Ray Hooper
March 7, 2012
I have some photos from 1994 of George and me riding dirt bikes with the local club, I think that's about the time I met George. Even though he was 20 years older than me, he was always a great rider, and was able to keep up with the younger guys in the club, and could show them how it's done. George was one of the main organizers behind all of the club events and rides, and his warm and friendly style made everyone feel welcome and we always had a good time. George loved maps of all kinds. He would spend hours studying maps to find the best places to ride, and then organize an expedition to go exploring in the woods. We really had a good time riding dirt bikes with the club for 10 years or so, riding as much as once per month some years. In 2004, one of our common friends, George Mays, passed away, and somewhere about the same time, Gummy hurt his shoulder and felt that he couldn't enjoy riding dirt bikes. He sold his bike, and the dirt bike club suffered from the loss of two of our long-time leaders. That didn't last long though, because sometime around 2006, I think, George bought another bike, and we did several more rides, including a trip to ride dirt roads in Arkansas. Over the years, George and other club members went on trips to Colorado, New Mexico, and Tennessee. We always had a good time with such good traveling companions. George gave up on dirt bikes again in 2007, and I didn't see or hear from him much for a while. The dirt bike club slowly faded away and stopped meeting by early 2008. Then in February of 2010, I got a phone call from George. He said I needed to buy a bicycle and go riding with him. I had done a lot of bicycling when I was much younger, but didn't own a good bicycle anymore. I brought my $99 Wal-Mart mountain bike and George brought his $2500 carbon fiber mountain bike and we went on a ride on the old trails in the Angelina National Forest in early April of 2010. Needless to say, I was out of shape, and was quickly huffing and puffing, but I was determined not to let George leave me behind. I finally had to cry uncle, because I thought I was going to lose my breakfast after a few miles. George took it in stride, and after I caught my breath, we continued on the ride, at a slower pace. At one point, we traded bikes, and I got a laugh when I saw George breathing hard after riding my crappy bike for a few hundred yards. I bought a modern road bicycle on tax day in 2010, and George and I had been riding buddies again for the last two years, usually getting in at least a couple of rides per month when the weather wasn't too cold or too wet. Of course, George rode for an hour or two every day, either outside, or inside the garage on his trainer. So, he was still the better athlete than me. I think I can only count a couple of times when I had to slow down and wait for George, it was almost always the other way around. Like he had done for the motorcycle club, George would search out new routes to ride, and he attracted a number of other folks to our circle of bicycling friends. Sometimes we would have as many as 8 or 10 riders, but most of the time it was just the two of us, or maybe a group of 3 or 4 riders. George loved the exercise, loved working his lungs and legs. He enjoyed riding with a group and socializing, but also seeing who had the strength and endurance to lead the group, or push the pace. George and I were riding one of our favorite routes last Sunday morning, from Beaumont to Sour Lake going into a west wind on the ride out. We were riding back from Sour Lake when George was hit by a car that had wandered onto the shoulder where we were riding. I thought if anyone could survive a hit like that, it would be George, because he was in such good physical condition, and we had both survived some major crashes in our dirt-biking days. I am really going to miss George. He was the easiest kind of friend you could have. Always cheerful, patient, kind, helpful, interested in family and what else was going on in your life, but most interested in just getting out of the house and enjoying the outdoors, whether it was riding a motorcycle in the woods or down a dirt road, or enjoying the countryside or the road from a bicycle seat. George and I were planning to ride the Spindletop Spin charity bicycle ride in June. I still plan to make that ride, and I hope as many of our friends as possible will come along and make the ride in George's honor. The route will take us through Sour Lake again, and that will be the most difficult part of the ride for me.
