Eventually, I arrived at my hotel. It was atrocious. The name of the place was redacted. It was so bad that if it were a location in Breaking Bad it would have taken away from the realism for being “a bit much”. That’ll show me for booking the cheapest place and reading exactly no reviews. When I walked into my room and discovered it smelled like crack, I decided that I should stay somewhere else. So, I made up an excuse, checked out, and went to Appleby’s to use their Wi-Fi.

I booked a room at a Days Inn across the street, rode over, and checked in. It was also in rough shape, but the sheets were clean, the towels fluffy, and the shower had hot water, so I was set. At this point I went to the game, our team won, and I returned to the Days Inn to sleep.

One More Surprise on this Solo Motorcycle Trip

Waking up the next morning, I opened my blinds to greet the day. Instead, what greeted me was two bullet holes in the window. I had to chuckle to myself because the fact was, it still felt far safer than the first hotel.

The temperature was -2°C that morning, which presented its own problems. Motorcycles are summer machines, and so they use summer tires. This means that they have less and less traction when it’s cold, not to mention the windchill factor when doing 80 mph.

Knowing it was going to get warmer, I wanted to wait. But I didn’t want to wait too long or else I would be getting home when it was dark and cold. So, I grabbed a quick breakfast, a shower, and hit the road when it was slightly warmer (though still freezing cold).

After 8 hours on backroads in conditions that remained sunny, and mostly wind and rain free, I made it home. I was exhausted from being on the road for nearly 20 hours all told, but I would do it again in a heartbeat. This solo motorcycle trip was probably best summed up by The Wheel by the Grateful Dead, which perfectly landed in my shuffled playlist as I got on the road that morning. “Small wheel turn by the firing rod, big wheel turn by the grace of God, every time that wheel turn ‘round, bound to cover just a little more ground.”