BiggerBash 25
Biggercity celebrated their 25th Anniversary with a chub/chaser gathering in Las Vegas from September 5-9 called BiggerBash. I could only attend on Saturday the 7th. Unlike past BiggerVegas events, this one -even with a good turnout- felt so tame. It took place at Palms Casino Resort while I stayed at the nearby Rio Hotel & Casino. Even looking at what they offered compared to BiggerVegas at the Tuscany, it looked scaled back. Even for one night in the city, it was a complete waste of time and money for me. If I could travel back in time, I’d stop myself and recommend saving those funds for BiggerVegas next year instead. Here’s a quick rundown of last weekend.
Saturday morning, I didn’t sleep well but I got up at 6am. I did my stuff and left the house before 7am. The drive to YVR was good that morning. I parked at the cheaper Long Term Value lot and took the skytrain at Templeton to the airport. While you must get a ticket from the machine, it is free provided you are going to Sea Island or YVR Airport stations. Inside the airport, I couldn’t do bag drop off from the kiosk because WestJet thought I was cutting it close to my 9am departure. I was able to get my bag dropped off after seeing an agent, but I knew they were over exaggerating in getting to my gate. I used my NEXUS even though the regular security line wasn’t too bad, but it did help in saving some minutes. After American customs, I got to gate E75 in plenty of time just after 8am. At a nearby Tim Hortons, I got an apple fritter and bottle of water. After a shit break in the washroom, I had to wait awhile to board as I was zone 9. Again, they exaggerated on my timing. On the plane I sat in 28B, and we departed about a few minutes after 9am. I wasn’t uncomfortable as I sat between two young ladies. I nodded off a little at first and then played some Bravely Second: End Layer on 3DS. I had a Coke Zero to drink and pretzels to snack on. We landed at Harry Reid Airport at 11:40am. There was a small wait to park at our gate. After I had a piss in the airport, my bag was already at the carousel. I took an Uber to the Rio, feeling the 106F/41C heat when I exited the terminal. At check-in there was a problem with my reservation through hotels.com because of my changing the date and people in my room. Originally, Daddy Rick was to take the room on Friday, but he decided to bow out last month, so I cut him and Friday out of the reservation. A supervisor fixed the whole thing when they saw the messages of my changes. I was put in the Masquerade Tower, room 28021. The room is spacious, the view nice, and the king-sized bed was comfy. The hotel overall is nothing to write home about, but it works for me.
I walked toward Palms on West Flamingo but noticed a Del Taco just before the hotel and I needed my first meal of the day, so I stopped in. I had an Epic Cali Bacon grilled chicken burrito, medium fries and Coke Zero, and a couple of caramel cheesecake bites. It was a good meal, and it was my first time at a Del Taco outside California. Inside Palms, I found the Greene Street Kitchen where registration and hospitality was. I got my badge and a small pack with two drink tickets for the hospitality suite. I sat in a section near the pool, but I didn’t know anyone. In fact, I soon realized looking at the Biggercity app that there were very few guys in my favorites list that were in town. I cruised a couple of guys on the app, but none returned. Sigh, it is going to be a lonely weekend.
I walked around the casino and left Palms before 3:30pm to return to the Rio. After walking a bit inside the casino and checking out their eating options for later, I relaxed up in my room. Daddy Rick called me on his break about 4pm. We talked about the upcoming Vancouver Men in Leather Anniversary and Palm Springs Leather Pride. After the call, I stayed in my room for a few hours more. I put on my leather pants and vest, plus my Wesco Highliners for the upcoming dance party. I walked back to Palms after 7:30pm and while it was now night out, there was lingering heat. Inside Palms, I walked back to Greene Street but found it closed. I then follow this one bear to KAOS, where the dance is - obviously the same place as two years ago.
I spent about two hours at the dance. The theme was "silver" and there were some guys wearing silver- type clothing. Drinks were free so I only got a Diet Coke and Sprite that entire time. For some of my time sitting down, I texted Daddy Rick and Daddy Doyle while sending them a couple of pictures. There were lots of handsome bears and chubs, but I had no one cruise me except for one. I recognized him on Biggercity because he has a beard that is one side black and the other white. We only saw each other once but we complimented each other’s beards. Outside of that, no one would say hello and acted neutral toward me. I noticed Jonathan, a bear from Vancouver that I’ve known since 2000 and was the second then-cub I ever met during my coming out stage (my friend Wade was the first.) I don’t think he noticed me when he walked by me but then again, he has a habit of not noticing me and we haven’t spoken for around fifteen years I’d say. There were a few chub go-go dancers and there was one, wearing an LED harness and two armbands, that I was cruising big time. He was the reason why I stayed longer. But I got to my limit from the loud music and left Palms. I decided to not go to Fun Hog Ranch afterwards, even though it was a leather night. Besides having to pay for ride sharing to and from, it’s unlikely I’ll run into anyone I know there.
Instead, once I got back to Rio, I had supper at Shogun Ramen. I ordered a Chicken Miso Ramen with fountain drink and a couple mango mochi ice cream. It was a delicious meal and helped cheer me up a bit. I went up to my room and took off my boots and pants. After puttering around on my phone, I went to bed after 1am.
I had trouble sleeping and not sure why. Part of it may have been where I had my CPAP and the tubing not being long enough where I was on the other side of the bed. It was a lot of on and off sleep. In the morning, I had a nice release and got out of bed about 9:30am after wiping down. I put my phone on the charger and had a shower. After dressing and final packing, I left the room about 10:50am to check out. I had plenty of time and instead of paying inflated prices at the airport, decided to go back to Shogun Ramen and only get its signature ramen of the same name as my first meal. I enjoyed it and then went outside and took a Lyft to the airport. I checked (I couldn’t do it through online check-in and had to be done at airport) and dropped my bag off with Alaska Airlines but for whatever reason, I wasn’t given my boarding pass. Before security, I tried to see if I could generate one on my phone, but it didn’t work so I immediately went back to them and the problem may have been the one agent did not put in my passport information. The other agent did, and I got my two boarding passes. TSAPre was easy and my gate was E15. I walked all around E gate looking for anything to snack on and any cheap drinks but to no avail. I stopped into an eatery as it was the only place to have a Sparkling Ice drink. I picked it up plus a lemon square flavoured protein bar too. It was a short wait to board the flight to Seattle as I sat and ate the protein bar. I was going to sit in my assigned 33F seat, but I let an elderly Asian couple take it instead, so I sat in 33D, aisle seat. We departed a little late after 2pm. I dozed a little around take-off. I played a little Bravely Second and some minor games on my phone while having a bag of pretzel twists and water to drink. We landed in Sea-Tac at 4:50pm. I quickly transferred to C gates via one stop over on the tram and found that my gate was C10E. I had a washroom break and bought a large cookie right across from my gate for a quick snack. I think they were a little late in boarding, though I’d argue it was in my favour as a precaution and gave me extra time to arrive. On the plane, I sat in 18A with no one next to me. We departed sometime after 6pm and was enjoying the outside scenery of the sun going down. I arrived back in YVR around 7pm. It was a good gate as the walk to customs wasn’t long compared to others. Customs was very fast and was a ten-minute wait for the bags to show up on the carousel. After I got mine, I exited baggage and walked toward the parkade and skytrain station. I got my free ticket and took the train two stations over (pic above.) The parking lot is immediately in front of the exit, so I walked back to lot 8 and found my car. I thought since I was about half an hour over my scheduled exit, that I would be charged a little more. To my surprise after depositing the green token, the exit opened, and I could leave! I guess they allow for a grace period. I drove home and picked up a prescription refill at Shopper’s before I made it home a little after 9pm.
I very much regretted going on this trip: besides wasting a weekend, it was a waste of funds that could have been saved for next year. Despite the turnout, I was really surprised that those I usually chat with on Biggercity were either not in attendance, or didn't bother going. Hard to say if I'll do another BiggerBash again, but I'll try to get to BiggerVegas next year.