The Lost Alaskan Rally sponsored by the Randolph Motorcycle Association in Converse was the first chance I had to attend a run wearing my newly acquired SJHR colors.

Since Converse is so near (just this side of San Antonio) I decided to make the run a day trip. To make the poker run, I left Houston at 4 AM. This meant that it was going to be dark, very dark, when I departed. When I left the driveway for the trip, it was very foggy and very cold.

Nowadays, this situation would not be nearly as serious as it was back then. When I left for that trip, I had less than a year of experience riding a motorcycle. My equipment consisted of a motorcycle, helmet, leather jacket and pair of boots. That’s right. No wet weather or cold weather gear to speak of.

When I reached downtown Houston, I was very wet, very cold and could hardly see at all in the fog and darkness. The trip had hardly begun. That’s when I hit the grooved pavement. I slowed down, afraid of the squirrelly feel of the bike on the grooved pavement. The darkness, the fog, the wet road and the grooved pavement was a combination that I found quite unnerving. Finally, the grooves ended and I felt like I had control of the bike again.

By the time I left Houston, the fog was getting thicker and the air was getting colder. I had to wipe my faceshield continuously to see. Then I couldn’t get the faceshield to clear off. It was covered with ice! I stopped to scrape the faceshield and left it cracked so I could peer under it when the ice formed too quickly to scrape off. The bike and I both had a coating of ice and my legs didn’t react too well when I tried to move them. I tried to convince myself that ice would not be forming on the road in the next couple of hours and started off toward Converse, lifting my legs with my hands to get them on the pegs.

The time before dawn was spent riding from one truck stop to the next, stopping at each in turn to huddle with my fingers wrapped around a cup of coffee, trying to absorb as much heat as possible. The sun finally rose and after a couple of hours, began to shred the fog. The temperature finally began to rise as well.

When I stopped for gas, it seemed that I might be drying out after all. I drank another cup of coffee and rode on.

After a few miles, the bike just couldn’t keep up to speed when going up the hills. For ten minutes I tried to think of what could be causing the bike to bog down. Was it bad gas? Water getting to the ignition? Try taking off the choke, Mike!

With the capriciousness that Texas weather exhibits, the rest of the day was picture perfect. A breath of spring in the middle of the winter. I didn’t win in the lose-lose poker run, but my stay in the jail wasn’t very long. When I rolled back into my driveway at the end of the day, I was warm and dry. Life was good.