Wild Motorcycle Tales Here's a great story from Justin C. Kurtz. Got your own story? Send it to me. Purgatory My idea of purgatory is when you are in a hell-like area but can see heaven. You can glimpse it, you can occasionally hear angels sing but you can't ever get to it. In Feb of '01 I had to get my bike from Houston, TX to Greenville, MS. I had bought a motorcycle caddy but it wouldn't work with my car so I therefore had to ride the bike. Well all week the weather had been great, 80 degrees, wonderful riding weather. The weekend came and a cold snap hit the region. 30 degrees and rain. Well I had to have my bike (a '89 chopped up 1200 Sportster) so I brought warm clothes, flew to TX and got on the bike. I made several stops along the way to buy more clothes, gloves etc. but everyone was getting their spring fashions out and I couldn't find much. Several frozen hours later I arrived in Shreveport, LA. Cold tired, body worn and ready for a warm bed, I pulled into a hotel to get a room. As I walk in there's a couple with their six kids getting rooms. The guy starts talking to me about riding etc. (though he didn't ride) and I'm kinda blowing him off and thinking not so kind thoughts about him, his wife and their many rugrat kids. Well these turned out to be things I'll never forgive myself for thinking. The hotel ended up being sold out. As I'm leaving, the gentleman asked me if I got a room. I told them they were sold out (the next nearest hotel was probably 20 more miles down the road). This couple was kind enough to give up one of their two rooms and cram everyone into one room so I wouldn't have to drive to another hotel. I know I didn't thank these folks near enough and didn't offer enough appreciation to these folks but every time I think of them, I hope they won big at the casino they were going to and those many rugrat kids grow up and receive multitudes of rewards for their parents' kindness. So off I go early the next morning. It's raining, 30 degrees and I don't think I am ever going to make it to MS without freezing to death. I don't have a face shield on my helmet so by the time I got home my face was bruised and swollen and I thought I was going to lose my feet to frost-bite. Well this is where the purgatory comes in. For most of the trip off to the north I could just see clear skies, there was a perfect line of clouds then sunshine. It was depressing to not be just a few miles north of my location in that sunny looking, rain free weather. The whole time I'm looking at this weather thinking this is purgatory. I can see a better place but I can't get there. I finally got to the last few miles of my trip, the sun broke through, the rain stopped and I was never happier in my whole life. All I could do was pray for great things to happen to that couple who helped a rude guy out when he needed it the most. And though I hate it when people judge me when I'm clad in full leather on the bike, I judged these people by sight only. If not for people like that, bikers like me would have a lot more time spent broken down on the side of the road, rain soaked, and sleepless. (I have about three more such events where people have gone above and beyond to help a guy out.) Thank you whoever and wherever you are. And as far as purgatory is concerned, man its gonna be a long cold ride. -- Justin C. Kurtz
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