Willkommen nach Heidelberg

I woke up to the sound of traffic. I wanted to sleep a little longer but it wasn't a possibility. After being pulled over by the police for the second time I decided to call it quits for the night and find a place to bunk. I knew I wasn't going to find a hotel or a camp sight in the dark so I just parked my bike out of the way and walked into the farmers field adjacent to the gas station. I found a decent spot under a tree. I didn't bother setting up a tent because I didn't want to be too conspicuous. I just put on a sweater and climbed into my sleeping bag and used my duffel as a pillow. The cold weather woke me up so I put on a toque (Canadian for knitted hat) and fell back asleep.

It was warm out and I woke up in a sweat. I was absolutely ravenous so I grabbed out my tucker bag (Australian for food holding bag) and started eating the contents furiously. I had filled it with breads and cheeses from the continental breakfasts I had attended during the trip but what I really needed was a coffee so I walked over to the gas station and put some money into the Nescafe Machine. This would be the closest thing I would have to a coffee for the rest of the trip.

It was beautiful and warm out and my motorcycle started right away. I tied all my belongings on and started down the Autobahn again. After thirty kilometers I had knocked off the cobwebs and I was fully awake. I was following the signs to Frankfurt but my real target today was Heidelberg. If I was lucky I wouldn't get too lost.

I held back on the throttle so I could enjoy what may very well be my last day of riding for a long, long time. Plus, I could feel my back tire sliding out from behind me on even the widest of corners. It might be a good idea to keep the speed down in case the tire were too blow. I'm just smart that way.

I managed to pick up a sign to Heidelberg which saved me having to ask for directions. This is turning out to be a very lucky day indeed. Within a couple of hours of waking up I was arriving in Heidelberg. My motorcycle adventure was coming to an end for the year. I had traveled a lot of miles (American for 1.6 kilometers) and I was road weary. In an effort to see as many places as possible my pace was hectic to say the least. What started out as a "Beer Fest" in Munich's Hofbräuhaus has taken me through fourteen countries covering about six thousand kilometers. I'm ready to relax a bit.

I showed up in Heidelberg and made my way down to the center of town. One word describes Heidelberg, "Beautiful!" What a great place to finish my trip. If I had never traveled to Germany before and were asked to draw a picture of what I thought a German town looks like, I would draw Heidelberg. I stopped and had a couple of knackwursts with hot cabbage and finished it up with a beer, yummy! I still needed to find Knopf Tours, the place I was dropping off my bike. So I pulled out my iPhone to see if I could find an Internet connection. Yet again, I was in luck.

I typed "Knopf Tours" into Google and it spit out:


Knopf Tours
Hardtstrasse 78
Heidelberg, Germany 69124
Telephone: (49) 6221 7272308
Mobile: (49) 172 978 6218
Email: knopftours@aol.com
GPS: 49° 22.592N 008°40.478E

What a great idea putting the actual GPS coordinates on your website. Even if you couldn't read a map you would still be able to pull out your sextant and navigate your way to the shop. Fortunately my phone is equipped with Google Maps because I left my nautical charts and pocket watch at home.

I wasn't far from Knopf Tours so I lounged about the square a bit and took in the atmosphere. I was starting to prepare myself for reintegration into the 'real world' even though I still had another day before I had to be on the plane. I had a life to get back to that didn't involve motorcycles or border crossings and I would need a bit of time to re-acclimatise myself to it. I had to get back to a world where everyone spoke English. How weird would that be?

I'm going to miss this.