In Reno There Were Cowboys

The cowboys in Reno wear tight blue-jeans, red-checked shirts and cowboy boots with clinking spurs. They are slim hipped. They hitch their thumbs near their oversized silver belt buckles and don't walk so much as they amble. They are cocky are self-assured.

In the casino at Circus Circus we withdraw $100 so that we can gamble. As we stand in line at the ATM it occurs to me that if the terrorists were serious about killing hundreds of Americans with Anthrax, an ATM in Reno Nevada would make an excellent distribution point.

I think about that long enough, and hard enough, that when the five crisp twenty-dollar bills spit from the ATM slot, I’m almost afraid to take them.

After they’re turned into cups of quarters and have disappeared with amazing rapidity into the bowels of several slot machines I notice my fingers have gone grimy. It makes me feel unsettled. I watch the gamblers lose their nest eggs and wonder if maybe the world hasn’t changed all that much after all.

That night we sleep soundly in a single king sized bed. No questions asked.

We’re forced onto the Interstate as we leave Reno and head toward the Donner Pass. After three days of two lane highways I feel harassed.

Driving into Sonoma we decide to leave the interstate and take a scenic route though we are both admittedly experiencing serious scenic overload.

As we roll down California state highway 29 we s-curve so many times we raise our voices above the sea-sickness to ask, "How much longer can this go on????"

In Sonoma, we watched the union of another man and another woman.

This wedding has been the reason for this trip west - and though it is "alternative" in many respects and full of non-denominational vagary and Celtic symbolism and constant references to 'The Great Spirit – she who unites us all' ... I cannot help but remember that it is still very much okay for someone to say to me when he learns that the "couple" he has staying at his motel is not a man and a woman but a couple of two men, “You don’t want to sleep in the same bed, now, do you?”

Not that I mind sleeping in my own bed.

It’s not about the bed, see?

I cannot help thinking that no matter how alternative and inclusive and 'some of my best friends are gay people' -- it will be a long long long long time before "You don't want to sleep in the same bed, now, do you?" does not occur.

The bride and the groom kissed and everyone applauded as the sun set and the vineyards glowed in the setting sun.

Later Edward and I sit quietly under the stars and marvel that we are no longer heading west at 90 mph. It occurs to us that we have been simply the two of us since Monday and that feels good and right.