America the Diligent (weeks 3&4)
One month and 15 States later…. I’m still a truckin’!
So our pit stop in Alexandria, Minnesota was unexpected. What should have been a quick stop turned into a whole wonderful evening. We filmed two stories at a gorgeous lake house while shooting the breeze over beers with new friends. Unfortunately we had to leave if we intended on making to Fargo, ND that night as our host Jay, a medical doctor, was awaiting our arrival as he had to be at the hospital first thing the next morning. Oooppps…
Perry, Dave, Jason, Tim, Julie, Nathan, Me
Fargo, What to say? Did it live up to expectations? Well, it was awkward, uneventful, yet charming… So yes, it did meet expectations. The morning after our arrival me and Nate stopped in a ‘Hornbacher’s’ (a local supermarket chain) in search of a mail drop and unique locations for us to visit/film. The manager on duty, “Rodger” did everything imaginable to help us find some Norwegian Ship. He tried his darnedest to get us directions and even went as far as to have a underling search though phone books for an address and phone number. Rodger was just so polite that it was frustratingly annoying. The charade lasted nearly ten minutes… finally ending when Nate reluctantly revealed that he had pulled the information up on his iPhone upon first mention. He seemed somewhat disappointed that he wasn’t of more use… I just wanted to give him a big hug. Other than that, nothing worth mentioning happened… I walked around the quaint town a bit and watched the trains go by.
Copy That Rodger (Fargo, ND)
Rail Road Depot (Fargo, ND)
The next stop was Grand Forks, North Dakota where we got a video story from Zach. Zach is just a cool person. Super wise for his age, he moved the conversation along for what seemed like hours. From cars to music to politics and life lessons, never a dull moment! Yeah, he’s really cute but damn if he isn’t charming too. If there was room enough in the van we would have kidnapped him and taken on the road with us.
Nate & Zach
Our hosts in Grand Forks, PFLAG parents Pat and Roxanne, shocked us by informing us that we had to stay in a fully loaded luxury RV that was literally the size of a decent new york city apartment. Ohhh the nerve! The next morning we thanked them anyway and then left for Vermillion, South Dakota.
Me, Pat, Roxanne, and Nathan
In Vermillion we had a major issue! Our original host had fallen through, thus we were without a place to stay for two nights. To make matters worse, the tension in the van was thick; No more than 5 words were exchanged over dinner at the local mexican food joint. Fortunately we had unexpected saviors. Clint and Rochelle put us up the first night and five amazing straight frat-esque guys came through on the second night. Clint and Rochelle handed us a can of whup-ass at Smash Bros. while the guys got us liquored up.
Rochelle & Clint
Frank, Jay, and Me
The next stop was Omaha. Our hosts, Tom and Barbara Johnson were a god send. They opened up their home and treated us like family. They setup a reading event for us and even allowed us to film their story. They even dragged me and Nate out to the gay bars. Unfortunately for us there’s not a lot of happenings in Omaha in the middle of the week. Me and Nate found other ways to entertain ourselves… (see video below).
Barbara & Tom
The drive to Denver was our longest yet. It took us nearly 13 hours… and corn fields made up most of the journey. We actually stopped at a Corn Maze in North Platte, Nebraska. The goal was to complete the maze in record time but Nick and his cheat sheet got us lost. No worries the Corn Cop was on the premises to lend a hand.
Corn Maze (North Platte, Nebraska)
Michael the Corn Cop (North Platte, Nebraska)
Once in Denver our host Ladd, Marketing Director of Connexion, showed us an amazing time. We held a reading/screening Saturday afternoon, had dinner and drinks in town and then hit up the clubs for a night cap. I also met up with an old friend from Philly/Rutgers, so that was the added sugar on my candy. Originally we had planned on leaving sunday morning but we were have such a great time extending our trip another day was an easy call. After shooting a video story in Cheesman Park, Ladd took us up into the Mountains for the afternoon. So amazing! Denver had all of us imagining what life would be like if we lived there permanently… the conclusion was unanimous “GOOD”.
Reading/Screening Event @ Denver LGBT Center
Me & Nate in Chessman Park (Denver, CO)
Me, Nate & Ladd (Outside of Boulder, CO)
Roosevelt National Forest, Colorado
Upon arriving in Laramie, WY we still didn’t have a place to stay but no fear… The amazing Dez to the rescue. Dez is back in New York working hard landing us accommodations and events for the tour. She’s amazingly good at it too! Our host this time, Jen, offered up her cozy apartment while she stayed at a friend’s house. She took us out to a bar called the Buckhorn Saloon. The bar was rather dead being a Monday night but the drinks where cheap, the decoration tacky, and the bathrooms filthy… a perfect dive bar if you ask me! The next day we filmed a couple of stories and wandered around town for a bit before making our way to Utah.
Laramie Pedestrian Bridge
Buckhorn Bar (Laramie, WY)
Everything in Utah seems to revolve around the LDS church… and I mean everything! We met some cool people tho. Gay-Lynn and her son Kyle put us up in their sweet log cabin while Ryan, Eric and Chris chatted with us at the Pride Center. Before we left Kyle gave us his story and a quick tour of the Mormon Temple grounds.
Ryan, Nate, Eric & Chris @ Pride Center (Salt Lake City, UT)
Nate & Kyle @ LDS Temple (Salt Lake City, UT)
I had never heard of Pocatello, Idaho and needless to say my expectations were low. But damn did I have a good time. The local news station interviewed us for a piece on bullying and then we had a screening event in the Idaho State Student Union on friday. Damn… Does Idaho have some cuties. Granted, they’re young… but they’re really cute! They invited us to a house party where the average age might have been a generous 19 (we obviously skewed that number); Apparently the high-schoolers intermingle with the college kids in Pocatello. Our host Derrick made us aware of the under-age situation and suggested that we leave before the police arrived… but we didn’t make it. By the time we rounded the troops together the police had already ascended on the house. Being from New Brunswick I knew the routine… [“Quiet down, no one leaves, and under-agers… hide! ” followed by “Whew… the let us off with a warning, we’ve got to keep the noise down.” The first chance we got we left and capped the night off at Charlie’s, the town’s only gay bar. From a partying standpoint, the award would have gone to Pocatello but… we ended up in Jackson, Wyoming the very next night. Before Jackson, we had a breather in Blackfoot, ID where we took a bunch of photos of “Martha”
Derrick @ Idaho State University (Pocatello, ID)
I’m From Driftwood Screening @ Idaho State University (Pocatello, ID)
In Front on Martha’s (Blackfoot, ID)
Jackson was supposed to be a low-key chill break from the routine, and it started out just as expected. Dinner followed by a couple of hours of work before capping the night at a local tavern… But then… we met this girl named Sue, and the night got interesting! We thought it would be a good idea to pop into the “famed” ‘Million Dollar Cowboy Bar’ for one drink before heading back to the hotel. Suddenly we hear… “You boys are the nicest dress guys in here. Where are you from?” The next thing we know we’re rushed off to another bar for some dancing. It’s at this point that Nick decides that an after party at our hotel was a good idea; and for some reason, Nate, and I agree. Sue was all about it and proceeded to invite half the bar as patrons exited. Uhhh Ohhhhh!!! Fortunately a better option opened and we all headed to some huge house on the outskirts of town. After the after party came pancakes. I supposed i eventually made it to sleep at 6am. Unfortunately there aren’t many photos from that night.
Rise and shine with mild hangovers in the morning… popped a couple of ibuprofen and we’re off through the Grand Teton and Yellowstone in route to Helena, Montana. Needless to say we saw many amazing views!
Just Outside of jackson, WY
Nate & Nick (Grand Teton National Park)
Jackson Lake (Grand Teton National Park, WY)
Old Faithful (Yellowstone National Park, WY)
Buffalo Herd (Yellowstone National Park, WY)
After Wyoming we stopped in a small town outside of Helena where we stayed in your standard single wide mobile home. It was set in the valley of a mountain range off of a dirt road. Mark and Paul have lived there for a few months and they’ve recently have taken Zach in. Zach is trying to save up enough money to get out of Montana as soon as he can. We also met a large, awkward and intimidating character named Tonto at a nearby combination Casino, Bar & Restaurant joint; 11 in the morning and he was already drinking heavily. He approached us and tried to recruit us for the local semi-pro football team, we cautiously and un-provokingly declined several times but he kept on insisting we call “Coach Wall”. 5 minutes later each of us are plotting how we’re going to escape or worse… take this guy down should he get aggressive. Fortunately he realized that he had an unattended beverage at the bar. Whew… we all breathed a sigh of relief. Overall Nate and I thought it was a cool experience but Nick thought otherwise.
Nate chats with Zach (North Helena, MT)
Our host Mark (Norht Helena, MT)
We left for Spokane soon after… It was a quiet drive through the mountains and uneventful. Our hosts in Spokane were what must be a contender for the Perfect American Family. The son, Mathias came out at the age of 11 and his parents have been thoroughly supportive over the past 4 years. Sure, Mathias has problems… but with the family support he has he’ll be able to overcome anything!
Ronnie, Reagan, Mathias, Nate, and Me
So that brings us to the present. I’m in route to Seattle, Washington. I’ve figured some techie stuff so I’m going to try to post more frequently b/c these long posts are just too daunting! We’ll see…
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Movie! Leo’s Room
I saw this film from Uruguay last night at Philadelphia’s Q-Fest… It started out strong but then fizzled. At nearly the halfway point my friend Josh whispered “can someone hit fast forward please?” I would have if I would have had a remote control.
From IMDB:
Leo, a young man coming to terms with his own sexuality, runs into Caro, a primary school friend he fancied when they were kids, who’s now trying to ward off her own personal demons. This casual re-encounter will affect their personal conflicts without either truly grasping the other’s problem.
Title: Leo’s Room
Starring: Martín Rodríguez & Cecilia Cósero
Written & Directed By: Enrique Buchichio
Distributed By: TLA Releasing
I’m From Driftwood @ 2010 NYC Pride
I’m From Driftwood Crew @ NYC PRIDE! Try to figure out which one I am!
Watch! Male Bonding - Year’s Not Long
Don’t know much about Male Bonding ;-) but I do like this video. And yes, You ARE gay for watching it!
Music Video by the multi-talented Vice Cooler
Watch! I’m From Melbourne, Australia
I haven’t posted any of the I’m From Driftwood video’s that i do in a long while, so today is as good as any. Tom Jackson is a pretty funny guy and his story had me laughing out loud. I suppose it’s the accent, but he seems quite charmer. Anyway, Tom puts out a weekly Gayletter highlighting gay things to do in New York. Hmmm… I’m thinking Philly needs its own version of this as Philly Gay Calendar is not effective in that regard.
