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The Good, The Bad and The Ugly:

Writer's picture: tmscott81tmscott81

Updated: Jan 23

So, when I left you all, I was on my way to Long Beach, Ca. to meet with Kevin Goode, who hosted me for the night, taking me to the gayborhood and a lesbian bar there. In the morning, he let me interview him for my project and sent me on my way to avoid traffic while I headed north.


Traveling up the 101, I stopped at the Sandpiper Inn in Morro Bay for the night. It is a budget-friendly motel, but the lack of hot water was a disappointment. Due to the sun, when I got there, I only got one image of the rock there.


I was off early in the morning to make it to San Francisco by 11:00 to attend a Swords to Plowshares LGBTQ+ veteran lunch with Lilly Steffanides and Devon Raphael. Lilly and Devon let me stay with them for a few days to experience Pride and to interview Lilly.

Due to traveling in the rain, Lilly, Devon, and I cleaned my bike... well, I cleaned, and they detailed because that bike looked amazing to ride with the Dykes on Bikes in the San Francisco Pride Parade. Before leaving on the first, I met with David, a Vietnam vet, and interviewed him.


From there, I surprisingly made it to Klamath Falls that day; I was not expecting to be able to make it that far with a late start. And let me pause here to say how much I despise Redding, Ca. Not the town itself but the weather. Every time I have driven through there, it has been 103 degrees. Freezing everywhere else, but not there! Going up the 101, I got to travel through Klamath National Park, a beautiful ride. When I got to Klamath Falls, Or. I got to meet up with Vicky Holloway and Joseph Rasdal for dinner.


I headed further north on Hwy 97 to La Pine, Or., and I stayed at La Pine State Park. Though I was too early to check in to the park, I swung by Wildhorse Harley Davidson in Bend to pick up a strap for my glasses… they didn’t have any, so I bought a new pair that came with one. I got to talk to Destini for a good while sitting on the picnic table there. I headed to REI to see about getting a bear vault. But when I went to get my wallet out of my bag, it was not there. How do you ruin a trip quickly… lose your wallet; that stops everything. Only being at one place, I rode back to the Harley store, where I was able to recover it on the ground in front of the picnic table. I did go back to REI, but the bear vaults are way too big. I did pick up some tape to patch a few small holes in the bottom of my tent. And headed to the park to set up my stuff.


This morning, I woke to a balmy 33 degrees; I woke up at 4:30 because I was cold. I went to take a shower… no hot water. Being annoyed, I packed my stuff and headed out to McDonald’s for some breakfast and wi-fi while waiting for Linda for another interview. Her cabin property is beautiful, overlooking the Deschutes River. But poor Jack, as the property is located on 7 miles of dirt road.


Getting a very late start for travel, I barely made it to Burns. Twenty-five miles out of town, I thought I was going to run out of gas. I had not seen a gas station in 127 miles! One hundred of those were on Hwy 20. Though I do have an extra liter packed, I have not run out of gas before and was worried that even with the extra gas, I’d not make it to the next gas station.


Here is the ugly:

Though traveling, this was very freeing. I’ve been on the road for 18 days, I’ve camped for 8 days, stayed with friends for 6 days, and got a hotel for 4 days. Having to unload and load things every day gets tedious and, some days, frustrating. Being subjected to the weather, having to make sure I have water to stay hydrated, applying sunblock every 3 hours while traveling in 90+ degrees and still getting burnt, or having to bundle up in 5 layers like today, wondering when you will get that really nice day. Wondering if the place I'm staying will have service so I can talk to Destini isn't great either. Having a schedule that I have to keep due to interviews and meeting with Mom on a certain date takes a lot of bandwidth.

Losing my wallet the day before definitely had me worried. Leaving McDonald’s today, I left one of my bags open and lost one of my fingerless gloves. I went back after the interview to see if I could find it with no luck, and then a button on my vest broke.


So, it’s not always beautiful sights; today, I told Destini I was tired of this and just wanted to go home because of the small things that stack up. I miss her and my fur babies and being in my own bed. But I was reminded of what I was doing and how important it was tonight, which put things back into perspective. Tomorrow, I meet Dawn Scott in Twin Falls before we head up to the Tetons. Looking forward to a few days of sightseeing.



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