Bedtime Story was the tenth track from the album with the same name. “Traveling, leaving logic and reason Traveling, to the arms of unconsciousness.”
At this point, I was still writing stories about my life, and mailing them to my family and friends. With each story, I became more honest and more liberated. As I set out on my cross-country journey, I decided to be a bit rebellious and as free-spirited as possible. I had always wanted to drive across the country, but always figured it would be something I would experience much later in life. This list is a brief description of the places that I visited and some of the things I experienced:
Burlington, NC to Memphis, TN: A 12-hour drive. I stayed with Rachel, a friend of mine from 1987, whom I knew from the North Carolina School of the Arts. Rachel was a Ballerina for The American Ballet Company in Memphis. I stayed a couple of days in Memphis. I visited Beale street and went to a couple of Blues bars. I hung out at one of the gay bars in town, and Rachel and I messed around town. We drove by Graceland but decided not to go in because it was too crowded.
Memphis, TN to St. Louis, MO: This was about a 5-hour drive. When I arrived in town, I went straight to the Arch (The Gateway to the West) and took the elevator straight to the top. Afterward, I found my way to a gay bar where I made several new friends. I ended up spending the night with a gay couple. This time was when I learned how to depend on the kindness of strangers! I stayed with them one night. It was at this point that it occurred to me that I could do this all the way across the country. I figured I would save a lot of money this way.
St. Louis, MO to Kansas City, KS: This was a 4-hour drive. Again, I drove straight to a gay bar (The Dixie-Belle), made a new friend, and found a place to stay. His name was Noah. He was very nice. I stayed with him for two nights. He was very well educated and had a great job, and he was a great person to talk to. We spent a couple of really good days together.
Kansas City, KS to Boulder, CO: This was about a 10-hour drive. The landscape was very flat and very different from what I was used to. I ran into a hail storm in the western part of Kansas, right outside of Colorado, which did about $2,000.00 worth of damage to my car. Later that night I arrived in Boulder, CO, where I stayed with my ex-roommate from Chapel Hill. Her name was Ava. I was able to spend a few days in Boulder and Denver before continuing my journey west.
Boulder, CO to Las Vegas, NV: This was a long drive, about 13 hours. However, it was the most beautiful drive of my trip. I drove through snow-covered Vale and passed over the Rocky Mountains. Then I drove through the canyons of Utah and the desert of Nevada. I stopped to call my mother and left her a message on an answering machine that I had bought her before I went. Each time I described the scenery of the day and told her that I wished she could have been with me. That night I arrived in Las Vegas, where I stayed with another friend of mine. He was originally from New York but moved to Las Vegas to perform in Starlight Express. While in Las Vegas I took in a couple of shows and got to know the city pretty well. I didn’t care for Las Vegas.
Las Vegas, NV to Sacramento, CA: This was a 10-hour drive. I drove straight to a gay bar, made a new friend, and ended up spending the night with him. He snored the entire night, so I didn’t get much sleep. Due to my lack of sleep, I decided that I would get a hotel room at my next destination.
Sacramento, CA to Eugene, OR: Another beautiful drive, somewhere between 7 to 8 hours. Eugene was a cute little town, and there wasn’t a lot going on really. I went to the tiny gay club, danced for about 10 minutes and walked across the street, and got a hotel room. Fortunately, this was the only time I had to spend money on a place during my entire trip across the country.
Eugene, OR to Seattle, WA: This drive was a piece of cake compared to the others, and the trip through Oregon and Washington reminded me of North Carolina. As I passed through Portland, I had this urge to stop for the night, but didn’t. I continued towards Seattle.
I lived in Seattle that spring and made some great memories there. Human Nature was my favorite video of that particular summer.
I ended up moving back to the east coast because I missed my mom. After talking things over with one of my cousins, I ended up moving to Washington, DC, which was only 5 hours away from my hometown. I arrived in DC on July 4th, 1995.
I had been away for four months, and that was the longest time I had ever been away from my mom. The trip gave me a whole new sense of freedom, something I desperately needed at that point in my life, but it also reminded me that I had a responsibility to my mother.
A few weeks later I celebrated my 34th birthday in my new home, the fourth largest metropolitan area in the United States.
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Today is the last day that I’m using words
They’ve gone out, lost their meaning
Don’t function anymore
Let’s, let’s, let’s get unconscious honey
Let’s get unconscious honey
Today is the last day that I’m using words
They’ve gone out, lost their meaning
Don’t function anymore
Traveling, leaving logic and reason
Traveling, to the arms of unconsciousness
Traveling, leaving logic and reason
Traveling, to the arms of unconsciousness
Chorus:
Let’s get unconscious honey
Let’s get unconscious
Let’s get unconscious honey
Let’s get unconscious
Words are useless, especially sentences
They don’t stand for anything
How could they explain how I feel
Traveling, traveling, I’m traveling
Traveling, traveling, leaving logic and reason
Traveling, traveling, I’m gonna relax
Traveling, traveling, in the arms of unconsciousness
(chorus)
And inside we’re all still wet
Longing and yearning
How can I explain how I feel?
(chorus)
Traveling, traveling (repeat twice)
Traveling, traveling, in the arms of unconsciousness
And all that you’ve ever learned
Try to forget
I’ll never explain again
