I never heard the term “bucket list” before that movie came out, but I’m very familiar with the idea of setting goals. A long, long time ago I read somewhere that a study of college students showed that 10 years later, those who left school with clear-cut goals in mind had accomplished far more than those who did not.

Basically, if you set goals and review your progress toward those goals periodically you are much more apt to take the steps necessary to accomplish them. On the other hand, if you don’t know where you’re going, any road will take you there.

So we get to bucket lists, the things we want to do before we kick the bucket. I wanted to do a column for Rum Bum about the motorcycling bucket list I would set for myself. But the truth of the matter is that I’m generally not much of a goal setter. I decided I’d take a look at what other motorcyclists include on their lists.

Maybe I’m blessed, or maybe it’s just that I’m a doer, not a wisher, but I was interested to find that many of the things a lot of riders have on their bucket lists are things I’ve already done. One that showed up repeatedly in my search was riding the Going to the Sun Highway up through Glacier National Park. Yup, I’ve done that. The Grand Tetons, Yellowstone, the Grand Canyon–I’ve been all those places more than once. Pacific Coast Highway through Big Sur? You bet.

Beyond roads, there were other experiences: Ride in a sidecar–done that twice. Attend a Moto GP event–twice. Go to the Sturgis rally–twice.

Of course there were plenty of bucket list items I haven’t done, and it was interesting to see what other people yearn for. Riding the Blue Ridge highway and riding the Tail of the Dragon are two I haven’t done because they’re out east and I’m in the west. But they’re on my agenda. I’ll get there some day.

Another, as one fellow put it: Touch my wheel in every state and province. I can only tally up 18 states and 1 province so far so that’s another I would put on my list.

One that a surprising number of people listed, and which I have no interest in at all, is to ride an Iron Butt event. My attitude is “good for you guys” but doing 1,000 miles in one day just doesn’t sound like any fun at all. The occasional times when I’ve covered 500 miles in a day have been absolutely plenty for me, thank you. But hey, different strokes for different folks.

There was one guy, however, who had an item on his list that I think every one of us can agree with: Lotto. Win it. Buy any motorcycle I want.

I’m with you dude. Now all I have to do is start buying tickets.

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