Road Trip to Texas
Bikers, Brothers, Baptists and Beards make for a memorable Trip to the Lone Star State
Sometimes, things don’t go as expected. Sometimes they go
better. This is how the Texas road trip went. I called my
friend, Trish, a couple months prior to this ride. I told her I
was thinking about going to Texas to visit some of my “brothers” in the
Brotherhood of the Grey Beard Bikers. Since I’m a woman, I can be
a Support Member in this group and it’s just like having a boat load of
big brothers all over the globe. It’s a very tight knit bunch of
bikers. I wanted to surprise my friend, Doc, so this had to be
hush-hush with the exception of a couple people in TX to help with the
plans. All Trish said was, “When are we leaving.”
It would be a quick trip. Leaving GA on Friday morning around
4:30, back home on Tuesday afternoon. Since the longest road trip
Trish had every taken was just under 400 miles, last year when we went
to FL, I was a little worried about her being able to do the miles we
needed to do the first day. The FL trip was very hard for her and
I was planning on doing 700 miles the first day of the TX trip, leaving
a little over 200 miles the second day before surprising Doc on
Saturday. We were going to do some long rides prior to the trip,
but life stuff got in the way and we never got around to it.
Friday morning at 4:30, I pull up to Trish’s house and she’s ready to
go. Riding through Atlanta at that hour is smooth sailing and
started our ride on a very positive note. We both needed coffee
and something to eat, but decided to get into Alabama before stopping.
When we finally stopped, we were beyond ready for that first cup of Joe.
We had to stop every 130 miles or so for gas, but by that time we were
ready to stretch, quickly eat something and drink a bottle of water.
All the stops were fast and appreciated. Before we knew it, we
were out of Alabama and into Mississippi, and then the welcome sign for
Louisiana greeted us. Everything was perfect. The weather
was great, traffic wasn’t bad, and all we had to do was fight the fierce
cross winds, but even that was OK since it kept us alert and awake.
All of a sudden we saw the “Welcome to Texas” sign! Amazing!
We were in Texas, it was still early in the day, since we gained an hour
and we weren’t even tired. Adrenaline is a very good thing.
I had planned on going around Dallas/Ft Worth, but because it was after
rush hour and we wanted to cut a few miles off the ride, we decided to
go through the MetroMess. We now know why it’s called that.
The road going through Dallas/Ft Worth is far worse than Atlanta ever
thought about being. By the time we got through all that mess, we
were ready to call it a day and find a bed for the night. Had we
gone the other route, we could have made it all the way to our final
destination. But, 892 miles in one day isn’t too shabby. So,
Ft Worth is where we stopped for the night. 62 miles left for
Saturday and then to see Doc and Takota, my BGBB brothers.
Saturday morning arrived and along with the sunrise came the cross winds
again. We found out that it’s like that most of the time in TX.
It was an easy ride from Ft Worth to Decatur, where we had reservations
at a hotel. We were lucky enough to be able to check in early,
drop off our bags and head to Sunset, where Doc and Takoda live.
Doc owns a Harley shop there so the sound of bikes pulling in wasn’t
unusual for him and we were able to sneak up on him. I walked into
the shop and to the back where he was. Doc is never at a loss for
words, but that Saturday he was. It was GREAT! Just feeling
those arms of my ‘brother’ around me made the ride through the MetroMess
worth it. Then hugging Takota, who I hadn’t seen in two years was
like icing on the cake.
Doc has a very interesting history that includes organized crime, being
president of a 1% Motorcycle Club, time spent in a federal pen and for
the past 20 years an ordained minister, as well as liason between MCs
and LEO. He’s one of a kind and that’s unfortunate. He’s a
very special man and does more good than anyone can imagine. It’s
always exciting to be with him. He’s been married to Pam for 19
years, has 4 daughters and a new grandson. Surrounded by women, he
stays in a state of confusion and is happy to have a boy in the mix.
After we surprised Doc at the shop, we went to the truck stop for lunch,
then back to the shop for yet another surprise. Lucky from
Kentucky, another BGBB ‘brother’ just happened to be in the neighborhood
and stopped by. Takoda and I had never met him face to face, so it
was awesome! What a day this was turning into. Doc had an
errand to run, so we hopped on our bikes and took off. Just being
able to ride with these guys meant more to me than I can tell you.
Two years before, I spent a week with 32 BGBB family members in Missouri
and it was hard to head back home. This was the same feeling I had
then. The afternoon passed by very fast and it was time for Trish
and me to head back to Decatur and our hotel.
Sunday morning, Mothers Day, in TX. The day was cold, windy and
rain was threatening to pay us a visit. Luckily, Stormy, one of my
BGBB ‘sisters’ who lived an hour away offered to pick us up in her car
and take us to church. I had never heard Doc preach, but I knew it
wouldn’t be the typical Southern Baptist sermon I knew as a child and
had avoided as an adult. I had met Stormy at another BGBB
gathering in Houston a couple years before and was thrilled to see her
again. It was as if we saw each other all the time. Thanks
to the internet, we can all stay in touch daily and a lot of times we
seem to be closer than blood relatives. The 20 minute drive to
Sunset and church was full of chatter and laughs. The Ironhorse
Fellowship Church is a great place. A bunch of bikers who were
there only to worship God and not put on a show for others to see.
It was just what I needed and then I knew why I wanted to do a TX road
trip instead of a FL one. That was a very special Mothers Day.
I missed my daughter, son-in-law and two granddaughters, but I knew they
were having a good day as well, celebrating with each other. Cappy,
another one of our ‘brothers’ from TX, made a ride over to church to see
us and Spanky was made a Full Brother that day as well. After
church, I sat around with Doc just talking, after almost everyone else
had gone. I had missed him. It had been almost two years
since we had been sitting at the same table and I had missed it.
Soon afterwards, it was time to head back to Decatur and the hotel so we
could get things ready for the ride back to GA the next morning.
Trish was able to spend time with some of the people I talk about so
much and was able to see how special they are. The biker lifestyle
is new to her, so she was learning a lot that weekend. 4:30 Monday
morning arrived too soon and brought more cross winds with it, but it
was OK. We had a route to take us around Dallas/Ft Worth and we
were ready to get back on the road. We rode until around 7:30
before stopping for breakfast at The Front Porch Café. The food
was DELICIOUS and the coffee was just what the Dr ordered. A man
came in and sat down across from us then asked us where we were heading.
We told him, “Back home to GA”, and told him we had been visiting family
in Sunset. He was an old biker as well and shared stories with us.
After he finished eating, he bid us farewell as he went to pay his bill.
Came back and told us our breakfast was covered and to have a safe ride
back home. What a way to start the ride back.
That day we made it to Tuscaloosa, AL. Not 892 miles, but not a
bad day either. Tuesday would only be a three hour ride for us.
Got back home at 3:00 on Tuesday and slowly came back to reality when I
noticed my grass had grown and the yard needed to be mowed. I just
had to laugh. I was expecting this to be a hard ride since we had
so many miles and so few days, but it was a breeze. Trish is a
very tough lady and the best road trip buddy anyone could ask for.
This trip definitely went better than I expected.
Elaine Morris
May 2010