Lane and I are back in Rock Island for a week, visiting my family and old friends, going to my old haunts.
On Saturay night, we go to JR's, Rock Island's only gay bar, and meet a bear named Dave: in his 50s, grey hair and beard, hairy chest. He's lived in Rock Island for all of his life, but we never ran into each other at the bars or at the church:
"My partner and I stayed pretty much to ourselves. When we wanted community, we went to Chicago. It was only after we broke up last year -- he dumped me for a Cute Young Thing -- that I started looking at the gay life in Rock Island."
We go back to his apartment in Davenport for "sharing." He's on the small side..
Which is fine with me.
In the morning we have breakfast and tell him about life in the gay mecca of West Hollywood. Gay men everywhere, not just in the bars, but at the gym, in the supermarket, strolling down the street. Your friends, your neighbors -- all gay men.
"It sounds great," Dave says, "But here in the Midwest we have something that you'll never get out in La-La Land. The biggest penises in the world.""Well, I don't know about that," I tell him. "I've seen some pretty big ones."
"You haven't seen anything like these!" Dave exclaims. "Are you guys busy this afternoon? I can lead you to the Promised Land of gigantic penises."
The full story is on Tales of West Hollywood.