The Dirty Sole Society Summer Barefoot Bash '95 Information Filed by: Don Weber , Phelps Gates Location: Centre County, Pennslyvania, USA Dates : August 3-6, 1995. Note: Interspersed through the text are JPEG filenames for photos taken during the trip. These photos can be accessed from the Dirty Sole Society's home pages located at: http://www.barefooters.org/1995-summer/ THURSDAY, AUG 3: Washington DC =============== We (Phelps and I) left Thursday morning August 3 from North Carolina and arrived in Rockville MD early afternoon. We parked and walked to the subway a block away. I was wearing only shorts and T-shirt with a camera hanging on my shoulder. My barebottoms and wallet were the only things in my pockets. We were the only people at the subway entrance. As we purchased our subway cards, the guard said, "Excuse me... Excuse me. You must wear shoes to ride the subway." "Why?", we asked. "Because of the escalators.", he replied. The escalators had "No bare feet." signs on them in bright yellow. Not knowing about the elevators and not in the mood for a confrontation, we went to the car to get our soft soled moccasins. My moccasins are getting quite thin with a quarter sized hole in each one, so they can be easily stored in my shorts pockets. We wore the moccasins until the subway picked us up then removed them. We found Ron sitting on a bench in the garden near the Smithsonian station. I gave him my "Barefoot Hiker, Tenor Soloist" business card and we walked down the mall past the Washington Monument to the Lincoln Memorial. At the monument, a woman commented, "That must feel good." By the reflecting pool we saw men's size 17 bare footprints in the sandy dirt, but not the owner. [See the photo of Don and Phelps in front of the Capitol building: capitol.jpg] The temperature was well into the 90's with clear skies, so the pavement was quite hot, especially the black slate surrounding the Korean War statues. I love walking on hot pavement and have not yet found any in the eastern U.S. too hot to walk upon. After taking pictures at the Korean War exhibit, we returned to east side of the Washington Monument where I spotted the only other barefooter and she was carrying her shoes. It was such a great day to be barefoot and we are the only ones! Upon entering the American History museum, we walked right past the guard and spent several hours in the museum, including the cafeteria, with no hassle. There were escalators in the museum which we always rode barefoot. Several times when we reached the end I raised my toes, but did not step, just to see how dangerous it really was. No problem! The moving step just pushed me off the same as if I was shod. Next we wandered to the Smithsonian Castle. As we entered the guard said, "You must wear shoes." "But I don't have any.", I said. "That doesn't matter. It's a matter of health and safety." So we went next door to the Freer art museum where another guard stopped us and said that the shoe requirement was a rule. When we asked to see the rules, he said that there were lots of rules and he did not carry them with him. It was near time for us to go, so we said goodbye to Ron and returned on the subway. This time we entered the station barefoot and did not get hassled. Getting confronted by shoe police three times in one day was discouraging, but we still had fun talking to Ron and walking the various textures on the mall. We stayed the night in Cherry Hill NJ. FRIDAY, AUG 4: Boston ============= In the morning we drove to Hartford CT to pick up Ted, then on to Boston. We parked close to the harbor, just southeast of the Charles River and walked to a park on the river. The only other barefooter was a young man with a yo-yo standing on a bench next to his knee high boots. Joe soon arrived and the 4 of us walked across the river to Harvard Square (pronounced haw-vud squay-ah) in Cambridge. I had only my barebottoms (soleless sandal straps), although Phelps was carrying a bag of our moccasins, just in case. [See photo fiedler.jpg: Don in front of the Arthur Fiedler statue on the Charles River Esplanade in Boston. Joe's and Ted's feet are visible.] On the way I found several "class 2" pieces of glass to break for Joe and the rest I put into my shorts pocket. Here is my broken glass classification: || Class 1: Flat glass, or curved glass with diameter less than || that of a dime. These never bother me, so I pretty much step || on them indiscriminately. || || Class 2: Curved glass of 90 degrees or less. In other words, || when the piece of glass is laying with the pointy ends upward, || the pointy angle is no more than 45 degrees. These are fun to || step on and break into pieces, as long as I use my pads. || Stepping on class 2 glass with my toes or arch may result in || a cut. || || Class 3: Any large pieces, especially with pointy ends sticking || straight up, such as the ends of bottles. I always avoid these, || which is easy because of their size. I wore my barebottoms, which cause people to stare at my feet, trying to figure out if I am barefoot or wearing sandals. It's funny to see their amazed expressions when they realize that I am barefoot! One woman was almost 30 feet past me before she stopped craning her neck. It started to rain so were entered a restaurant to eat. Everyone put on shoes except me, but I was not hassled. There was a man reading a paper at the next table listening intently to our conversations about bare feet. From the expression on his face we could have been talking about plotting a murder! When the rain stopped, we proceeded to Harvard Square where we saw 5 more barefooters. Two were carrying their shoes, but the other 3 did not appear to have any shoes anywhere! Cool! One was a high school age girl sitting on a brick wall with some other kids dressed in punk costumes. I walked to her to give her my card, but did not feel welcome, so backed off. The other two were teenage boys sitting with 2 shod girls a block down the street. One boy had his toenails painted in dark colors. I handed each of them my card and stepped on a "class 2" piece of glass for them, pointy side up. They were amazed and asked to see my soles, so I showed them and they were impressed. Joe, Ted, and Phelps thought the whole scene was great! Apparently this is a new fashion trend for men: painting some or all toenails black or dark green. Ted mentioned that he had seen a friend's son (a college student) in Hartford with green toenails, and we later saw this on a man at the Caribbean festival in NY. What next? Just a little farther and we entered the subway to return to Boston. Phelps, Joe, and I rode the whole way barefoot. Joe drove back home while Ted, Phelps, and I returned to Hartford for the night. SATURDAY, AUG 5: Mohawk Trail State Park =============== Lou from Vermont originally organized this, rented a campsite, etc... but eventually Lou decided not to camp, and as it turned out, Lou ended up not being able to come at all. But thanks anyway, Lou, for finding the place! Phelps and I drove up from Hartford, arriving shortly before 10, and a little later, Richard Frazine (author of The Barefoot Hiker) turned up with his two children, Elizabeth (10) and Charles (6), and dog JD. Shortly after that, Joe (another non-computerized barefooter) arrived from Providence, with his friend Bruce (visiting from Iowa). I gave Beth the only pair of barebottoms I had -- the rest were back at Ted's place. I showed Richard the bed of nails that I use to keep in shape for rocky backpacks. He called me a fakir! Soon after Joe and Bruce arrived we were ready to leave when a shod mother and her son showed up asking for the, "nature hike." Seeing our "Barefoot Hikers" and "Go Barefoot" T-shirts, she exclaimed, "Oh, you hike barefoot! My I join you?" Her name is Pam and her son (8) is Omar. I looked over at Richard to see if he would require that they remove their shoes first, but when I turned back to Pam and Omar, their shoes were already stuck beside the corner of a storage building! Cool! Joe's friend Bruce had to turn back after a few minutes because of a bad back, but the remaining eight of us proceeded to hike up to Clark Mountain. On the map it looked like an easy hike to the summit, but we'd failed to check the topo contour intervals... the steepest part of the trail climbed almost 600 feet in 750 feet horizontal, and what started out as a hike turned into barefoot rock-scrambling! As we ascended a very steep section of trail, Pam liked to follow me because of my secure foot placements. I was flattered by such a compliment, realizing that my numerous rock climbing trips in the early 80's made a difference. But it is Pam who knows how to walk barefooted. She does not pound her heel first like many of us. Richard noticed this immediately and pointed out her walk as a good example for all of us to follow. Pam spent much of her life near lake Titicaca where many of the natives go barefoot their entire lives, even in zero degrees Fahrenheit! In the Bolivian jungles, people watch where they step and listen and feel the aura of their surroundings. Snakes and other creatures are often climbing on the sides of tree trunks, so grabbing onto trunks for support can be dangerous! [See picture summit.jpg: we have lunch at the summmit.] On the crest of the ridge, Richard carried Charlie on his shoulders while I carried Omar. On returning to the cars, Charlie was stung by bees on the thigh and behind the ear. Pam went ahead to get her daughter Zoe from the campground and met us at the bottom of the trails. At the cars we footprinted a copies of _The_Barefoot_Hiker_ for Pam and Joe. Richard gave them Barefoot Hikers T-shirts and I signed Beth's barebottoms. [See picture group.jpg - adults, left to right, are Phelps, Richard, Don, Pam, Joe. Kids are Zoe (3), Beth (10) and Omar (8).] We were all about to go our separate ways when Omar cut his toe and it started to rain. So Phelps and I drove Pam, Omar, and Zoe back to their campground, then we returned to Hartford. It is so great to meet other barefoot hikers! Back at Hartford, the rain kept us away from the Spirogyra concert so we dined at a pub and watched movies. SUNDAY, AUG 6: New York City ============= The next morning we left Hartford and drove to Greenwich Village. It's easy to find parking on a Sunday. The entire time in New York, we were barefoot but never saw any other barefooters. I found people to be quite friendly, contrary to the city's harsh reputation. (On the other hand, it was daytime and we were not in the south Bronx.) When we were walking on the subway platforms or on the streets, most people did not notice our feet. If they did, most reacted with astonished looks on their faces, but did not look at our faces. Riding the subway was different. Some people stared at our feet as if they were covered in blood. Others had amused looks. Some would take frequent looks so they would not be caught staring. Most would look at our faces immediately after looking at our feet to see what person was attached. What would their reactions be in winter?! There were a few more hazards (mostly glass) than in Boston, and I don't recommend this to a tenderfoot, but we never felt that we were in danger (either of being mugged or of injuring our feet). We first walked around 12th Street and 8th Avenue and took the subway to Times Square where we walked up and down 42nd street. [see picture timessq.jpg - Don in Times Square.] While waiting for the subway again, we sat on a bench. I was left of Phelps with a woman sitting immediatly to his right. My feet were crossed so the woman could see part of the sole of my left foot. She stared at it curiously for almost a minute, shaking her head. Finally, she commented, "You are not from here are you?" I handed her my card. She laughed, "Oh, I'm from North Carolina, too -- Greensboro." She was quite positive about our bare feet. On the subway we traveled to the southwest end of Manhattan where I took pictures of the World Trade Center and the Statue of Liberty. At the subway exit at the WTC there was a long list of rules for behavior in the World Trade Center, which we perused. No sleeping, no undressing in the restrooms, etc., but not a word about bare feet. [See picture liberty.jpg: Phelps in front of the Statue of Liberty.] We stopped at a Caribean festival nearby where I got some dinner. It was funny to see people dressed in native Caribean or African clothing with high heels or otherwise heavy footwear! Up until this time we saw only "class 1" glass and very little of it. (See chapter 2 for description of broken glass classes.) But as we walked back toward 12th street there was plenty of all kinds of broken glass everywhere. This was a rather vacant area with lots of buildings for rent and no proprieters to clean the glass from the sidewalks. I put about 7 pieces of class 2 glass in my pocket. On Seventh Avenue I enjoyed walking on top of the metal grates above the subway. While on one of them, a middle aged woman exclaimed, "You're barefoot!", as if I was unaware of the fact. She went on the say, "Be careful!", following the Jewish mother stereotype. On the Avenue of the Americas and 4th street some kids on roller blades came up to us and asked why we go barefoot. I told them that it was fun and promptly crushed under my bare foot a 2 inch curved piece of glass from my pocket, pointy side up. I handed out my cards and Phelps took a picture of us. I'm sure they'll be talking about it for days! At this point we got lost and it took us another half hour to find the car (in a trendy area of the West Village: we kept overhearing "mumble..mumble..barefoot..mumble" as we passed outdoor restaurants), Just as we finally figured out where we were, 2 blocks from the car, and as we crossed an avenue, a women behind us exclaimed grotesquely and emphatically, "Bare feet!" I turned around and said, "We do this all the time." She never responsed to me but kept on looking at my feet with a horrified look on her face. In a short time we were on the New Jersey turnpike. As we approached the final toll booth the traffic was stop and go. Phelps was driving and I had my feet out the window, with my right foot on the mirror the the left crossed on top of it, sole facing outward. It was fun to see the facial expressions of the people in the next lane. The best reaction was from kids in the back seat of a car from Illinios. They kept looking an laughing. I am happy to amuse people, but I wish I could live in a world where I could be barefoot and no one would care. It was a most successful trip and I hope to return to New England this fall. I still would like to climb Mount Washington -- barefoot, of course!