But I Speak "American"

While my motorcycle sits in Seattle Washington I am going through some serious withdrawals. My dads bike was suppose to have been fixed by now, but due to some insurance bullshit!! 

I am stuck bikeless....

Luckily my brother loaned me his for a week (or two) and I decided to ride it up to Detroit Michigan. It was about 9 hours each way taking the back roads. My brothers bike is a 2014 Honda Valkyrie 1800. Basically a Honda Goldwing cruiser style.

2014 Honda Valkyrie

Left Saturday morning really early, it much of been about 6:30 or earlier, and there was this horrible vibration coming from the top of the windshield pounding the top of my helmet. I didn't get 45 minutes down the road and turned around. Here is a pretty good shot of the windshield.

Windshield

Got home, took off the windshield and off again I go. It is quite a different experience riding without a windshield. It'd like to say it's overwhelming but without anything to disrupt the air in front of you it's quite smooth. Fast speeds and gusts of wind are very noticeable though. Anyway, it was much better than the vibration from the windshield. Here was my route.

My Route

Pretty boring actually. I was just happy to be riding and out of the city. I went though a couple pretty awesome farm lands and it's actually a little hilly to the went of Cincinnati. My brothers bikes doesn't have GPS, so I was listening to Google Maps navigate me all the way up there. It probably explains why there aren't any breaks in my route. This worked great until I was 20 minutes from the hotel and my phone battery died. Ooops....

In Detroit I discovered that I was actually staying at the GM Building! There was a ton a people and police navigating around the building when I got there, so I decided to just stay in for the night (it was about 7 or 8).

GM Building

I used some of those points I got from my last adventure and scored a really nice room on a high floor.

Very High Floor

Marriott Detroit room I scored!

I figured since the room didn't cost me anything I might as well get comfortable and order some room service. Which was AMAZING by the way.

Room Service

It came with this giant bottle of wine (the size of a building). So I drank it.

NEXT MORNING

Woke up super happy! The bed was crazy comfortable, I drank the entire bottle of wine the night before, made it through about 3 or 4 episodes of Blue Bloods and... ordered breakfast to the room.

My plans was to leave the room about 10:30 and head through the tunnel that was next to the hotel; so I could say I visited Canada over the weekend. Only to find out that motorcycles were not allowed in the tunnel, no idea why but the lady at the toll booth was very nice and gave me directions to the bridge. Still on top of the world I drive over the bridge into CANADA! I was singing and smiling all the way over.

Once I reached the other side I waited 45 minutes just to get into the country. 

Happy feelings gone. 

This put a huge dent into the time I allotted myself to come into the country so I decided to just stop at Starbucks and get a mug. It was less than a mile from the border and for some reason my cell phone wasn't working. Forced to use Google Maps to get around, I thought it best to just head back.

Packed up and headed back to America. The line coming back into the country wasn't near as long and I only took me about 10 minutes. I pulled up to the gate, turned my engine off and got yelled at by the border guard for not taking my helmet off. Which was fine because I was having a hard time understanding him with my ear plugs in anyway. He asked my what I was doing in Canada and I explained that I was on a weekend trip and went over to get a mug. 

I'll spare you the details....

Fast forward an hour later I'm putting my backpack back together after being detained and interrogated inside the building. Apparently going across the border for a short amount of time is "stupid" as is riding your motorcycle from Kentucky to Detroit for the night. Oh and I don't sound like I'm from Kentucky (thank god).

Needless to say I got back on the road in a foul mood. I was so happy going into Canada and drove back out ready to scream. People are getting shitty with me on the road (I get shitty back), the wind is blasting me from the south and the west constantly.... A couple hours later I get my zen back and suck it up to Madison Indiana. Here I meet a friend and had pizza at the Red Pepperoni.

It was a great trip all and all. Despite the shitty border guards, I came home with my mug!  

My journey takes me back to Seattle on Nov 22nd to bring my motorcycle home. Stay tuned for more!

Route Back to Louisville