“Can I help you?” the salesman asked somewhat skeptically when I walked inside Hermy’s motorcycle shop on a rainy today. For a split second, I considered pretending I was interested in the merchandise, as I sometimes do when I wander into stores for my One New Place. I knew it would be pointless, however. So I confessed to just being curious, asked if I could look around and even told them about my blog

I was worried they would, at best, ignore me, or at worst, consider me a pain where they sit on their bikes, but instead they were pleasant and friendly, letting me wander around their not one, not two, but THREE showrooms and teaching me some motorcycle trivia: Triumph is the oldest motorcycle company in the world (1902) beating Harley Davidson by one year (1903). BMW comes in a little later at 1923. Ha!

And saw a yellow BMW bike that I would never buy, but if I did, I would love it and call it “Bumblebee.”

Anyway, this store has been here for as long as I can remember, perched on the side of Route 61 in Port Clinton It took a surprising amount of courage to go inside. I actually almost turned around in the parking lot and went down the road to the antique shop, but I am glad I didn’t. I figured that is the point of this blog—to go outside my comfort zone.