Cross Country

   I need to give you a little background before I start. Back in 1988 when I was 21, I shared an apartment with three other guys. I was working at the airport in White Plains, NY, which is about 45 minutes north of New York City. The other guys were straight, and I had never told anyone I was gay back then. One of the guys was my best friend, named Steve. He was from upstate New York, and I met him at work. He was good looking, and there was something about him that drove me crazy. I could just sit and watch him for hours. He could be watching TV, brushing his teeth, or just WALKING and he would be incredibly sexy. I had the biggest crush on him. It made me crazy. I told him once how I felt and we got into a big fight, it didn't end our friendship, but it certainly didn't help things. He was straight as an arrow. The next year, he joined the Air Force and after boot camp was sent to England. I moved out of the apartment shortly after that. We kept in touch by mail. About this time my friend Jeff was going to school in Denmark on an exchange program. He wrote me and asked me to come to Europe and meet him in June when he got done with school. I told him I would love to, but I wasn't going to lead him on - I could not get the time off work, and I couldn't afford it. A few weeks later I got a letter from Steve in England. He had gotten a girl pregnant over there and was going to marry her. This really made me stop and think. Things can happen that can really change your life. If you don't take the opportunities you have at the time you may never get the chance again. The next day, I called Jeff in Denmark and told him I was coming in June. I told him I would take all my vacation at once, work swaps to get more time off, and start saving money now. I would find a way. In four months I was able to save some money, and I managed to get a whole month off of work. I bought a Eurail train pass and got a discount airfare that wasn't too expensive. In June I was off to Denmark. I won't go into detail about the trip here, but it was the best vacation of my life with anther person. I learned some self confidence, and a lot about life and myself. I'll jump back to the Europe trip from time to time..

   The next year I bought my Harley. I had a Kawasaki ex500 for three years, and I wanted to get a bigger bike. I had friends who had Jap bikes and one friend with a Harley. They each tried to convince me to get one like theirs. I loved to go fast on the bike, but I also liked to cruise around. I was split 50/50. I couldn't make up my mind which I wanted. I would hang out with my Jap bike friends and they would convince me to get a big GSXR 1100. Then I would hang out with Pete and his Harley, and I would change my mind. Back and forth, back and forth. Finally, I decided that I wanted to keep both my license AND my life, so I decided to buy a Harley. I saved money for about half a year, and financed the rest. I wanted to ride to California. It was a dream I had never told anyone about. I guess I thought about it a little bit before, but I really thought about it after I decided to but the Harley. I bought Suzanne (my Low Rider) in March of 1991. I was 24 years old. I had never taken a long trip on a motorcycle before. The farthest I went on my Kawasaki was about an hour or two away. To see if I was really up to a trip across the country, I decided to visit one of my other roommates from when I had my apartment with the guys. He lived in Syracuse, about 4 hours away. That trip went so well, I was confident about a longer trip.