Dad tossed me my backpack. "All right, so you all set there, kiddo? Noodles, water kit, blanket, mess kit..." He paused. "Uhm, toilet paper, right? Yeah, I got that for you...yeah, okay. I can't think of anything else you're missing."
I tested the pack's weight. "Nope. It's sure as hell heavy enough, I don't think I need to worry about not taking something along. Wouldn't fit anyway."
Dad patted Perkins on the back. "How about you, bud? You fill up your tires and everything?"
Perkins gave them an extra squeeze. "Yeah, they're fine. We're all set to go. We'll be all right."
I drew Mom and Dad close to me. "Listen, Mom. Dad. I love you to death. I'm so glad you know why we're going...I just. I feel like shit leaving you. I really do. I really..." Despite all the times within the past year that my life was shaken to all hell, turned upside-down, chewed up and shat out, the great surprise came when I started crying. Not just shedding a couple of tears. Sobbing. Bawling. Mom and Dad both clutched me tightly.
Dad spoke. "Casey. You need to go. You have to. You need to find out what's going on with all this business. Now, listen! Look at where you're going! You said Matt is probably with his family in Pittsburgh, and you're going to Cincinnati to check on Wes. That's not that far. It'll take you a couple of months. You've got a map, you've got Perkins with you. You guys will be just fine. You're two of the best, hear me? You're two of the smartest guys I know. So don't worry. I'm going inside now to set up the chess board, and I'll leave it there. When you come back, in two or three or four months, you and me will have a rematch. And you'll find out why I'm the dad and you're the squirt." He smiled and patted me on the back of the neck. I stopped hyperventilating like I was allergic to goodbyes.
Perkins smiled. "Let's get going." We hopped on. It's probably a good thing that my bike didn't have a rear-view mirror. I don't think I could have taken it.
We didn't stop until nightfall. We rode past our neighborhood, through the suburbs, out to the countryside, through a small town or two. At last, our bodies aching, we stopped to set up camp just past the Pennsylvania border.