McGregor: The people in Mongolia were incredible. We would ride for hours and not see anyone. Then one of the bikes would break down. We'd get out our tools, and three people would suddenly ride up on horseback or a group would show up in a jeep. They'd help us fix the bike or give us food or whatever else we needed.
What was the loneliest stretch of highway you encountered?
McGregor: The emptiest stretch of road was between Irkutsk and Magadan in Siberia. It's called the Road of Bones because of its history, its remoteness, and its state of disrepair. Stalin sent [countless] political prisoners to die building that road. At the time of year we rode it, the permafrost was melting, so there were trees, bogs, bears, washed-out river bridges—and absolutely nothing else. Except for really [screwed-up] roads.
Riding a motorcycle around the world seems like the ultimate midlife-crisis trip. Did it change your life?
McGregor: My feeling about seeing the world is that it's going to change you necessarily, just the very fact of being out there and meeting people from different cultures and different ways of life. People in cafés and small towns and rural areas, people looking after their kids. Meeting those people has given me a real optimism about the future.
If someone else were to make the same trip, what's the one item you'd recommend they bring?
McGregor: Wet wipes. They're just very handy on a trip like this.
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