Gathering 2022
After Wisconsin, the last stop of my US trip from August 26-30 was San Jose, CA for the Knights Gathering. Even though we haven't had a Gathering since 2019 due to the pandemic, this one was also a celebration of the founding of the Knights of Malta in Seattle back in 1972. Yes, 50 years ago what started as a gay biker social group that shortly became a gay fundraising social group with clusters of chapters on the west coast. Only three chapters still exist and have been that way for over the last 20 years. I don't know what the pandemic has done to us, but we barely celebrated this 50th milestone in San Jose. It wasn't a bad weekend, but it just simply lacked the fun and social energy that we used to have in years past.
Friday 26th
From my transfer in Phoenix, I arrived in San Jose at noon PST. After grabbing my bags, I had to wait quite awhile for a cheaper Lyft ride. After the long wait, I took it to the Hyatt House San Jose Airport, the host hotel for Knights Gathering. I was probably the first to arrive as I waited in the lobby for a couple of hours and did some work on my laptop. Rich, Toby, and Eugene from the Jet Chapter came into the lobby at almost 2:30pm as Rich and Toby just happened to run into Eugene at SJC baggage claim. Eugene got his room, and we were in 237 (I was short on US cash so I “paid” Eugene back by paying for all his meals that weekend). Kevin & Kirk and Houston got in driving from Fresno just after 3pm. They had a rest before we could see them. Houston came and visits Eugene and I, making sure Eugene was available for the room. Later, he would decide it would be best to stay with Kevin & Kirk, which we were okay with. While waiting for more people to arrive, I called Wayne T. back home to let him know Gathering had started. In the hallway on our floor, we saw Thad & Charlie and Victor & Drake from the Jet Chapter plus Bryce and Jordan from the Yosemite Chapter. Alex from Vallejo soon came afterwards, and we settled him into our room. Tragically, he got the news that his grandfather in Mexico passed away, so he had to deal with that and how his family was handling it. Downstairs outside the lobby was a main patio area in which we saw Bryan from Seattle. Everyone was introduced and long greetings were given. Since we needed drinks and munchies, Alex drove Rich, Bryan, and I to the “nearest” Safeway (which was a few miles away). We spent over half an hour getting drinks, a few snacks, and Smartwater for our CPAPs as all jugs were sold out. Rich and Bryan got their stuff, while I paid the stuff Alex and I got. On the way back, we listened to a few tunes from my phone in Alex’s car. We then put our purchases in our room and went back down for socializing at the patio.
Kevin and the other Fresno Knights were having dinner at Denny’s next door. By the time Eugene, Alex, and I arrived, they were almost done eating but stayed with us. We spent about the next hour at Denny’s. I had a pot roast stew dish that was good, but wish the portion was bigger. I paid for all three of us. When all of us walked back to the patio, Carol and her daughter Shay arrived, and we helped bring some things up to their room. Speaking of rooms: Rich and Toby were in 216, Carol and Shay in 218, Thad & Charlie in 219, Bryce and Jordan in 235, Eugene and Alex and I were in 237, and Kevin & Kirk and Houston were in 529. I’m not sure which ones Victor & Drake and Bryan were in. Anyways, we spent the rest of the night drinking and socializing outside. We soon cleaned up before midnight and took the rest of the conversation inside the lobby with Kevin, Eugene, Alex, and I. I was nodding off as I’ve been up since 4:45am CST so we said good night. I went to bed after 1am, sharing the sofa bed with Alex while Eugene got the king size bed.
Saturday 27th
Saturday morning, Eugene got up around 8am to go down to breakfast with the other Knights. Alex and I slept in past 10am so we couldn’t do the hotel breakfast. We showered together after getting out of bed. When we went down to the lobby we saw Eugene, Carol, Jordan, and Houston. Alex and I went to Denny’s next door for breakfast. We both had the unlimited breakfast as it was cheap and to the point, though just one serving. While Alex had everything, I had pancakes and hashbrowns while we talked about video games. Alex paid for the meal. Soon after walking back to the hotel, he went out to get a pedicure done because of problems with his toenails. I spent some time in our room with Eugene until Kevin invited me up via text to his room with Houston keeping company. Kirk had taken a train to San Francisco to visit a friend quickly so he wouldn’t be back for awhile. The three of us talked for a couple hours, then Alex came to us after his pedicure appointment was done. I texted Eugene to come up if he wasn’t busy and he came about 15 minutes later. After some more chatting, we left after 6pm and returned to our room.
For dinner, the three of us drove to Urban Momo in San Pedro Square Market with Kevin & Kirk and Houston. We spent about a couple hours there, chatting and having some great food. Kevin & Kirk got a whole bunch of stuff from Urban Momo. Eugene got a Paneer Tikka Masala, while Alex got Veggie Tikka Masala and eight Veggie Momos. For myself I got eight Chicken Momos, Chicken Curry, and Chicken Szechuan Chow Mein. I paid for Eugene’s meal but bought all three of us bottles of water. Houston bought a beef dish from the Asian place next door, which looked yummy. We all loved our meals! Kirk got a few donuts from the nearby Mochinut and they were quite nice as I got to sample each donut (pistachio, strawberry, and I think original). We left before 9pm and parking for Alex cost only $1. Had he parked later that night, it would have been $10. I played a few songs from my phone on the way back to the hotel. We didn’t see Seattle outside and had no idea where they were.
Back in the room, Alex cleaned and polished my boots and I paid him a $20 tip. He also did my vest, gloves, tie, Sam Browne belt, and Muir cap. As he was doing all that, we were in a conversation with Wayne T. on Skype that lasted about an hour and half! At 11pm we went down outside to the patio to meet with the Seattle Chapter. For the next two hours we had Thad & Charlie, Bryan, Toby, Jordan, Kevin, Carol (Shay was briefly there), Bryce, Victor & Drake, Rich, Alex, Eugene, and I. We went back upstairs after 12:30am and went to bed after 1am.
Sunday 28th
Like the previous morning, Eugene went down to breakfast just before 9am while Alex and I cuddled and went down sometime after 9am. It was a nice continental buffet breakfast. I had hash browns, shredded bacon, toast with orange jam, a cup of fruit yogurt, a granny smith apple, fruit medley, and a glass of almond milk to drink. We spent some time talking while Thad & Charlie and Victor & Drake went down to the Pride parade. We did some talking with Toby and he said he needed an extension cord for the room he and Rich were in, so we volunteered to go to the nearest Home Depot and get him one. Toby gave $20 to Alex for it. We drove to the Home Depot that was just west of the airport and it didn’t take long to find a cord for Toby’s needs, and it was about $12. We next went to the nearest GameStop in Santa Clara in this nice shopping complex called Rivermark Village. Eugene bought a copy of the latest Pokemon game: Pokemon Legends: Arceus, and Assassin’s Creed: The Ezio Collection for the Nintendo Switch. He also bought Alex a box of Yu-Gi-Oh! cards that he wanted but couldn’t afford (awww!). I got a The Witcher III Ice Giant figurine (on sale), a Legend of Zelda t-shirt, and Super Mario “Bowser” t-shirt costing $75.71 for it all. We returned to the hotel with our purchases. Toby was outside in the patio area where he thanked us for the cord and Alex gave the remaining change back to him. Both he and Brian soon left afterwards, and we were left with Carol to socialize for over an hour. We returned to the room around 2:30pm so I could prep for the Interchapter meeting. When I was ready, Eugene and I went to Kevin’s room where I set up my laptop. I was surprised by the amount of Knights in attendance there.
The meeting was called to order at 4:13pm with Rich as Chair and I as the Recording Secretary. For roll call: Seattle had Rich, Thad & Charlie, Victor & Drake, Toby, Bryan, and Eugene. Fresno had Kevin, Carol, and Jordan while I was the only Vancouver member. We started with remarks by the host chapter. Kevin welcomed everyone here and Bryce would be hosting a hospitality downstairs after the meeting. The hotel has been happy with us and its overall been a fun weekend. Rich then read the Minutes from last year’s Interchapter meeting we had in October via Zoom. The 2021 Minutes was voted and accepted. We then got onto the report of chapters, starting with Seattle. Rich says the members are still getting together, but not doing much fundraising these days. They are considering getting rid of their camping gear though they could change their minds. Saturday the 17th of September they are getting rid of some of the camping gear at Thad & Charlie’s by garage sale. That was pretty much it from the Jet Chapter. Dogwood was next with me. All meetings are still done via Zoom and there have been no fundraisers. Dogwood’s 41st Anniversary was celebrated, but ended up only being Wayne T., Wayne M., Pat, and I as Norm was working all weekend. Bars in Vancouver have returned to full use around spring and Vancouver Men in Leather brought their monthly socials at the Pumpjack Pub back in May. Wayne T. and I attended Rubbout 29 in early April. Travel restrictions have mostly been lifted by spring and while not ideal, it is an improvement. I advised the American Knights that anyone going into Canada must use the ArriveCAN app or website before they arrive at customs. When I finished, Kevin spoke on behalf of the Yosemite Chapter. Most bars are closed due to the pandemic and only three are open. There used to be eight bars in Fresno. The bars left open are not friendly to subcultures -especially the bear/leather subcultures- they only want mainstream/circuit types. His Knights are still having dinners together which usually gets around 8 Knights and non-Knights. Carol brought her daughter Shay with us, the first time most of us have met her. People have fun at the dinners and letting the community know they are still alive. After reports we went onto Old Business, starting with the report on inactive chapters. Outside of minor news in SF, there is no news from Denver, SLC, Reno, Modesto (they are down from six bars to two), and Sacramento. For the Jet Chapter’s hosting of Gathering/Assembly next year, they had no plans at this time though Anchorage was considered, but not that solid for 2023. We then went onto New Business. The Jet Chapter handed out their beautiful 50th Anniversary pins during the weekend. Bryan mentioned that the award plaques from The Cuff were taken down and he is digitizing them for the archives. The Jet Chapter is considering putting archival things on their website. I mentioned about the Leather Archives & Museum and finding a Knight(s) who knows anyone in it that will accept our vast archives for all chapters. We got to Good and Welfare to finish things off. Thad thanked Kevin & Kirk for setting everything up and the detailed research Kirk put into the weekend. Rich thanked puppy for use of Doghouse Leathers meeting room. Toby thanked his Knights on being the board members this year and keeping the chapter going. We adjourned at 4:54pm.
We spent a little time with Kevin in his suite but then we took things outside at the patio again. After 6pm, we got ready for the formal dinner. I put on my Knights formals, which I had to lug all around the US but to be fair, was part of the leather I was wearing at the bars. I wore my boots, leather pants, Muir cap, gloves, Sam Browne belt, vest, and my cotton white shirt.
When we went downstairs, we hoped to see any other Knights before heading over, but we only saw Carol and Shay pull out of parking and wave to us. So, we piled into the car and drove to LeYou Ethiopian Restaurant. There is an open patio area on the back side where we spent the whole outing. Everyone was there: Rich, Thad & Charlie, Carol and Shay, Eugene, Kevin & Kirk, Toby, Bryan, Alex, Houston, Victor & Drake, Jordan, Bryce, and myself of course. I did the group pictures by chapter after we put in our orders. For my chapter, I added Alex in the picture. There was no full group picture, disappointingly.
Groups on us got platters that we shared with the Injera bread that was provided to us in baskets. It was the three of us for our platter plus Carol and Shay. We had chicken, two kinds of beef, spiced zucchini, fish, and split peas. While I’m not a fan of Injera, the meal itself wasn’t that bad. I had a bad experience at an Ethiopian restaurant that my leather household went to in Vancouver on Hastings Street in 2008. This was considerably better than my previous experience. Carol and Shay had to go back home to Fresno early so we said our goodbyes to them. They left money for tip but there was nothing for the meal itself. By the end, I paid for our platter - which was not cheap. I don’t hold it against Carol or anything, I just didn’t expect it. We left at 9:45pm with Alex returning the three of us to the hotel. Alex then worked on my leather chaps.
There was a gathering at the outside patio again, but not as many Knights as before. Alex and I lit up cigars (Nub Connecticuts) after Thad & Charlie went up, even though I was hoping Charlie would partake in a cigar with the two of us. Some guys left not long after the three of us arrived. Eugene was getting cold, so he went back up early. Bryce and Jordan were the last ones with us until it was only Alex and I. We got into a 2-hour private conversation about fellow-Knights Wayne and Pat plus also Alex’s Sir/boy relationship with his Sir. It was emotional, especially for Alex. Before we went up after 1am, I had some pictures of me taken. Back in the room, we woke up Eugene but he was okay with it. About half an hour later, we went to bed afterwards.
Monday 29th
Eugene got up sometime after 8am and went down to breakfast while Alex and I did some more cuddling. We dressed and had breakfast after 9am. The food offerings were a little different that day. The hash browns were a little better I’d argue and while they still served eggs, they didn’t serve bacon but sausages this time. They did have waffles, which was great. No toast for me this time and instead of a fruit medley, they just had quartered strawberries. There was no fruit yogurt, but apples were still around, of course. With the waffles, breakfast was good. While we knew of some Knights leaving that morning, we didn’t expect that some of them would leave without saying goodbye! Bryce & Jordan at least said goodbye to us. We later found that Kevin & Kirk and Houston left without saying goodbye though I got a text from Kevin later that he was sick and decided to leave earlier than planned. Thad & Charlie, Bryan, and Victor & Drake left without saying goodbye. We helped Alex take his packed bags down to his car. Rich and Toby were still in 216 so we went to them and let Alex say goodbye to them. Like Eugene and I, they were staying until tomorrow. This leaves the four of us as the last Knights of Gathering. After giving hugs, Eugene and I went down to Alex's car, gave the last hug & kiss to him, and he went off. We returned to Rich and Toby to watch some of Jurassic World Dominion and as it was boring everyone, Rich and Toby decided to nap for a few hours, so we returned to our room, relaxed and did some chatting, catching up on things. I called Rich and they just got up to continue the movie. They had nearly an hour left of the movie to watch before we headed out to have supper. We continued to chat until I got the call from Rich that he and Toby were downstairs. I decided on taking us to Pho Bel-Air on North First Ave nearby.
We took the VTA Light Rail near us, and noticed that Rich used his Clipper card - the same one used in San Francisco! I didn’t know that. Since I didn’t have mine, I had to quickly buy two 2-hour tickets for Eugene and myself as the train was arriving. Got it in the nick of time. After one or two stops, we walked to Pho Bel-Air. While both Rich and Toby didn’t order much, Eugene had a big bowl of beef Pho while I had two small bowls of chicken and beef. They were delicious! The seating was quite tight, which was my only complaint given I was having two bowls. I paid for our entire meal. Rich decided we should go to the gay district as he and Toby have been to the bars there. We took the train’s blue line to Santa Clara and walked a short way to the district on Post Street.
The first bar we went in for about 25 minutes was Mac’s Club while the second was Splash Video Dance Bar for about the same time. We returned to 1st & Santa Clara to take the blue line back to Karina light rail stop. When we got back to the hotel, Rich & Toby invited us to drink at the hotel bar, but Eugene was getting tired, so we said good night to them. In the room, Eugene and I did some packing and he said that he is considering coming up for our Anniversary in November. I was glad to hear that and promised that he would share a room with us. He went to bed early as he had to get up early to get to his flight. It didn’t take me long to join him in bed afterwards as I needed to catch up on sleep. During the night after he had a washroom break, I soon after snuggled up behind him and somewhat fucked him with no penetration. He still loved it though. After around 20 minutes of it, we returned to sleep.
Tuesday 30th
Eugene got up sometime after 6am. He had a shower, dressed, and did final packing. I gave him a glass of Gatorade Zero to make sure he was hydrated before heading out. I thanked him for letting Alex and I use the room and will let him know of Dogwood’s Anniversary weekend soon. After he left around 7am, I returned to bed to sleep in. After 10:30am, Rich texts me that he booked an airport shuttle for noon. I replied to his text and got up (and off LOL!) soon after for my shower. After dressing, I did my final packing and checking the room for anything forgotten. I had an unopened bottle of Pepsi Max and a bottle of Smartwater left that I couldn’t take with me so I left them with a small tip on the counter for the cleaning maid, hoping she would take them later. I went down to the lobby and found Rich and Toby sitting at the usual spot. We didn’t have to wait long for the shuttle as the driver came early and got us to the airport at Terminal A. While Rich and Toby didn’t have to check any bags, they went on ahead to screening. It took just over ten minutes for me to drop my bag off. I did TSA-Precheck even though it wasn’t busy, so I got through very quickly. Rich and Toby just finished before me as Toby’s bag had to go through secondary screening. There was a bar that served Mexican food near across from screening and next to Gate 12. Rich and Toby got drinks while I just had water. I was tempted to buy a chicken burrito but soon after decided to walk around on both ends of the terminal to see if there were other places to eat. Turns out, they have very little at SJC - or at least in the terminal we were in and some places were closed. I returned to Gate 12 where I left my bags with Toby and soon after, Rich joined us.
While waiting for the plane to come, one of the Delta flight attendants came by with a basket offering snacks. I chose the small bag of salted peanuts. I also volunteered my carry-on for free checked baggage. When boarding started, Rich and Toby were in business class up front (Rich travels a lot and likely used his miles to pay for Toby) while I sat in 13A. We departed on time at 2:31pm. There was no seat power so I couldn’t use my laptop. I read a few chapters of Miracles instead. We landed in Seattle twenty minutes early, but it took over ten minutes for the gate attendant to come and get us off the plane. I saw Rich and Toby at the front. They were one of the first to leave the plane and when I soon emerged inside Sea-Tac… they were nowhere to be found! No goodbyes, they went straight to baggage. They were either in a hurry or didn’t think it was worth the small wait. Anyways, I walked to Gate B4. There was a McDonald’s nearby and since I hadn’t had a meal all day, I ordered a spicy chicken deluxe meal plus an apple pie. I sat at my gate and scarfed it all down. I noticed that McDonald’s American apple pies are somewhat the same as the Canadian ones, though the pastry is a little different and the American one has sugar sprinkled on it (one would argue the Canadian one is slightly more “healthier” as it lacks the extra sugar). The meal hit the spot. After cleaning up in the washroom and it wasn’t long until boarding, I called Daddy Eric, Pat, and left a voicemail for Jerry thanking them for all that they did during my trip. I left text messages to Mikey and Alex too. On the last Delta flight, I sat in 13D and soon after, put my phone in airplane mode. After we departed about 5:40pm and got to cruising altitude, I turned my phone off, switched out my T-Mobile SIM card and put back in my Bell one. The flight was short and before landing about 20 minutes early, we were given masks to wear (sigh… Canada *rolls eyes*). After landing, I take my phone off airplane mode and find that I had about 6 or 7 voicemails waiting for me plus a couple of text messages. While taxing and deplaning, I go through the voice messages - most of them from Wayne T. of course - and start deleting them. I tried to call my father, but he was likely on his way to pick me up. After the long walk to customs, I surprisingly wasn’t grilled much given how long I’ve been out of the country - regardless of my using NEXUS. My bags took around 15 to 20 minutes to arrive. While waiting, my father called me as he was in the cell phone waiting area. After I grabbed my bags, I let my father know to pick me up at British Airways departure entrance. He arrived a couple minutes later and I went home, talking about the trip on the way.
And that was my trip around the US last month. I am grateful that all my travels had been smooth and that I didn't have to deal with delays, cancellations, lost luggage, or anything that has been common in travel this summer. I guess the only thing I couldn't do was celebrate San Jose Pride but I felt it wouldn't have amounted to much - and it didn't help that the Knights didn't plan to include as many of us to go as possible. I did save up for the trip but I slightly underestimated the mounting costs.
Speaking of costs, all in Canadian dollars...
All flights, hotels, train, and bus: $3585.07
T-Mobile SIM card for the month: $102.28 (which saved me $102 had I used my Bell SIM card and roaming each day!)
Baggage fees: $278.93
Drinks, snacks, water for CPAP, etc: $140.21
Uber/Lyft, taxis, city transit: $219.92
Restaurants (includes paying for others): $882.47
Purchases/gifts: $472.70
Miscellaneous: $160.60
Total: $5933.26 (likely round up to $6000)
Should I do this again next year, I will definitely need to save up a little more and try to plan things out a little earlier. Ah well, I've been back at work since Thursday and I'm planning on at least two more trips for the rest of the year. As for the Knights, I will push for Seattle to come up for Vancouver's 42nd Anniversary in November and perhaps, suggest that Seattle's 50th Anniversary celebration can finish off on a good note - in brotherhood.