Well Chris and I have successfully made it to Kimball County, Nebraska successfully. No hate crimes yet! We had a gorgeous drive through NE Colorado, stopping for margaritas at a Mexican restaurant. Cowboy hats are tres couture here, I just might have to get one when we go into town - which is 12 miles away. Now I absolutely have to plug Cheyenne, Wyoming. We didn't get a huge chance to fully explore this state capitol (although it seems to boast a resplendent Capitol Building) but wow. Cheyenne has the GREATEST liquor stores. They are EVERYWHERE. We selected a cute supermarket-style store next to a Safeway (given that this is the state capitol, the Safeway even had a Starbucks inside!) and went to town. This should give you some sort of indication about what sorts of extracurricular activities available to the public. Well, I take that back - we did see a few Bingo sheds on our journey.
  And so now we are on the Norberg family farm. I cannot see another house or structure save the barn from the house. It rained yesterday, to the delight of Chris' parents, so I guess my Seattle roots are good for something...we've already eaten three large meals here. Chris and I will gain at least 50 pounds on this trip. And we haven't even had any steak yet...
We've already been exposed to some incredibly fascinating cultural viewpoints on this trip. My favorites so far have included the following conversations:
     Relative of Chris: "What do you do, Hunter?"
     Hunter: "I work in HIV prevention, at a place called the STOP AIDS Project."
     Relative: "There's this man in this apartment building that I think has the AIDS. I hafta wear gloves when I go into his place, you know."
     Chris: "Actually, you really shouldn't be worried unless there are a lot of open wounds on the both of you."
     Relative: "Well, you know, I do a lot of work with my hands, so sometimes there are cuts and stuff."
     Chris: "But unless you get his blood near you, you're fine. It's only transmitted through blood and..."
     Hunter: "...other stuff."
Another victory for audience-appropriate community education! Other highlights have also incorporated elements of race, although it's not like the complaint "black people are lippy" hasn't been integrated into American racial discourse before. Which is also ironic, because everyone knows that white fags are the lippiest bunch of entitled freaks of them all.
  Last night, following supper, we sat down in the living room and watched the movie "16 Blocks" while the newest addition to the Norberg clan, one month old Landon, entertained us all. I even fed him a bottle (he's allergic to breast milk, which probably means he'll grow up gay), and we got a photo of that. Chris has a nephew - so cute! Everyone assumed that we were dating, so we went along with it, we're real husbands now. The best part was when we were in the kitchen, Chris with his Fuzzy Navel wine cooler, myself with my Jack Daniels on the rocks (some things never change) and his mom asked us if we were an "item" - she did the same thing when she visited San Francisco last year. Failing to fully articulate the complicated nature of gay BFF relationships (where cuddling and occasional groping happens), we stammered a bit and kinda just threw in the towel: "Yeah, I guess so."
  See, gays can be just as non-committal as straights!