Snow and Ice in Texas?

OK, to catch you up. I arrived in Dallas on Jan. 13, 2006 to the worst snow and ice storm Texas had seen since 1985. I´m familiar with Texas weather having lived in Central Texas for 6 years. Generally, you´ll get a few days a year with snow and ice storms, then it returns to fairer temperatures. With this in mind I was hoping to dodge those few days and jump on my bike to head South and meet with Alfred in Austin. (Alfred had left Lubbock a few days earlier. Braving an ice storm, he rode with a broken foot in a soft cast. When he arrived his bike was covered in a sheet of ice. I never said we were the smartest pair.) It didn´t happen that way. My good Friend Lance and his lovely wife generously allowed me to stay with them until it finally warmed to 33 degrees on the 18th.

Riding out of and through Dallas was a challenge. Navigating through an a major city at rush hour is tough, worrying about ice on the road ups the ante. It took almost an hour before I finally hit I35 and began to head South to Austin.

The ride itself isn´t a tough one. It only takes 3 hours to reach Austin. The problem was the cold. I bundled up pretty well but I couldn´t keep my hands warm. In hindsight I should´ve installed heated handgrips on my V-Strom. My cold hands forced me stop every 45 minutes. The good news was I was heading South and it´s warmer in the South, well usually. The weather front which swept through Texas decided to dip and hit Austin especially hard. The city virtually shut down for several days. As I got nearer to Austin I could see ice hanging from trees, buildings, overpasses and in sheets by the side of the highway. I arrived with frozen hands around 2:00pm and met Alfred. We were on the road by 3:30pm heading towards San Antonio. The temperature warmed to a balmy 35 degrees.

We finally stopped for the night about a half hour South of San Antonio. Our hotel (the only one in town) was a flea bag. Alfred made fun of me while I searched for bedbugs. The good news was no bedbugs, the bad news was I found a dirty baby´s diaper next to my bed.

We got on the road the next morning and the temperature had not risen. It was still bitterly cold but Mother Nature was not done torturing us. She decided it might be fun to throw a cold rain storm our way.

We made it to Laredo where the temp finally rose to 50 degrees. We ate lunch and steeled ourselves for the border crossing. In the next post our journey will begin at the border and our Mexican adventure.