
Got back to the resort and was still wide awake. Made $5 on bubble craps — so you could say I beat them at their own game. But that would be completely wrong.
I always enjoy the Venetian rooms. So much room for whatever you want. Like, say, nine wedding dresses.
Checked out and headed to Utah on a little less sleep than I arrived with.
Scored a sweet VRBO above Ogden Canyon. It's beautiful. No one is sleeping well — but we're here for it.
Ceremony four by the creek in Ogden Canyon was perfect, as was the small dinner afterward. Randy had a blast at his first visit to a local Army Navy surplus store.
Packed up the first leg of the tour and headed back toward North Dakota — not before one last stop at Taco Time. Fun fact: pulling a trailer is not great for the MPGs, but it is great for the DIR (dollars in register) at every gas station.
Holed up in Billings for the night because everyone is gassed.
Made it back to North Dakota to unload the extra leg-one supplies, do laundry, maintain the vomit comet (listen to the podcast for that one), and start prepping for ceremony five.
Probably should hay the yard again.
It's Monday. No one slept better being home. This feels like life now. Please send Red Bull.
Kind of a normal day for a moment — but it won't stay that way for long. Worked on t-shirts for the kickball tournament.
Cooper the Storm Pooper goes in for an oil change and tire rotation, having gained approximately 4,200 miles. Service completed — Cooper feels good. Jon and Keisha feel better knowing the oil is fresh after the desert Southwest and a lot of trailer towing.
Randy is off to Sturgis, SD ahead of the annual rally with motorcycle friends from Minot. He is having a great time.
Jon is detailing the vomit out of Cooper from June 3rd. He is not having a great time. But Cooper has new-car smell again.
Worked to finalize prep for Saturday's wedding. Pressed t-shirts for Team Bride — which, kidding aside, is basically everyone — versus Team Groom, which is basically just Jon.
Mowed the yard. Again. Began loading the trailer back up with supplies for the eastern leg of the tour. World tour edition?
Ceremony five, surrounded by local family and friends in our home church. Kickball tournament afterward in a local park, with more fun than you can imagine.
There were kickballs stuck in trees, beers in a cooler, and a nearly irresponsible amount of banana pudding.
Father's Day. French toast in the morning, steaks at night. Final prep for the most ambitious, most adventurous, dare we say most fun leg of the tour.
Wheels up at 6am.
Headed east for ceremony six, with friends meeting us in Wisconsin. Randy and Donkey snuck out of the hotel late to sing karaoke in Wisconsin Dells.
Jon and Keisha DoorDashed German food after a cold hot dog at a gas station earlier in the day did not hit the spot.
Wake up. Waterpark. Waterslides. New friends. Jon begins to come around on brandy old fashioneds, Sconnie style.
Private islands, swimming, lots of sun. We now speak only in short phrases. Too much fun, long drives, and hearts full with new friends.
Arrived at the rental house at 3:30am. Ken took my rider joke literally and provided 57½ green M&Ms, three bottles of bourbon, and the biggest box of Cheez-Its I've ever seen. Both he and his wife were awake to greet us, and they made us breakfast in the morning. Loved.
Departed for the Bardstown distillery for quite the experience — you'll have to listen to the episode to hear how amazing it was.
Finished the night with a local Italian spot and a round of cigars.
Packed up and headed east. Ate sandwiches made with Janet's cranberry orange sourdough bread, paired with Ale-8 roadside somewhere in Kentucky — locals loved our Northern accents and the laughs that came with them.
Got to the Allentown area late. Late arrivals are becoming a theme.
Up for breakfast, then coffee, then off to ceremony eight in a local park — old stone stairs, walking paths, willow trees, and tasty cakes.
Helped friends finish packing for their move back to North Dakota and fit some of their things into the little extra room left in the trailer. After they pulled away, the rest of the crew explored Whole Foods — Jon had cheese and a beer for lunch. Pizza also happened.
Dropped the trailer in a secure lot in Syracuse ahead of the Canada leg.
Headed to Canada. Waited forever at the border. Got pulled for secondary inspection because the Sequoia still didn't have its plates. Randy lost a knife they wouldn't let him keep. Jon explained that cocktail bitters can, in fact, come in small unlabeled bottles. The immigration officer threw our passports back across the counter at us. Super cool man.
Finally made it to family and their orchards — what a way to close out the insanity of the tour. It happened to be National Haskap Berry Day in Canada, so we toasted our final ceremony with fresh Haskap soda, right there in the orchard where the fruit was grown.
Fell asleep to crickets next to my best friend — still 11/10 on both counts. Woke up to amazing banana pancakes and incredible sausages.
Loaded up and headed back to the US. Our border officer was very appreciative of how well we knew the eventual license plate number of the vehicle we were driving — we avoided another inspection slip.
Dropped Keisha off in Rochester so she could fly home and handle things on the home front ahead of the last leg. Dinner along the river downtown, with the falls lit up in the background.
Jon, Randy, and Donkey stayed the night, then rolled out at 6am. Randy is a certified baddie — Keisha's words — or a kick-ass Harley road boss — Jon's words. Either way, he put sixteen hours on the Road Glide today, trailing through heavy rain for part of it to help us push to Fargo.
Randy and Donkey had their first Portillo's experience after a steady diet of gas station snacks across the Ohio and Indiana turnpikes.
Randy and Jon arrive back in Minot. Right back into normal life — trailer unpacking, dry cleaning dropped off, and the first meetings starting with outlets and folks who want to hear the story.
Nine weddings. Twenty-four ceremony days. Seven thousand five hundred miles. If even one person hears about this and decides to take their love on the road to the people who will support the commitment they're making — to each other, and to themselves — that's the whole point.
Jon will wake up next to his best friend again tomorrow, looking forward to the rest of forever.