Just another HAC meet

January 9, 2025

In another milestone day on our road to recovery, Rachael and I drive ourselves over in the Raven that Bruce and Andrea returned to us just three nights earlier.

The Hostile Actors Club first convened in March 2018, a meetup of a cast of characters each of whom had been banished from a then-prominent website familiar to many here for actions and words deemed hostile to the site and personally so to the site’s peculiar webmasters. The core of the HAC group remains three couples who all lived at the time but whose lives were in transition: Bruce and Andrea, who still live here; in the same homes in southeast Portland (and only a few blocks from where we later found that our friends Rich and Robin lived for many year before expatriating to southeast France ); the Grumbys, who lived then at a condo on the east side but who were soon to move out, fly east, and begin their own vagabond existence starting with a ride back along the Lewis and Clark Trail; and ourselves, in the process of going vagabond for the next seven years, and still counting.

Since then the group has convened maybe a half dozen times, typically at transitional moments. At one of them I finally assembled a HAC Gallery of past meetings, and refer to it here so you can slip back and see what fine, fit characters we all were back in the day.

All HAC gatherings are special, but for us this one has a special significance: three nights ago Bruce and Andrea arrived in Portland after driving the Raven home on their Return of the Raven Tour, and in just a few days now Rachael and I will fly south to Tucson for seven weeks. And today? I’m happy to report that I drove us over in the Raven rather than calling Uber or asking Bruce to shuttle us back and forth; and I’m happiest of all to report that I can actually see my friends rather than just look at blurred old photos or internally through fading memories. Let’s look, give thanks, and contemplate on an appropriate nudge word for ourselves for the coming year.

In Andrea’s sunny, beautiful home. They’ve all been such special gatherings, but even without Jen ringing the Great Gong this one stands out as the best ever.

Ron, the sun on his scalp creating a nice aura that I didn’t quite capture here.

A sunny Rocky, with that chiarascura look.

The ever observant Jen keeping her eye on Rachael.

Andrea and me, with apologies to Andrea who’s sitting right behind me in the shade. I didn’t want to just turn around and point a phone in her face so I took the selfie route and grabbed the best moment I could.

Jen’s origami mini cranes bring back another forgotten memory, of a time decades ago when I was quite an origami master myself.

Before dispersing, Jen hauls out her gorillapod so we can all pose for a group portrait. Thanks for remembering Jen, and thanks to both you and Ron for driving up!

Several hours of nonstop sharing later, it’s time to go. It’s chilly and quite windy when Rachael heads west and fortunately downwind to walk back to our matchbox pied a terre of the moment; and I’m off to Mount Tabor to walk around its crown for a bit and see what there is to see today. I’m not there long though, because I didn’t think ahead and haven’t dressed in layers. Shorts, sandals, my brand new Pendleton but no coat. A quick loop around the summit and I’m happy to hop back in the Raven and flip on its heated seat for the drive home.

And she’s off, she’ll follow nearly the same route I took after walking back from coffee with Bruce a few days ago. And she won’t get lost or wander onto anyplace scary, because she’s got a route loaded on her Garmin this time.

Tilicum Crossing, in a way I’ve never captured if before. I’m starting to really love the new SX 70.

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Tricia GrahamThere are so many of us who gratefully came to use this website when we found that other one so unpalatable 😊
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1 week ago

Bruce LellmanTo Tricia GrahamYou are so right, Tricia. Andrea and I have made a lot of friends through CycleBlaze. It's such a nice friendly place, everyone helping each other wherever they can. I love the CycleBlaze community.
Thank you, Jeff Arnim.
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1 week ago

Tricia GrahamTo Bruce LellmanJeff has certainly given so much to the cycling community not only in USA and Canada but all over the world even right down here in NZ. There are so many people I now think of as friends though the majority I have never met
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1 week ago