I make silly faces when I am grinding uphill. We made it to Port Townsend, a very cute little port town to wander about. We stayed with WS hosts Dan and Lys and their friendly dogs. Their lush property had all sorts of vegetation growth including a cherry tree. I loved hanging myself upside down and the stretching device. Whidbey Island was hella hilly, by the way. There are two good shots of my gear- two front panniers and two rear. Some non-cycling fellows felt the need to tell me that I packed too much stuff. Keep your unsolicited advice dudes. We cycled down to the bus, which took us to the ferry... which delivered us to Friday Harbor in San Juan Island. We stayed on Steve’s yacht the night we arrived. Hustling Hills to the County ParkThe scenic route around the outside of the island involved loads of hills. Grrrrrr. The campground rewarded us with sick sunsets. We built our bikes, realized we were missing some parts... Saw some city sights. Stanley Park was quite beautiful until the downpour. Great food and excellent coffee. Our warm showers hosts were super and we stayed 3 nights sorting ourselves & stuff out. On the last morning, we packed up and headed to the San Juan Islands.
Bike tour #2 on the West coast requires flying with our bicycles. This means we had to learn to disassemble, wrap, box and then reassemble our bikes. We boxed our bikes & made it to Newark airport a-ok. TSA decided to open our boxes, give me a heart attack. But everything turned out OK. Our flight to Vancouver and arrival at our first warm showers host went very smoothly.
Well, somebody didn’t do their research, ahem, to realize starting our tour in Canada meant we’d have to fly with our bicycles...disassembled in boxes. Ugh. I wasn’t quite ready to become a bike mechanic! But that’s what had to happen, and quick. The last two weeks, my girlfriend and I practiced taking apart her bike and putting it together. We also had to find big boxes— this was much more of a pain in the arse than I thought it’d be. But, we found boxes, broke down our bikes and packed ‘em up real nice. Florence, my bike is carefully + thoughtfully wrapped, and I dropped a few other items in there. My house looks like a camping store/bike shop/cardboard factory exploded. We are getting close now! We’ve gotta pack up our other boxes and tape the shit out of all of them. The Monday eve we head to Vancouver and stay at our first warm showers. Remember how I said I was going to train for this tour? The photo above- is me not training. Instead I bought myself this really fun electric scooter so I could scoot around town. 🤣 This is also me not training. Instead, I read a novel at Asbury Park Beach.
New York City dyke march is one of my favorite events of the year. I was really distraught when I thought I had missed it because I was out of town for a conference. The dyke march is a protest started by dykes 27 years ago and still going strong. It happens the day before NYC Pride and there are no permits. It steps off from Bryant Park, goes down Fifth Ave and ends in Washington Square Park. On a hot day you’ll see many dykes & allies in the fountain. Dyke March is an important part of Pride
month because Pride has become ridiculously corporate and faux inclusive. I march to make sure trans, female and gender nonconforming individuals are seen. The Lesbian Avengers are the founders of the march, which is a political statement. On a lovely spring day, we hopped on our Surlys (heavy touring bicycles) to bike 22 miles. I am far from being in 'touring shape' and need to get my arse on the saddle more, because my legs felt like jelly the rest of the day.
For my next adventure, I’ll be performing an excerpt from my work-in-progress solo show, “The Escape Artist.” The top picture is from my class workshop performance. This autobiographical piece is about insecurities + addiction.
http://www.tictheater.com/plus-1---spring-2019.html
The New York City Feminist Zinefest has been held at Barnard College for the last few years. I tabled alongside my Philly homopals.
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AuthorHi, I'm Reverend J, a queer+ sober wanderer, activist, writer and ordained minister. Archives
November 2020
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