Austin Report

The crew that kindly provided me with the escort to Austin, graciously chose
one of the worst days.. We left about 10:30 AM, Saturday morning.. The wind
blew and those temperatures kept falling.. I swear that mercury bottomed
plumb out.. Whew.. what a ride..

We hit Taylor middle of the PM and the JailCall met us at the Wal-Mart
parking lot.. invited us to his house so the Senora could make us a hot cup
of coffee.. He mounted up and rode on over to Elgin with us where we finally
pried the illustrious chairman, our own Sputnik, loose from the media that
was interviewing him for some magazine or something..

Had a real nice catfish supper in Elgin and made our way into Austin..
Colder'n a witch's tit, I can assure one and all.. Sunday morning was icy
cold and the day commenced around 8 o'clock AM.. Beverly's was the landing
spot for most of the riders from across our great state.. Sheesh, I saw
colors and clubs that I haven't seen in years.. They came.. they were
focused and all had one mission.. By the time we got everyone registered,
the Confederation of Clubs was hammered.. They are the ones who put all this
together in collaboration with TMRA 2, ABATE and the other biker's rights
advocate organizations..

Meetings to gear everyone up for the day in the Capitol, Monday took place
till well into the night.. Many of those warriors were in place and set up
in the state house, Monday morning by 7 AM.. Just after 8:30 AM.. That roar
was vibrating the buildings, as those bikers came down Congress .. All of
them were in parade formation and rumbling down those high rise canyons like
something you just read about.. After they got parked, those warriors
marched from 11th St. right up to those front steps of our Capitol..

When Legislature was called to order. our own Norma Chavez presented the
full gallery of bikers to the legislators.. Awesome.. Legislature was
adjourned so that those legislators could meet with their own constituents..

There hasn't been much feedback, yet.. but I'm sure that we did make an
impact on them.. Until the Bills and Amendments are finished products and
signed into law, we won't know how successful we were.. Brother Hdrider
chose to wait with me until the crunch was over and the PM session adjourned
before we visited the legislators that we wanted to see.. Again.. we caught
our men relaxed and not rushed.. They welcomed us to their offices with a
lot of grace ... They listened to us attentively and responded .. They were
with us on the Helmet Bill, expecially when we connected it to the HIPPA
Act.. They reacted to that news with surprise and actually compared the two
Bills.. Whups.. this ain't right.. was their comments.. The Road Block Bill
was the only one that we actually opposed and it is going to be scrutinized
very carefully before it is voted on.. The Failure to Yield Bill is getting
a lot of scrutiny.. Although TMRA 2 hasn't offered penalty recommendations,
that Bill will probably be supported by Legislators from all over the
state..

I laid over until Tuesday morning and kept the couple of appointments that
I'd made and then commenced the long trip back to Irving.. One of the good
brothers in Austin got me on my way with a good breakfast and a couple of
the Latino Steel bros. rode to Waco with me..A couple of the locals in Waco
heard that we were coming so they met us there, relieved my Latino Steel
bros, and rode with me to Hillsboro.. I was on my own, then.. until I got
home about 3:30 PM or so.. I gotta admit, the ride back was much better
than the one going down..

A lot was happening for Texas Bikers, this week and every man and woman who
gave up their weekend and Monday was impressive and can be commended for
their efforts.. Each one, in his own right, is a true warrior and deserves
credit for their sacrifices..

There were many who walked up to me and introduced themselves as
contributors of tx.motorcycles newsgroup.. Some of them, I recognized the
names, some I'd never heard of.. Tx.motorcycles was represented and I'm
proud of us for our part in making our Bikers Legislative Day a booming
success..

They saw us and heard our voices, people.. We got the job done.. That is far
from the end of this story.. Until those votes are recorded and tallied, we
will not know if we've prevailed.. Till then, the pressure must be
maintained, e-mails..telephone calls, and personal contact with those
legislators must keep this momentum going ..

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

I'm not aware of anything like a sample letter, Beemer.. Yeah .. I kept
looking for you and those sons of yours all day Monday.. Just to get caught
up on our visiting, if for no other reason.. I'll be talking to some of the
DA's this week and we'll see what we can come up with for a sample letter..
Regards

Your friend in Irving
Bill Walker

 

I was considering doing a ride report of my own, but now I think I'll just
piggy-back yours instead!

I left out Sunday morning and it was a nasty day! Even though the sun was
shining when I left, it was cold and became overcast by the time I hit
Austin. I managed to make it two blocks before having to stop and dig out
laundry from the bags to keep me warm. I went from starting out with jeans
and several shirts to adding my jacket and helmet. Then I made it to
Lancaster before I had to stop again and put on my heavier gloves. That
lasted all the way until Waco where I pulled off for gas. At that point, I
wanted the chaps added also. Another motorcyclist wanted to hook up and ride
with me awhile, and I told him as long as he didn't mind waiting until I put
on some more clothes. He smoked another cigarette and we talked. It turned
out, this guy was on leave from Iraq and was heading back to Ft. Hood to
report back and return. He'd been on leave visiting family and friends for
several weeks. While we were there talking and I was getting dressed, a
group of bikes that I'd been playing tag with for the entire trip sped by.
We finished up and ready to pull out. We rode together for a while and just
about the time we almost caught up to the other bikes, they pulled off for
gas. "Well, I guess we'll play tag a little more", I said.

I finally made it into Austin about 4 o'clock and found the motels where
TMRA2 had setup. I went into the Travelodge and checked around about a room.
While I was talking, one of the desk girls handed me a piece of paper. I
asked her what it was and she said "that's my cell phone number, give me a
call". Okay! Didn't even have to do much work for that one! When I stepped
back outside and to the bike, Mike Alvey and his wife went riding by me. I
hollered at them and did our "hey what's up" things. After all the meetings
into the night and talking with all the other bikers, we all ended up in
Mike's room. I was planning on hitting 6th Street and seeing what was going
on, so when Mike asked if I wanted to go, it didn't take much thought to say
"YES!". We got down on 6th and couldn't find a parking place, so we stopped
and waited on the street until something opened up. Next thing we knew, a
guy ran over to the van we were sitting next to and said "do y'all want me
to move this van for you?". SURE! He hopped in and moved it right away!
Well, the bar we had been told to meet everyone in wasn't opened and so
everyone wanted to get a sandwich. I told them that I would catch them later
and I headed for the tattoo place. Once it got time to open that bar, we
went back down there and went in.

After two bars, we decided we'd had enough of that and headed back to the
motels. At about 5 o'clock in the morning, motorcycles began roaring.
Freezing ass cold and there were actually a couple of these riders looking
for a poker run or something.

We got to the Capitol Building about 8am and started visiting with others. I
managed to make my way to Elvira Reyna's office and only her staff was in.
At 10am, the legislature was meeting and we caught Norma Chavez's
introduction of us. After we left there, I figured it was time to pay a
visit on the Public Utility Commission. I took a walk down there and did
some visiting. I noticed a couple of utility lobbyists that I'd seen at the
Capitol in the PUCT office. After I filed a couple complaints with them, it
was back to the Capitol.

Once back at the Capitol, I was waiting on an elevator when a man came
storming into the area where I was standing. He was very much bewildered by
all the excitement going on that day. He kept say to this woman he was with
"I just can't seem to figure it out". I finally asked him what he was trying
to figure out. He said "well, all the bikers...they're here protesting
something and I just can't figure out what it is". I asked him "bikers?". He
said "why yes, haven't you noticed all these bikers here today...they came
in to protest and I can't figure out what they're protesting....they won't
tell me". I said "dude, they're not here to protest anything....they're here
looking for the beer joint". He got really confused and exclaimed "why,
there's not a beer joint here in this building". I responded "there's not?
dude, you better get on this elevator quick and go tell someone that...these
guys are going to be pissed when they hear they can't even get a beer here".

As the day wore down, I noticed that I need to head out and get back to
Dallas. I started to hook up with a couple people on the way out, and
figured I'd rather just lay back and go it alone for the trip back. Having a
tail wind all the way back made it nice!

 

Two very inspiring Reports of what went on at the State Capitol this
past Monday, 1-24-05. Thanks to Bill & Brain Walker, some of us in this
group, appreciate the inside report of how it went down there.
••I hope no one finds anything negative to come up with a stupid
comment about what was reported by each of the Walkers. Both men rode
their motorcycles on a round trip of something around 500 or more
miles, I suspect. ••Personally,I think that alone is impressive,
with the weather being in the low 30's and 40's, Sat/Sunday. I hope
there's no mention of ''hypothermia'' crap. ••I think both men, are
well and healthy today. I think they are, because I have noticed they,
ARE, BACK.
This place will Liven up.



‹›‘‘Smile, When Ya' Type That,
Pardner!›››...BJAY...›››

 

Nope. Didn't even think about it. For one thing, I hate calling cell phones.
For another, I'm married. Very happily too!

My wife and I tell each other everything. Can you imagine me continuing the
story that I called the number and sha-banged the chick in my hotel room?

Nope, I just go so much to the point I will be able to tell my wife. I
figure if I live my life where I can tell my wife, then I have nothing to be
ashamed of with the rest of the world.