Awhile back in the Georgia forum a few guys were discussing where to meet truckers along I-20. A very popular rest area in Conyers, GA was closed and we all wondered where all those truckers were cruising. Someone suggested that an exit ramp closer to Augusta was a truckers paradise. It was not.

Guys were driving hours from all over to check it out and all were disappointed. So us guys recounting our trucker stories were accused of trying to create a cruisy place where none existed.

So the question is: Is it possible to create a cruisy place where none existed? Has anybody ever tryed with any success?

I use the exit in question all the time because it's near my home. I met one trucker late one night and have seen trucks with empty cars parked nearby on several occasions. To say it's cruisy would be a real stretch.

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I read the Georgia boards along with the Florida boards, so I'm familiar with the discussion you mentioned.

As you're well aware, some dudes are just nuts, arguing over inconsequential matters just for the sake of arguing. While it can be annoying to head somewhere and expect to find a good cruising spot only to discover nothing is going on, cruisers should know by now that nothing is set in stone when it comes to locations for sex. This has never changed and never will: cruising spots come and go, and sometimes we find sex in areas that aren't cruisy at all -- we just luck out at the right place and time. So it's pretty easy to dismiss the whiners...

I recently checked out the ONLY ABS anywhere even remotely close to me, having discovered it in the CFS sex listings. It was a 120 mile round trip, but I decided to give it a shot last weekend. Though the single review was dubious at best, I wouldn't have even bothered to discuss the place at all: it was an extremely hostile environment for gays. No sex could ever happen there, at least I didn't see any possible way. I sure wasn't pissed off about it. I knew there was a good chance of the joint being a dud when I decided to go. Take my lumps, waste some precious gas, learn from the mistake. Oh, well.

A couple weeks ago I had a conversation with a dude I run into from time to time at a cruising spot. We lamented the lack of any other places for a few minutes before fucking around. I suggested a couple great areas to him, kind of hoping that maybe he might pass along the idea to others and that these spots would catch on. So far... no such luck. I didn't really expect it, but it was worth a try. If I knew anyone else I might mention it to others, but I don't really talk to anyone besides this one guy.

What pisses me off, as I've often mentioned, is that this city is ripe for the picking. There are literally hundreds of places that are virtually impenetrable to the general public, secluded and safe. They exist in just about every part of town, too. Yet no one explorers, no one discusses, no one seems to do anything about it. The guys here stick to areas that USED to be cruisy, so technically they are still ARE cruisy, but NOTHING happens. All the old spots have been staked out by vice and effectively closed: everyone is too afraid to make contact, yet they still go and do nothing at all. Other areas have changed geographically with new roads or new buildings, rendering them unusable for cruising.

So why in hell aren't guys creating new places? In the "old days," (here he goes, reminiscing again), it seemed to me that while cruising locations still changed often, new ones ALWAYS appeared so there wasn't any kind of shortage. Not anymore. At least not here.

Admittedly, it's been REALLY bad here lately. I wonder if the rest of the nation is the same, at least in the larger cities or more conservative towns. I drove to a spot where at least vehicle contact is possible, a place that has been moderately active over the years, though it is necessary to go somewhere else if you DO meet someone. This place was staked out by marked police cars for the better part of two weeks. One evening I saw the cops cuffing a dude and frisking him. I was OUT of there in a hurry. I won't go back, either. Another area I won't mention has also had high police visibility lately, though to my knowledge there hasn't been an organized bust yet, but I've heard tales of men being hassled and told to leave.

It's got to be pretty tough to create a new spot by design. I think it probably just more or less happens. Some areas I can think of here would be very subtle indeed. If they aren't on a main road or well known in general, it's hard to get anyone to go there. About a year ago, a guy posted a message in the Florida forums about a new park. He wanted to make it cruisy and said so. I've gone there a few times since then. It's a GREAT place, but usually I'm the only one there. I've never run into a gay dude, just a few straight folks making out here and there. It's just not easily accessible to the masses.

I think prevailing local attitudes matter, too. In GWT's part of the country, cruising seems to be very active. Here, the guys seem to think that gay bars and waiting online for Mr. Right Now is the only way to go.

And to be honest, I think a LOT of men have become extremely lazy when it comes to cruising. If they can't have it easily and quickly, they just don't bother anymore. Face it: cruising takes some effort. You don't always succeed. But for my money, it's the thrill of the chase, the excitement of the entire scene as a whole that makes it fun. If men won't even bother to check out a few spots... they sure won't bother to CREATE them, either.

You guys with bookstores in your city are luckier than you imagine. I've read hundreds of posts and Sex Listing complaints about bookstores being dirty, having "inappropriate" clientèle, bad movies, etc. Get the fuck over it. At least you have a place to go! Some of us are dying here!

If the cops and the election year blues are going to shut us down, we need to make an effort to shake things up a bit. But not many, including me, alas, are going to be willing to hang out someplace with no one else there in hopes of starting a trend when we can go to an existing place and take our chances, risky as that may be. I do not want to bring a book along with me if I'm cruising, you know?

I'm taking a trip next month to visit the family in New York, and I'm planning on posting a few messages asking for suggestions for cool spots to check out on the way up. I have the luxury of time on my side so I'm very interested in exploring the scene up and down the entire east coast. I love observing the gay subculture in different states. It's fascinating, exciting, and I just might get a few good blowjobs out of the deal, too.

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It's tough these days to find and even maintain a cruisy place. I successfully, yet briefly, started up a cruisy location in my little town. It was fairly buisy for a few weeks, then all of a sudden, it vanished. I never saw or heard of a bust, yet no one ever goes to this location anymore. I had anal sex with 4 different guys and oral with 12 different guys in the coarse of about 3 weeks at this location, now it's deserted. Why?

The one known long standing cruisy spot around here is still as buisy as ever. I guess familiarity is comfortable!

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MrBigOne's post brings something to mind, actually...

I think the familiarity of cruising places is definitely very much at work here, but it's a double-edged sword. There is such a thing as having a cruising location be TOO familiar.

As we all know, some cruising spots are very well suited to it geographically: great places to hide out, good view of surrounding areas and new arrivals, ability to move from the main location to a more secluded one if privacy is desired, a general knowledge of the lay of the land so movement is simplified and exits are easily obtained, having an alternate reason to be there (hanging out in a park is acceptable -- they are public places and just your physical presence there is not any indication that you are looking for another OTHER than what a park is SUPPOSED to offer).

So in this way, the more comfortable we are with an area, the more likely we are to return to it. We know what to expect, more or less. We feel more in control.

[Hazy sepia-toned flashback sequence again]:

I used to know every street, every alley, every hidden corner, every bit of everything back in the cruising areas in New York. I'm saying I had an intimate knowledge of every freaking HEDGE in town. If it was possible to have sex there, I probably did. Not only did I learn the areas from cruising as an adult, but I also grew up there and played as a kid in almost all of these spots, too. Hell, I even led a few dudes down to "Old Lady Name Deleted's" root cellar a few times (she went to bed early and slept soundly all night).

Now... cities and town are being rebuilt and changed dramatically on a daily basis. There just aren't all that many root cellars inside the city limits anymore, right?

Yet having a place be TOO familiar becomes a detriment, too.

At my one and only cruising spot, some of the guys are FAR too comfortable. I've seen many of them do things that attract attention to what is going on there. No subtlety at all. And I've seen the fruits of these poor choices, too: cops coming around and shining their big, bright flashlights. It isn't that the cops don't already know what goes on here, it's that when guys get too comfortable and act obnoxiously, phone calls and complaints start streaming in. And, of course, the lone cop who might be driving by and would otherwise just KEEP driving by will be much more likely to stop if he glimpses a group of five guys all walking into the woods together -- or vehicles parked in places where it would otherwise be illogical to park unless you were doing something untoward. For heaven's sake, guys... WALK a little further, please. Be discrete.

Also, there is the familiarity of the same old faces that MrBigOne mentioned. Sometimes, as well also all know, the same guys are in the same spot day after day after day. Now and then, these guys are men we aren't interested in at all. Maybe we just want something new, or maybe we don't like to be around them for some other reason. Many times I have left a cruising area when I see a few familiar faces or vehicles. I know for sure that other men do the same -- they will leave and maybe come back later (if at all) in hopes the familiar guys have left. Usually the mainstays NEVER leave, though.

And when there is just ONE car or ONE guy in a certain place, and everyone else just keeps on driving and won't stop, that is also noticed by anyone else who goes there. Why bother to stop if there is just ONE car and it's "that dude" again?

Cruising is fascinating. It's got so many different levels to it. Sure, most of the time, your penis guides you to it, but I know a lot of you dudes are just as into the little psychological dramas that play out as I am. Our entire subculture is great fun, despite the ups and downs and little frustrations that come with it. Cruising is STILL our little secret game. No matter how many cruising spots fail and close up shop, we still keep on doing it. We'll even visit our old spots JUST on the hope that maybe... maybe someone else will be feeling sentimental about them, too.

Finally... do not dismiss the election year issues that relate to cruising. It will all simmer down after November 2. Hopefully. Gays aren't the only ones being targeted, either. Yesterday, twenty-some odd straight guys were busted for soliciting prostitution here in a huge sting operation. Lots of prominent members of the community, too. Their mug shots are all over the news. It's really disgusting and pointless. It's called "the world's oldest profession" for a reason. Geez. It's NEVER going to stop. Just fucking leave it alone...

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Sadly everything Scruff said is right on target about cruisy places. The one exception I've found so far is rest areas. There's a fresh batch of truckers there every night so you're not seeing the same guys every time you go. Most, but not all , truckers are super discrete, almost to the point of paranoia. I've never seen a cop in the rest areas where I cruise in almost six years and the attendents that work there go home at 11:00PM.

I'll be the first to admit that truckers are not everyones idea of the ideal man but not all of them are old, fat and smelly. When my good friend Randy told me about all the dick he was getting at rest areas I was a little skeptical but it only took a little time to realize not every trucker wants to just sit back and let a queer suck his dick. Most are just as eager as I am to have sex with another man.

Unfortunately most rest areas are located in rural areas, here in Georgia anyway, so other than the truckers you rarely run into another cruiser that might like to fuck around. Most of the truckers I've talk to say that most times they hook up with another trucker rather than with a local guy.

So all you city slickers get off your asses and drive out to the nearest rest area, you might be surprised. A steady diet of trucker is OK by me but sometimes something a little different would be nice too.

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Hell, nothing wrong with truckers. They come in all the same shapes and sizes as any other men out there, so there are just as many hot ones as NOT hot ones.

Sadly, in Florida, as anyone who has ever visited here knows, the rest area security ARRIVES at sunset and stays until dawn. This included rent-a-cop security guards AND Florida Highway Patrol. I think this all started back when those two German tourists were shot and killed at a Central Florida rest area almost nine or ten years ago. So sex is impossible there, but I do hear truck stops can be cruisy.

I'm going to have to maybe spend more time in Georgia...

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GWT,

Please tell us what technique you use to get face-to-face with those truckers. Are there picnic/nature areas or are the rest stops all concrete layouts?

I've read about cruising through in your vehicle and tapping the brakes, looking for trucks with their cab lights on, etc. but I've never cruised one myself. Problem is most rest stops here in Kansas are about an hour away from my house, unless you count the ones on the turnpike and the restarants and gas stations on them are open 24/7.

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GuyTopeka,

Do a search for gay truckers or truck chasers, you might find a site that will give tips on cruising truckers. Most of these sites are not free but you might find some helpfull information along the way.

I don't cruise rest areas any differently than I cruise anywhere else. I've never been a brake tapper and I don't have a CB radio but from what I hear CB's are the way to go. As long as I'm meeting truckers I'll wait to fork out money for a CB.

Almost every trucker I've met was in the restroom or nearby. Truckers cruise the same as everyone else.

If you want to know how to tell which truckers are cruising by just scanning the parking lot, that's a little tougher. Lights mean nothing, wheather they're on or off, inside or out. I've heard that if a trucker is sitting in his truck with his shirt off he's cruising, but I wouldn't bet on it. A trucker that flicks his cigarette lighter is suppose to be a sign, but I wouldn't bet on that either.

Cruising truckers doesn't seem any different than cruising guys that are sitting in cars. You can't see down in a truck the way you can a car but I've seen truckers open the passenger side door to offer a better look. Some have been naked most have not.

I don't mind walking though the truck parking area just to see what's going on but if you do just make sure you're walking like you have a destination and not just lurking around. Sometimes truckers will get out and walk around too, kicking their tires, checking their load, and a little crotch grabbing.

Just like any cruising, trucker cruising offers no handbook. There are no sure fire signals that I know of. Just be observant, carefull and confident. If you're going to walk around in the lot or picnic areas, walk around like you own the place.


I stay away from truckstops. Too much other stuff going on there to concentrate on cruising.

I don't know if any of this will help you, it's just stuff I've learned along the way. I've been cruising truckers for almost six years now and the worst thing to happen to me so far as been a case of crabs.

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I've cruised a few Rest Stops. The last one I had success with was on Hiway 5 in Frazer Park (at the top of the Grape Vine). I had to actually stop and piss...so I stood at a urinal, and within seconds, a guy was staring at my cock. Pretty soon I was in his truck with my cock up his ass!

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Does anyone use cb radios anymore? If so what's the best channel(s)?

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I can't say from experience - but I would guess CB's have been replaced by phone apps. The good thing with the app is you could tell if someone else in the rest area is looking!

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True...modern times but the oldtimer in me still actually has a cb! lol

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That is just because you want to be in the front of a Convoy!

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hahaha! line em up and i will get my knee pads

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