US Summer Trip 2022 - Part 3
Continuing on from Part 2, Part 3 takes place strictly in Wisconsin from August 23-26. As most of you know, I've been to WI about four times previous. The catch this time is that I start in Milwaukee and then go west to Madison and New Glarus. This is my first time visiting Milwaukee, but my time there is short. Most of my time is in New Glarus visiting my leather family and having some outings in Madison and the surrounding small towns.
Tuesday 23rd
After landing in Milwaukee's General Mitchell International Airport (MKE), I texted leatherbear Mikey and he was on his way to the airport. The bags arrived quickly and after over a 10-minute wait, Mikey arrived, big n’ sexy! WOOF! He parked in the airport lot, and he took me to Central Grand Cafe and Tappery for lunch. While waiting for our order, Mikey asked me a question: “I need to ask if you know this somewhat-controversial guy from Vancouver, his name is David Jacobs.” I give him this smile and answer, “I am the probably the only person (or maybe two or three) left in this world that knows David the most - I lived with him for over 14 years!” The reason Mikey asked is that David was very instrumental in Mikey’s beginning in leather culture. In fact, like me, he first talked to David at 19 years old, but it was about two or three years before me. He knew of David being on Kink and he has seen it on US Netflix many years ago. Though our time was limited, I talked as much as I could about him. I then got to the topic of Devon up in the Yukon. Not surprisingly, Devon has contacted Mikey because, as expected, Mikey smokes cigars. Mikey finds him creepy and harassing. I had to preface that Devon has Asperger’s Syndrome, which Mikey didn’t know. I added that I wanted to be fair in what I would tell him about Devon but compared to a past roommate David and I had with Asperger’s -Pete- Devon’s behaviour is outrageous and as I always call him: he's a psychopath-in-training. The most I could mention was what Devon did to the late-Daddy Barney and trying to sue David afterwards. Mikey certainly was disturbed, but it clicked in that what I said was fitting the profile of who he was to him. I had a chicken burger with fries for lunch and was pretty good. After he paid for the meal, the second stop was Milwaukee Leather around Greenfield as it was probably one of the better leather shops in the city. The clerk was out on a break, so the store was closed when we arrived. To kill some time, Mikey took me to Boot Connection instead. The majority of product were western cowboy boots, but they had a few pairs of biker boots too. There was this one pair that fit and almost looked like Wesco Engineer Boss boots! It was nicely priced too, but I decided against it for now. Mikey bought a pair of cowboy boots that he tried on and liked. We returned to the leather shop which had re-opened and the clerk noticed my wearing my green Legend of Zelda t-shirt that had the Hylian symbol on it. We spent the whole visit talking about Zelda and gaming in general. While a fine shop and a fun experience, there wasn’t anything for me to buy. The last place Mikey took me was the Tool Shed, a sex toy shop. It kind of reminded me of Womyns' Wear back at home - a focus on dildoes and buttplugs. Again, not much for me to buy anything. After we left and getting a little small driving tour with Mikey, I called Houston from the Fresno Chapter of the Knights to talk about our lodging options and what I had to do on my end before we meet in San Jose. Mikey dropped me off at Milwaukee Intermodal Station about 2:15pm to continue my travels. We said our goodbyes and hope we’ll see each other again in the near future. I stood waiting inside station while charging my phone for about an hour. I checked in with Amtrak, which gave me a printed ticket and the nice clerk pointed to me where the buses are. There were some problems on their end as a train that was supposed to be on route to Chicago had been canceled. It obviously didn’t affect me but felt bad for some of the people there who had to be rerouted.
On Amtrak’s behalf, I was riding a Badger Bus to Madison. It was being driven by a cute Daddybear! The bus itself was less than half full so it was a more comfortable ride. We departed on time at 3:30pm. The bus ride west to Madison was pretty smooth with at least a few stops on the way. I enjoyed some of the scenery, reminding me a bit of being in Pennsylvania the previous week. I arrived a little earlier than scheduled, about 5:10pm at the University of Wisconsin Gordon Center bus drop off on North Lake Street. Michael & Donovan and a visiting bear buddy of theirs from Eugene OR named Dave picked me up about 20 minutes later. After some hugs from Michael & Donovan and shaking Dave’s hand, I was driven to their home in New Glarus. I got to see the new puppy of the household: Tuxedo. I remembered Penny from my visit in 2018. Anthony greeted me and he showed me his downstairs setup complete with gaming PC tower, two monitors, and Oculus VR headset. He also had a lot of Lego sets, Transformers, and other large figures. On the top floor, I was in the same spare room as usual while Dave was in Donovan’s study which had a single sofa bed for him. While they were watching a recorded compilation episode of MTV’s Catfish, we had dinner, which was skillet chicken breast with green beans, cubed squash, and different kinds of chips. I also had a zero-sugar cream soda to drink. We watched the 1997 made-for-TV film Rodgers & Hammerstein's Cinderella on ABC that starred Brandy. Jason Alexander was kind of sexy in the film. Pup Nick came home from work to have dinner and join us for a bit. It was great to see him mostly recovered from his leg surgery! After the film was done and most had gone to bed, I called Daddybear Clayton in Redding and found he was not going to Gathering due to health and finances. He had a recent hospitalization that I think was caused by blot clot in his leg. Thank God he is doing better now! I then called Eugene in Spokane to confirm that he can take three of us in his room and he consented. I next called and left a voicemail with Houston in Fresno. I then canceled my hotel reservation in San Jose online. I finally called Kevin to let him know that I canceled, and that Eugene’s room will be full. With all that finally out of the way, I went to bed sometime after midnight.
Wednesday 24th
While I had a slight struggle at first, it did not take long to sleep on the soft sinking mattress, and I slept very nicely! After some sleeping in, I got up after 10am. Michael & Donovan had just come back from taking Tux to the vet to have his eyes checked out. I had a shower and down on the main floor watching TV were Nick, Anthony, and Dave. We all had sandwiches for a late lunch, and I went downstairs to do a load of laundry. We were soon preparing for an outing and just before all six of us left, I put my clothes in the dryer. We first drove to a nearby gas station to pick up some drinks. I got a bottle of Propel grape-flavoured water, and it was really good! The first place we went to that day was Cadiz Spring State Recreation Area. It was an interesting nature walk: we started out in a marsh with a lake on our sides, and then the last half was a forest that took us back to the parking lot. During the entire walk, we encountered no one else on the trails. While the mosquitoes were feeding on us (especially me as I had just showered and had fragrances coming off me to attract them), we saw small frogs hopping away from us into the brush, various insects, and some interesting flora. The walk was about an hour though we thankfully did not get sunburned.
Michael then traveled to Preplayed in Madison, a store I loved since I first visited the city. Sadly, this was going to be the last visit ever there as it was going out of business. As I knew going in, all the good stuff was very likely sold. Donovan and Nick didn’t go in, so we were regulated to about half an hour of looking around. Dave and I hung around each other as we checked the games and movies. While Michael picked up a few films, there was nothing for me really. Still, I was grateful for the games I was able to pick up in the past. After we left, it was a short ride to dinner at the nearby World Buffet. It was decently priced for what they offered, and it even includes custom noodle soup (which I’ll try on a future visit) and even a Mongolian grill! I had two plates of the Chinese dishes and one from the Mongolian Grill. For dessert, I had a couple small, cubed pieces of cake but most of it were pieces of fruit. Michael & Donovan paid for us all and I thanked them for it. I found out that our favourite Mongolian Grill in Madison, Hu Hot, had closed down recently! Oh no, I loved that place! Donovan’s birthday may have been the last time they went. I guess World Buffet will have to do until they can find another good all-you-can-eat Mongolian Grill in Madison. After dinner, we drove to the LGBT Outreach Center for movie night. One of the volunteers was a big sexy bear! Dave and I sat next to each other. The movie that night was called Everything About Jamie that was streamed on Amazon Prime. Inspired by a true story but is part musical, it’s about this British 16-year-old gay teenager named Jamie New who wants to become a drag queen. He lives with his divorced mother who loves and supports him but doesn’t know that his father no longer wants anything to do with him because he is effeminate, so the mother covers it up to protect Jamie’s feelings. His best friend is Pritti, who is a westernized Muslim that accepts Jamie and aspires to be a doctor someday. I’ll review the film in more detail in my upcoming September entry. After the 2-hour film was done, we had some provided snacks and drinks. We didn’t stay long, but I said my goodbyes for a wonderful night and that both Dave and I were from the west coast - which surprised the two volunteers that they had two out-of-town visitors, and one was a western Canadian! We all started for home afterwards. On the way, we struggled to get my phone to Bluetooth sync with the van’s system. It had to be done by voice and with a PIN number. Once it showed up as “Uconnect”, we were able to sync me up. Donovan found a video on YouTube to help us do it step be step. We played some classic popular tunes from my phone for over half an hour, which everyone in the car seemed to like. When we got back to the house, Donovan showed me the first episode of Star Trek: Lower Decks on Blu-Ray. It was okay, I’ll watch it on CraveTV sometime after I get back home. Upstairs, as Dave and I were cruising each other throughout our time together, he and I played. It was his last night visiting as he was going to be picked up later in the morning by friends. Before he went to bed I gave him my contact info on his phone. I then went to bed after 2am.
Thursday 25th
I once again slept well and slept in past 10am. After shower and dressing, Donovan got me the two packages from eBay that they kept the past few months: a couple issues of 100% Beef, and an issue of American Grizzly. Donovan got a box just perfect for me to put a few things in. Besides the three bear magazines, I put in the bottle of Lexol leather cleaner from Stompers, and the police style belt from Leatherwerks in too as I didn’t need to lug them with me. Donovan printed shipping labels for me, and we taped the box shut. For our outing that day, just Anthony joined us. We first went to their nearby post office. I prepared the customs form and it cost $45.50 to ship it to Canada at the cheapest price. I didn’t want to damage the magazines, so I decided it was best to just do it this way and also unload a few pounds from my luggage. For lunch, we ate at the nearby Culvers fast-food restaurant, Anthony had a chicken-tenders meal, I think Donovan had a burger meal, Michael had a roast beef sandwich meal, while I had a chicken burger meal. I paid for us as thanks for the nice dinner we had the previous night. They screwed up Michael’s order as they put fried onion rings into his sandwich even though he requested them out - as he’s allergic to onions. No problem, they fixed it immediately. I had a diet root beer to drink and as we left, only filled up half my cup with cherry Pepsi so not to go overboard on the sugar. It was a nice meal for all of us. Donovan drove us to a shop called Bricks & Minifigs at about 1pm. It's a place that Anthony goes ga-ga over as it contains a lot of Lego sets - pretty much the whole store is dedicated to Lego products. Michael was getting into Lego also and there were a few tables that had mountains of random Legos that you can take a certain sized plastic bag from the cashier, fill up on as many Legos that the bag can contain, and pay a flat price on it ($20 in this case for Michael). I helped a little bit sorting for the Legos Michael was looking for. Anthony was drooling over a cool Transformers set of Optimus Prime, but it was well over $100. I returned to the van where Donovan was waiting inside so we could wait for Michael and Anthony to finish fulfilling their Lego fetish LOL! After they were done, Donovan drove us to the Olbrich Botanical Gardens, in which he and Michael had annual memberships so Anthony and I could go in for free. The inner conservatory had just closed when we arrived, so we went with the outside gardens for over an hour.
It was very lovely to walk around, with so many different plants. Serenity Garden and the Thai Pavilion (sala) were probably our favourites given its structural beauty and garden aesthetic. We left sometime after 3pm and did some driving through Madison, I think around its gay district, before returning home.
For the rest of the afternoon, I periodically went outside in the back yard, which I haven’t walked around since I first visited in 2016. There was a nice sunset, but some trees were in the way and wished I could go in the next neighbour’s yard to get better pictures. Tuxedo joined me outside on the lawn while Penny, who was also outside, stayed closer to the door. As the sun was gone and dusk was arriving, I went inside for dinner. I had a turkey burger with corn-on-the-cob plus the same fresh green beans from their garden. For dessert, I had a small slice of a chocolate swirl. Before Michael & Donovan went to bed, Anthony put on his leather uniform to show me. He looked very spiffy! When I went up for bedtime and while Michael was having a shower, I went and snuggled with Donovan on their bed. It was lovely over ten minutes holding each other and giving kisses. I could feel some of the past two years melt away. Michael was done his shower and joined me from behind, sandwiching me in. WOOF! After over five minutes of the bear sandwich, I wished them good night. After a little packing, I went to bed after 11:30pm.
Friday 26th
Donovan got me up at 4:40am and there was no time to sleep in even a bit. I got my clothes and bags set up for after my shower. Once using the bathroom was done, I dressed, packed, and brought my bags downstairs. Anthony was sleeping on the couch so tried to keep it quiet. After saying goodbye to the doggies, we left sometime around 5:30am. It was about an hour drive to Dane County Regional Airport (MSN). Michael parked the car in the parkade and while it was just slightly under an hour before departure, the American Airlines ticketing agent seemed to want me to get through security fast. So, it meant my goodbyes to Michael & Donovan had to be quick. I thanked them for a great few days and will look at my travel options for November. I then went through TSA Precheck, which was not busy, and found that I had plenty of time to get to my flight at nearby gate 12. Damn it! I picked up a bottle of Propel, this time the orange raspberry flavour. I checked my carry-on for free and sat in 24A for the near 7:30am flight to Phoenix. I typed on my laptop for most of the 3-hour flight, catching up on things. Even though the file saved via OneDrive, I closed the laptop so I could come back to it later on the second flight. The file could save the next time I get back online, probably by the hotel in San Jose. I arrived just before noon PST.
My transfer in Phoenix wasn’t that long and I got to gate A8, with about a 20-minute wait when I arrived. We departed just before 10am while I sat in 21A, with the middle seat empty which made this last flight one of the better ones. I pulled out my laptop to continue working on my entry, but I hit a snag. Because I had my laptop closed for over an hour, it closed MS Word and Windows didn’t “snapshot” itself! I opened Word again and it was trying to re-open my document, but nothing would happen, and the program wouldn’t load past the title. I opened it with another document on my laptop and when I tried to open the OneDrive-saved file, it would say that it cannot open the same document in a second window - even though it technically isn’t open! Shit - does this mean all the work I did on the flight to Phoenix could possibly be lost? Maybe even the ENTIRE file? I wouldn’t have the answer until I got to the hotel. For the rest of the flight, I watched a couple of video files on my laptop. I landed in San Jose before 12 noon. I tried to call Eugene, but he was likely still in-flight, so I left a text message. After exiting the terminal and on my way to baggage, I noticed the rainbow and trans flags were raised with the US, California, and (I think) San Jose flags. A good indicator of Pride weekend to visitors. After grabbing my bags, I had booked a cheaper Lyft but had to wait around half an hour for my driver to come. I got to the Hyatt House San Jose Airport just after 1pm. While waiting for any Knights to come, I took out my laptop, connected to the hotel Wi-Fi, and tried to retrieve the file I thought I lost. Thankfully, MS Word saved a backup image of the file on my laptop, so I opened it, copied, and pasted it into a separate document and saved it on the laptop for backup! Whew! Just before 2:30pm Rich, Toby, and Eugene from the Jet Chapter emerged from the lobby.
While I won't be calling the next entry "Part 4", the final entry on my journey will be about the Knights Gathering.