This column has been on one wild ride to get written as it was originally due on Monday, August 28—right as all hell had broken loose along a 300-mile stretch of the Texas Gulf Coast, no thanks to Hurricane Harvey. My fantastic editor Shadow gave me some wiggle room because it took several days for dealership staff in the affected areas to get back in the game of selling and serving area motorcycle riders. In spite of so many people being surrounded by catastrophic hardship, many of the dealerships in South Texas have been on the front lines to ensure they could open their doors to accept donations from everyone from locals to out-of-state riders that simply felt the need to help in some way. As we all know, there is an amazing camaraderie in the motorcycle scene and the dealers are offering a much-needed sense of simple normalcy in a very surreal and trying time… The crew at Corpus Christi H-D were back in business on Tuesday, August 29. A little over 200 miles away at Mancuso H-D Central on the north side of Houston, they were able to open the next day, Wednesday, and offered free pickup and delivery of any motorcycles that needed to come in for service after the storm. The sister Mancuso team at Crossroads H-D on the west side of Houston shared stories with me of how five of their staff had lost everything in the flooding with one of their associates stuck in her third-floor apartment with her two dogs and flood waters up to the second floor of her apartment building. Cowboy H-D, an hour east of Houston, in Beaumont, came through unscathed but many of their staff were subjected to extensive flooding in their homes… For many, the big news has been the Lone Star Rally giving a big “F U” to Mother Nature by proclaiming that “…the Spirit of Texas is strong and the show will go on Nov. 2–5!” LSR typically attracts almost a half-million attendees and there will be some modest adjustments to their concerts and VIP tix so riders are encouraged to look for the latest updates at lonestarrally.com… Speaking from personal experience after covering the community outreach by biker churches in the North Texas area after the December 2015 tornadoes, the best way to help victims from a distance is to send gift cards from the big-box stores like Home Depot, Amazon, Target, etc. In fact, many riders in the Houston area have shared updates on social media asking for donations of gift cards for the victims or cash to nonprofits like Mercy Chefs (MercyChefs.com) or Samaritan’s Purse (SamaritansPurse.org)… If you are anything like me, after witnessing the visuals from the Gulf Coast, you are probably wondering if your bike is properly covered for whatever life throws at you. Laura Adams is the senior insurance analyst for InsuranceQuotes.com and advised that if it wasn’t possible to physically move the motorcycle to a more secure location—perhaps further inland when dealing with a hurricane—then to at least make sure you have comprehensive coverage on your bike because that is what will protect you should your ride be submerged in a flood or stolen… It’s going to be a marathon for riders in South Texas to rebuild their lives so please keep them in your prayers. I’ll be back next month to cover the monthly highlights from around Texas.
