The Bo Show

REST STOP ROMP

(Audio Below)

They’re there for your convenience. They’re there for your relief. They’re there for a much needed break… rest stops. For many of us, these locations do not even stand out on the road map. Thousands of drivers pass by them everyday without a single thought of stopping. But for some, these relatively unnoticed rest stops, are destinations synonymous with sex-stops.

Jack is a 26 year old gay man who began frequenting several upstate New York roadside rest stops for anonymous gay sex. It started at the age of 17, and although his initial experience was unplanned, it sparked something inside him, which led to a world filled with gay sex acts with straight-acting married men, fathers and catholic priests.

Whether it be early morning rush hour quickies, or a different type of after work workout, Jack says, “It was always this buffet of cars with these men in them, that were all there for the same reason.” It didn’t matter who they were, or even if they considered themselves gay. “There were people that said, I’m not gay, I just like to do this kind of thing every once in a while.” Jack says he never judged them, or even tried to talk them out of the closet.

Once at the rest stop parking lot, the playing field is like a chess board. The average rest stop user is completely unaware of the rules and mating-calls of these side-of-the-road-sex-stops. Jack says there’s a science to a successful rest stop romp. “There were a line of cars towards the end of the lot… there’s a gap between the families, that were parked by the main house, and the ones parked down near the dumpster.” He mentions how it is also surprisingly instinctual, commenting on how men would use certain nods of the head and flashing headlights to attract a potential partner’s attention.

Jack says his story is fairly common for men who do not have a gay bar, or gay community in their town or city. He says his hometown was upper class and very conservative… being gay wasn’t necessarily an option. “These guys wanted to hang around and talk to you… they were desperate for attention, they were desperate for any kind of male interaction where they can completely be themselves and talk.”

What did Jack get from anonymous gay sex at public rest stops? “It became less and less about the act of hooking up, and became more about the exhilarating rush you felt every time you went. It was dangerous, you didn’t know who you were going to meet… you didn’t know if this was going to be the last time you were ever going to do it, cause a cop was going to be there… you never knew.”

After about six years of visiting sex-stops, Jack has seen and heard a lot. In this episode of “The Bo Show,” Jack chats openly about his first experience in the woods behind a rest stop, what he chatted about with these married men who became his gay sex partners for the night, and whether or not he is able to trust a sexual partner today.