The Things We Do to Be Nude (Jan. '10): So I had ... - Echo of Infinity

she even heard that we were going to be swimming (which would have been good). She said, inher interruption, "Okay. I probably will go visit Betty, so we might not bump into each other forthe night." I wasn't going to fight to add any more. I grabbed my towels, made sure my bedroomdoor was locked (I have nudist-related stuff in there, and she used to like to go into my room alot), and said goodbye while heading out the door. I popped everything into my car, started it up,and headed on my journey.Now the good thing is, the first 40% of the route I already knew because it was the exactsame route I take to college. This wasn't too bad, and I made it with really no problems. I evenmade it to the second main highway I needed to get on, which would take me at least another40% of the way to where I needed to go. Unfortunately, this second highway was also a turnpike,so I had to fork over like $6 just to use the stinkin road (like my car actually eats $6 of road forthat one little trip). But anyway, this second 40% of my trip was a little rougher. I have no radioin my car, and I didn't have anyone else carpooling with me. It was just me and the road. I didhave the CD player on me that was playing out of a little earpiece sitting nearby, but the drivewas still looong. I also had brought along a 4 pack of energy drinks and some munchies forsafety, and decided to drink the first of my four pack now. (My plan to stay up late the nightbefore so I wouldn't want to sleep as soon the next day failed miserably- for some reason, I wentto bed at midnight, and woke up at 5am.) The energy drink and CD player did their jobs though,and I was fine as far as alertness went.Okay, so after paying a few tolls, and wondering to myself "Am I there yet?!" I got to thelast probably......10% or so of the distance necessary to get to the swim meet. Unfortunately, itwas this 10% that was a lot of the non-freeway driving. What happened first? Well, myMapquest directions told me to merge unto a "BR" exit/section, so I was looking for somethingto say "BR" after it on the signs. What Mapquest forget to tell me (or I forgot to write down,don't remember which) is that "BR" stands for "business route." I ended up totally missing myexit, and because I figured the trip was just really long in general, I just kept going. Thankfully,and kind of unthankfully, like right after my needed turn the highway goes directly into the cityof Pittsburgh, which can be pretty cumbersome when you have never been there before, don'tknow where you're going, and it's night outside. I drove to the entire other side of the city ofPittsburgh, through big multilayer freeway parts, through mountain tunnels, and back intonon-city territory on the other side. After passing a few exits and still not seeing what I waslooking for, and knowing that my cell phone said (from the time) that I should have been therealready, I called the "If you get lost, call this number" number, and one of the men from theswim picked up and told me to turn around, because I had passed up the exit by about 1/2 hour(Yea, I know). So I did that, and I was looking for the street exit that he told me to go to. But Ididn't catch his directions quite clear, between not knowing exactly what to look for, being inthe middle of a big city, and having a bit of nervousness going on and stuff. I did remember hementioned something about some other exit though, and so I thought maybe I had to get off the

other exit to get to the first one he mentioned. Yea, not quite. He had wanted me to go past theexit he mentioned. Anyway, I called him again, and he said I could still get there from the exit Ihad taken, I just had to go to a certain road and take a left. ...I missed that road too. When it'sdark and roads always seem to have little or no signs on them, it's hard to figure stuff out.Anyway, between what he had told me about the road to go to, and the Mapquest directions, Ihad seen a sign for a road that I knew might help. I stopped in a random gas station, and hegave me directions on how to get to the road. I would love to say that things went peachy fromthere, but let's just say there was some more circling, double-backing, and double-checkingagain before I found what he was talking about. After I found THAT road, I think it only tookone more phone call, after stumbling finally to the last road, to get me to the address, because Ihad passed up the fitness center as I drove by it. I did get there though. It only took an extra 1.5hours of driving to do it (ahaha). The swim was supposed to start at 8pm, I set my plans to beable to arrive at 7:30pm, but I didn't get there until 9pm! Good thing the swim was supposed togo til midnight.Whew. So now I was finally at the swim. The wellness center's main room, the one I walkedinto, was basically just a cement slab of huge space for people to be able to sit down or whatever,with what looked like a full Olympic-sized swimming pool in the middle. There were already a lotof people there (they said about 90 came that night), and immediately as I walked through thedoor I recognized some familiar faces (people from the nudist club in my area). I payed the peopleto get into the swim ($10), and then walked over to the people I knew and talked a bit. I gotundressed (the cement slab around the pool was pretty big, so a lot of people just threw theirclothes near the walls), and continued talking with the people from my local club, whom I toldthe story to of how I just got lost. Anyway, after quite a bit of talking, I talked to one of theboard members I knew about getting my membership stuff taken care of, and they said it wasentirely able to be done that night and to just come to them when I wanted it done. I decided towait until later to do it.After the talking, I decided to jump into the pool. I wanted to swim a bit to de-stress. Iswam a down and back, and that was enough to work off some tension. I looked for people toplay with or talk with in the pool, but there were only like 4 people in it, the other 86 peopleall walked around or sat in chairs they brought and talked. Since I didn't see any games going on,I got out shortly and decided to hang out and just chat with people. After chatting a while, Idecided to grab a towel and sit on it, because I didn't bring a chair (and wanted to relax). WhileI was sitting there, one of the guys that I had noticed in the pool earlier came over to me andasked if I wanted to play with them. He said they needed another person for the water basketball2 on 2 they wanted to run. I didn't really hesitate, as I hate going to functions and not doinganything with people, so I hopped back in the water, and me, two adults, and onemiddle-schooler (all men) started playing a game. The hoop was kind of like one of those kiddiehoops you might see somewhere, although it looked like it might have been especially made for

the pool. The ball was a kiddie ball as well. But all that didn't matter much, we played forprobably a half hour or so, before we decided to take a break (the middle-schooler was prettygood, he drove the ball and scored quite a bit).After the game was over, I decided to dry off and rest for a bit. By resting, I meanrejoining people to talk some more. I knew it must have been a good game of basketball,because I noticed that I had been bleeding a little near my elbow. Anyway, I talked for quite awhile, met some new people, and looked around at the activities going on- near the foodtables they were watching the Indianapolis football game, a professional masseuse had a tableset up in the room and was giving massages for a fee, and some people were playing someboard games. Up until now, there was only one other person under age 30 at the event, and itwas a guy I had known from other functions from our own local nudist club (I'll call him Bret).I say up until now, because finally at least two more 20-somethings walked in the door. It wasa couple- a guy and his girlfriend.Long story short, the night went on. I swam a bit more, talked with people some more.I also filled out all the necessary paperwork for my membership with my local nudist group,paid the fee, and then got my snazzy membership card (which I can show people to leave themwith no doubt). Oh, and when the young couple walked in, I forgot to mention that Brethappened to mention rather loudly (something along the lines of) "Another cute girl. Damn.They always come with a boyfriend." We happened to be standing only like 10 feet from them,so I mentally slapped myself on the forehead and REALLY hoped she hadn't heard him saythat. Anyway, I mention that, because the girl happened to seem reserved basically the entirenight. And by reserved, I mean even though the event was nude only, she carried her towelwith her basically wherever she went and made sure it was hanging down long ways to alwaysbe covering her crotch, and often her breasts as well (she never went in the pool). Now, I'm notentirely dumb, I also figured it was her first time there (she was with a boyfriend, he wententirely nude, and girls often get introduced to nudism through their boyfriends). Even if shehadn't heard Bret's comment, she may still have walked around with a towel like that all night.Anyway, I kind of felt bad for this girl (sympathy-wise). Her boyfriend seemed to bespending a long time sitting talking with people by the football game that was on tv. I figuredshe might be bored, and not really getting a whole lot from the night. I didn't want to leave ayoung adult female with a bad experience of nudism, because they are already rare enough as itis, and I wanted nudism to be given the proper kudos/props/reputation that it should be knownfor. So I went over to talk to them (notice I didn't say 'just her;' I'm not dumb). I went overbehind them and circled to the side where the guy was and introduced myself to him first. I saidmy name, and offered my hand to greet him with a handshake. After greeting him, I greetedhis girlfriend, and I asked if they were members of the nudist group that was sponsoring the

swim. They said they weren't, and that it was their first couple of times to any kind of eventlike this (his second, her first). They said they had been to Haulover while visiting Florida,which made me glad, because then I was able to be relieved that it wasn't at least his girlfriend'svery first time around nudists this night. Anyway, I continued friendly conversation for sometime, because I wanted both of them to feel welcomed (it's nice to have younger nudists around,which the guy also noted as well), and both of them seemed like they found me friendly. The guyeven left to get a drink (though the food wasn't far away), and the girl continued to talk with mewhile he was gone. I talked with them for a little while, and then not noticing any readilyavailable games for us to play together to help them have a good time, I said goodbye to themand decided to go see if I could play some more basketball with the middle-schooler and theguy who was probably his dad. They indeed let me play with them again. And as for the couple,I think they stayed a little longer and then left. I think my amiableness was enough to help thefemale of the couple to feel more relaxed around nudity, and also for her to see that not all menwere sex-mongers looking for a partner or girlfriend, so I was happy that that part of my nightwent well.Anyway, midnight finally came around. It was time to go. I dried off, said my goodbyes,and hoped that I could find my way back okay. I figured that because I had seen the roads I hadcome in on, that I would be able to find my way back okay. But I knew there was one spot thatmight be tricky to find, and it was because I had to make a left turn at a place that may not havenecessarily had a stop sign. And unfortunately for me, the story doesn't end here. I did indeedmiss that turn I thought I might be okay to make. I ended up going the entirely oppositedirection I needed to. And to make it worse, the mistakes I had made on my way down had leftwith me almost no gas left.Now there is one thing about Pennsylvania that makes it bad for travel- it has a lot ofmountains. And since it has a lot of mountains, or at least where I was there were, people (andgas stations) can be very few and far in-between. You better believe I was praying. It's badwhen you're low on gas and in a place you know; it's much worse when you are low on gas andin the middle of nowhere going through the mountains. As I was going up a hill, my gas lightcame on. That meant I had a little time, but not a lot, until my gas would run out. I startedpraying harder. Thankfully, my gas light popped back off (whether it was from going down thehill, or from God multiplying my gas a little, I don't know). I kept going. Finally, I saw a fewbusinesses and what looked like a main road. I rejoiced as I saw a sign for some sort offreeway and also saw a gas station. I got gas and asked for directions, but the girl inside didn'tknow how to help me. What was I to do? Well, I knew that if I went west a little, and north untilI hit the great lakes, that I would have to run into where I live because I live on Lake Erie. SoI decided on following the freeway-ish road that led west. Over and over- no roads seemedrecognizable. Finally, I came to a freeway type road that said it went north. I figured "If it goesnorth, and I follow it, it will have to take me to the lake eventually." So I followed it and followedit. I didn't really care if it took me to unknown freeways, as long as I could go north and west,

I would probably be fine. There was only one problem, this freeway ended. After following itas far as I could, the freeway split up into a few smaller roads. Since I didn't have many options,I followed the smaller road that said it went north. Guess what? That's right- more darkmountain paths. Now there started to get a bit sharper turns and even less light and houses.And something to make matters even worse- fog.Okay, so now I am going through the mountains, its night, its super late (like 1am),there is nothing around, and I have to go really slow because I have sharp turns, don't knowwhich way the roads will be going, and have rather dangerously thick fog fading in and out.I am hoping I am still going north, but going back would just waste that much more gas, and ifit didn't give me any benefit, I would be even more at a loss than I currently was. So I continueto go down these mountain paths, occasionally passing houses and small towns. Gettingincredibly desperate, I decide to knock on someone's door, even if it meant waking them up, sothat I could get directions. I turn into where I see a house in a somewhat lit area. I almost go toget out of my car, and what would be sitting outside the house by the garage door? That's rightanice big dog. I decided to keep going.By now I am still incredibly desperate. I find what looks to be a rather big town for themountain area that I am in, and decide that I don't care how many houses around me I have toknock on, I'm gonna get someone to at least give me directions to somewhere. But I was inluck! Someone was actually walking down the sidewalk, and they didn't look big and scary.I pulled into a driveway a bit ahead of him, got out of my car, flagged him down (it was ateenage boy), and asked him where the nearest freeway was. He said I would have to go backthe way I came, about 1/2 hour. I knew the freeway he was talking about, and I didn't thinkthat one would help. I asked him what part of Pennsylvania I was in (because by now I had noclue), and he said I was more to the left border of Pennsylvania, about midway up, kind oftoward Ohio. At least I had my bearings somewhat correct! I can't remember why I turnedaround to go back the other way, I think it was because I saw a sign about what road/state routeI was on, but I did, to at least go check it out or something. I went back just a little ways to theedge of that town, and found that the sign said I was now heading south. That was good! Thatmeans I had been heading north that whole time! So I finally had a bit of good news (And yes,you're probably wondering by now why I didn't call any family and ask them to Mapquest mesome directions home. Well none of my family knows that I'm a nudist, so having to mention Iwas in Pittsburgh for some reason might get them asking questions). I decided to keep followingthis road I had been following that was taking me north. I finally ran into the one other town theteenage boy mentioned about that he said was ahead of me on the road. THANKFULLY, in thattown (even though I stopped at a gas station and asked for directions yet again), I found a signthat said it would lead me to a state route that I knew would take me back on the path I needed toget to. After another 10 minutes or so, I made it to the route that would take me back to my main

path (where I knew I could get back home). And to my astonishment, I found out that I hadgone like an hour in the wrong direction (northeast, instead of north or northwest). It wasgonna be a loooong night. But at least I had found a path that I was strongly confident couldtake me back home. Again, I had issues with fog, and so I had to slow down in places, but Iwas just happy I found a real freeway. After the hour of getting back on track had passed, Ifinally hit the Ohio border. I shot north on my typical path home from college, and I polished offthe remaining energy drinks I had brought. After another hour, I made it home. I was definitelyready to be able to finally get in my door. I looked at the clock when I got in... 4:30am. I had beenoff track an extra 2 hours than it normally would have taken to get home. But- I WAS HOME!Hallelujah!And that is the outlandishly crazy trip I experienced yesterday. Needless to say, I will beslightly less inclined to go that far again (without a lot of extra precautions in place). But- I dostill think it was worth it. I needed to have that experience (the swim, not the getting lost) to helpme feel more ready for my meeting with my pastor on Tuesday; and I am glad to now finallyhave my membership card, even if only for amusement's sake.