BeamerBikes

Anyone with recent experience on Key West?  I've been looking at rates and floored how expensive lodging has gotten.  

Casa Marina rooms are regularly starting at $1k/night. I thought it was expensive, but worth it at 500/night a few years back.  Now that seems to be the going rate for even the airport area hotels. Not looking to turn this into a crank about how expensive it is.

I check out the Great Loop boaters group, and there's reports that island is almost too busy. Service is suffering, but folks are still forking over money hand over fist.

Curious, is the island actually this packed? Is it super crunched to find industry workers, and service is suffering?  Little from column A and B? 

Anyone have any recommendations on how to ease back into going out/meeting new people after a long dry spell?  

Back in 2017, I started down the road of significant abdominal surgeries. A partial colonectomy from diverticulitis, spiraled into an ostomy, reversal, then two open hernia surgeries, and facing hopefully the final hernia surgery in a few months.  Oh yeah, and then COVID shutting everything down. 

Just wondering if anyone else faced how to start getting back social circles after significant medical setbacks?  I'll go out to dinner with married suburban friends, but haven't ventured past my bubble in several years. In my 20s, I'd go out to the bar life in the city. In my 30s, I settled into my stripper bar habit aka my gay cheers while doing long term caregiving. Then the health issues creep in. Now in my 40s, I'm going stir crazy and yet also don't want to repeat the heavy boozing that usually comes along with going out. 

Perhaps it is just as simple as deciding to go out for acouple drinks, and calling it early. I curious for options on what worked for others in a similar situation. Sitting on grindr seems fruitless, I'd rather go out and take my chances making new friends in real life. 

Sadly, my straight friends from Mobile talked up Pensacola being this gay magnet of the gulf coast, but I never went out to find any significant gay nightlife on my visits.  

I found the downtown Pensacola art walk nights to be very fun.  I'd start off at Seville Quarter then wind up at Wild Greg's Saloon to watch the youthful 20s show off their line dancing prowess.  

Interested in memorial day experiences as well, Pensacola and Mobile are nice slower/less expensive options compared to New Orleans.  

As one of my gay elders told me after I was fooled by the whole "I'm in the closet, my roomie doesn't know" turned into the roomie being the long time bf.  I was shocked that after 10 years of being a fairly weary street smart out gay....  

My friend knew there was nothing to do but crack a joke and tell me to move on.  (Faking an Irish accent) "well Ladee, it appears you have been taken"  "nothing you can do. Block his number block everything and never look back." 

Learn from it, and be thankful he went for the quick pay day.  Rather than a long bleeding your wallet and heart dry. 

In the chgo burbs, I havent seen mine yet ordered when site went live.

Others are reporting tests are coming in but no real rhyme or reason. 

2 minutes ago, rvwnsd said:

Not to take us off-topic, but how much time is required to get the quick charge?

Back to topic: I addressed my personal gasoline crisis by buying a smaller car. 

Depends on the charger, but usually 30-40 min for 100 mi in range assuming a 150kW charger.  I usually look for one near a restaurant or shopping. Plug in and then go putz around.  

Roadtrips over multiple states isn't something I regularly do. I adopted a rule to fly if it's more than one state away.  

Gas price in my area.  Around $3.65/gallon for regular gas.

With real time pricing, I pay about .07/kWH * 78kWh battery = $5.46 that's at home.

Gets about 220 miles.  

On the road, I've done quick charging for about $15 for 100 miles.  

Eh, my experience is different. My sister was living with me at the start of Covid. She's a nurse at a community hospital in a poor large city neighborhood. March/April 2020, we followed the Contagion protocol (scrubs get tossed into the washer and her way to the closest shower from the garage).  I heard about the n95s getting reused for a week at a time. The running out of PPE, the unknown treatments, the Xrays of broken glass lungs being more reliable that any test, ventilators needed, finding out only 10% will survive the ventilator, the hospital running out of body bags. 

Getting COVID ourselves in Aug 2020, being miserable for a week, then one day taste went away for the next week, the mental fog... 

All the while, I had a surgery complication from prepandemic that wasn't getting better. My follow up care was delayed for a few months while the hospitals dealt with the first wave. The covid protocols evolving. The timing of the eventual revision surgery to beat any winter surge. A surgery recovery unit that prepandemic had folks walking multiple times per hour as a means to encourage everyone to get up and move. Now that same unit a year later had folks walking laps in their room. 

I am thankful for the vaccine. I didn't want to deal with covid again. Once Delta had some breakthroughs, I still was thankful that the vaccine provided protection against hospitalization. Same with Omicron. I've made peace with living with Covid.  That peace was made easier with vaccines. Yes those vaccines are riding on top of whatever is left of my preexisting "natural" immunity.   

In short, if your vaccinated and relatively healthy, omicron shouldn't worry you. If you haven't had covid and/or the vaccine well traveling is a risk. If you wanna better your odds of staying out of the hospital, get vaccinated. You still might get it, but odds are better that you won't end up in the hospital.   

Also does anyone have experience with actual New Orleans covid procedures?  Are bars checking for Vax status/enforcing masks? 

I'm vax'd and boosted from November. I'm going to take the plunge on traveling by plane at the end of February.  I feel confident that we're on the back end of Omicron, and I should manage any infection alright.  

Heading down to New Orleans for Presidents Day weekend.  Figured it would be nice to catch a few Mardi Gras parades without the craziness of actual Mardi Gras.  Figure I will hit up the usual suspects, Lafittes, Pub, Oz, CornerPocket. Probably see what's new at the WWII museum.   Any recommendations? 

8 minutes ago, MikeThomas said:

We'll... it seems to me these in memoriam threads (there have been others) end up speculating about peoples' personal lives, assuming they were unhappy, etc.

Yeah, that's the depressing point.  Folks going morbid and forgetting somethings are better left unsaid. Same for folks that want to gawk at car accidents. 

You only live twice from the Bond series...  Came from the saying...  You only die twice, once in real life, and once when your name/memory leaves the earth.  

It can be sad if you focus on the negative aspects.  Nonetheless, escorts/body workers/strippers still are people, and equally deserving of rememberance. 

While this topic can trend depressing, I do think it's a nice idea to have an in- memoriam thread.  Some folks do leave an positive impact on others, and sharing the good memories can't hurt.

Meanwhile there's a bunch of recreational boaters are like...  wait what?  I can just say put it on my tab to the fuel dock and cruise off?  That's an option?!??!  

Hello!  

Sadly, I can relate to losing both parents. My dad was in my late teens. Likewise, my mom had a brain bleed in my late 20s. She survived for another 12 years. It was rough seeing the gradual decline. Though it prepared me for the eventual loss.  

If you want some professional guidance on forming what you want to come next, I recommend reaching out to a gay friendly therapist. Finding a good therapist who's truly gay friendly (and not just a marketing ploy) is easier in a bigger city like Dallas. A good therapist can help you process some of the emotions and separate true emotions from the baggage we have grown up with. Therapy doesn't mean anything is wrong with you, just that you need some tools to sort out with new experiences/emotions.  It's also not forever.  

Again, welcome to the forums! 

So its likely to Join The TRUMP Brand soon

doubtful. Grand Geneva is classy in being UNDERSTATED.

Mobile needs to be home base for now, but I havent checked out Tampa since childhood vacations. Probably time for a revisit. Any recommendations for strip clubs or gogo bars?

Yep, no doubt he's gorgeous. With his length in the business and prevalence of Gay4Pay, I'm just a bit dumbfounded with 'the anal sex with gay porn stars' categories.

Seems like he does have slightly more business sense/maturity than Michael Hoffman. Though, I hit fast forward through the deep thoughts monologues about their business or impacts thereof. Save it for a memoir*.

* - The Money is on the dresser by Chris Daniels is an entertaining read

Outside of CornerPocket in NOLA, anyone aware of other options?

Mobile, Alabama? Pensacola?

I'll be moving to Mobile and it'd be nice if there was more than NOLA for driveable options. Otherwise, its getting on a plane to Ft. Lauderdale or Key West (twist my arm)

https://twitter.com/JakeOrion93/status/977612092692934658?s=19

Just seems steep for these categories. More power to him if he can get these rates. For these rates, ask for double and meet your fans.

For such a high class establishment with lofty standards, their web site looks like it was left in 1997! One does not expect to ***dress-to-impress*** when their advertising lacks a design to impress.

Yes. I drank some haterade this morning.

And there was me about to head off to Lake Geneva in Wisconsin:)

 

https://www.grandgeneva.com/cafes-lounges/evolve

random fact... Grand Geneva used to be a Playboy branded resort!

There was standing event every New Years Day, Memorial and Labor Day. Some barowners would host a private word of mouth "private party", tickets ran around 100. They brought in dancers/porn actors from around the midwest and country if the Grabbys were in town that weekend. It was stopped after the city started to crackdown on the local bars once boystown started going more straight.

I miss the private events that used to occur in Chicago. Sure the door charge was high, but then it was just between you and the dancer.