Yesterday I went to Norfolk with Brad. Not Virginia Beach as was previously posted. When Brad picked me up early in the morning, he had a 44 ounce Big Gulp in the cup holder on his dashboard. On the drive to Norfolk, we only stopped 4 times to go to the bathroom. He told me we’d be stopping a lot. I didn’t think much of it until we did stop about every hour or less. I would have laughed at him about this except for the fact that 3 of those 4 times, I had to go too! It rained the whole way down there too. Rain hitting the window isn’t a good thing when your bladder is full. It only took us 3 1/2 hours to get there. Funny thing is, we didn’t listen to any music the whole trip. We talked the entire time. I kept thinking that Brad probably wanted me to shut up but he never said so. He talked right along with me. We talk so easily.

We didn’t have to meet with Brad’s editor until 1:00 so we had some time to drive around and see a few things. We drove to the Naval Station at Norfolk. I wanted to see some big ships. Brad drove around and we found the pier. As soon as I saw the first huge ship I started acting like a little kid. I was getting all giddy and saying, “Look how big they are!” Brad was laughing at me of course. But I had never seen any Navy ships up close like that. It was truly awesome. I wasn’t expecting them to be so big. I had my camera but it was raining. Plus, with all the security in the country now, they wouldn’t let you take any pictures. However, when we got to the USS Enterprise, I told Brad to pull over and roll down his window. I did snap a picture before anyone noticed saw. It’s not the greatest picture and doesn’t show the massiveness of the ship, but you get the idea.

After that we drove to downtown Norfolk to meet his editor. We got there a little early. There was a park close to the guy’s house so we decided to go there and waste some time. Surprisingly there were rugby games going on in the park. Female rugby. I was surprised. I was even more surprised to see a female rugby player squatting in the bushes taking a leak. Brad and I turned away and walked away just in time to see another female rugby player under the bleachers changing her clothes. I saw more naked female bodies in just 3 minutes then I’ve seen in years. It looked as though there was going to be a male rugby game after the female rugby game because there were several hunky male rugby players milling about. All with nice legs. Brad was in heaven.

It was time to meet Brad’s editor so we went to his co-op apartment to drop off and discuss Brad’s latest book. Now this guy is probably in his late 50’s, early 60’s. His apartment was probably built in the early 1900’s. It was very dark and nothing had been renovated over the years. This guy is a book editor so I expected there to be lots of books. Once inside his place, there wasn’t an inch of clear space. He had bookshelves in every room, all stacked with tons of books, all kinds of books. His dinning room table was completely covered with magazines, articles, newspapers and papers he obviously intended to get to at one point. Nothing was really messy, just packed around in stacks but neat stacks. After unloading Brad’s box and discussing the details of Brad’s books, we decided to go to lunch. Just before leaving, this guy said he wanted to take our picture. Neither one of us had met him before, and Brad had only talked to him a few times on the phone and in e-mails. I thought it was odd that he wanted to take our picture. Of course I had my camera so I wanted a picture too. This guy had this little disposable camera. The kind you have to hold the button while taking the picture to make the flash work. So he took our picture and then I took a picture of him with Brad holding up his manuscript. This guy was just a little too creepy for me. He was very troll like. I think he’d be the kind of guy who would die in his apartment and no one would notice until weeks later when the stench drifted into the hallways of his co-op. So off to lunch we went. He took us to a local bar/restaurant. It was okay. The food was decent. Nothing spectacular. All during the lunch the guy kept telling us stories. He was telling us about his family, his church and all the groups he belongs to in his church, and about the local nightlife and cultural events he attends. He was obviously gay. We knew when we walked into his apartment and saw naked male artwork on the walls and by some of the titles on his bookshelves. The bar we went to for lunch might even be a more lively gay place at night. There were other obviously gay men having lunch at the same time we were. After lunch the guy showed us more of downtown Norfolk. By this time the sun had come out and the weather was clearing. While driving around seeing different sights I was wanting to stop to take more pictures but it was more of a driving tour and not a walking tour. So I didn’t get any pictures on that tour. We then dropped the guy off back at his apartment and went on our way.

We drove back to the Naval Station at Norfolk and went to the Exchange to do some shopping. They have some decent buys there and without paying any tax, you make out pretty well. We then decided we should head to the hotel and check in. We drove to the Little Creek Amphibious Naval Base. We checked in at the Navy Lodge there. It was very nice. Brad and I were exhausted but decided to get a little something to eat before turing in. We just ran to McDonalds and had a small dinner. Then back to the hotel to relax. We didn’t turn on the TV or anything. We got comfortable and just laid on the bed and talked about all the things we’d seen and done during the day. We talked for a good 2 hours before deciding to go to bed. (Details left out here on purpose.) Brad and I sleeping together has not been very successful in the past so I was hoping this time it would work. However, it did not. The heater kept making a noise each time it came on and that woke us both up at least once an hour. In the middle of the night Brad left our bed to get in the other bed. I guess I was keeping him awake as usual. I was only able to sleep about 5 hours. I’m sure Brad slept less. In the morning he told me how difficult it was for him to sleep. We have got to figure out this sleeping thing. He is never able to get a good nights sleep when we are together. Usually I sleep pretty well but he always has trouble getting to sleep and then sleeping restfully through the night. I hope we get to the point where he is able to sleep through the night. That’s one thing I have to continue to work on with Brad.

In the morning after a quick discussion of the sleepless night, we got showers, got dressed and got on our way. We decided we would drive north towards Williamsburg and find a place to eat. That was the plan but once we got on the road we somehow got turned around and ended up driving about an hour out of way to get to the same place we wanted to go. Brad was familiar with the area but after looking at the map I could see how we could get turned around. We eventually got on the road we wanted to be on and then stopped for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. We had a great southern breakfast and then got back on the road. We stopped several times on the home to get gas (the photo is of Brad pumping gas) and I was able to take some decent photos. It was a nice weekend and things went well. Brad and I didn’t get on each other’s nerves and got along very well. This was the first time we’ve spent this much time together and it went well. We talked and talked and talked. That’s one thing we
do very well together. There’s always something to talk about with Brad. I thoroughly enjoyed spending the time with him.