From: Ryan David Marshall
Subject: Renaissance romp
Date: Wed, 31 Jul 1996 17:56:02 -0600 (MDT)

Hey all

	This past weekend I had one of my best, and one of my strangest
experiences barefootn'.  My younger sister's seventeenth birthday was
Suday and she decided to take some of her freinds and my-self to the Co. 
Renaissaice Festival.  I have been barefoot for a while, and I go to
the Festival twice a year, but the thought of going barefoot to fair
just never occured to me.  (*Doh!*) So I decided this was the time.
Before we left my parents and my sister's freinds kept telling me I
should have brought shoes, "...just in case.." meaning "You'll be
begging for your boots after half an hour."  I just thanked them for
the advice and assured them that I'd be fine.
	We arrived a little early, so we took out time getting to the
front gate.  The walk was fun, for me anyway.  The path was mostly gravel
and sand, and the ground was moist and already starting to warm up in the
70degree heat; but judging from the winces my young companions made every
time they looked down, I could tell that my barefeet were hurting them
more than me.  As we waited outside I chit-chatted with some of the 
people I knew who worked there, and some freinds I ran into in the 
crowd.  The employee's didn't seem to notice my feet, probably because I 
was in costume and it seemed to fit; and my freinds just shook their 
heads knowingly, either in disbelief or consolation.  Little did they know...
	When the gates opened we all started milling around, my sister 
and her little knot of freinds giggling up one hill and me and my feet 
just meandering.  I couldn't beleive I'd never done this before!  The 
range of sensations was PHENOMENAL!  I've been barefoot hiking a couple 
of times, so I thought I knew what to expect; but there were so many 
different things to feel and do that I thought I was going to be 
overwhelmed.  The wood chips at the gate tickled, and the gravel was a 
massage, the sand was fun to wiggle in, and the grass just heavenly, the 
wood floor of the shops was sometimes a rest, and the mud was just fun!  
Between watching the people, walking barefoot, and shopping my brains out 
(my bank book is still bruised);  the whole experience was like barefoot 
hiking where there just happed to be a thirteenth century mall 
neatly arrayed along the trail, with ten thousand people I didn't know. 
(*SHRUG*)Anyway when it was time to leave my family and freinds were 
slightly impressed that I had survived, I really didn't notice their 
congratulations because I was still busy diggin'on the tickly feeling of 
the wood chips (*blush*).  

	Well, I just wanted to share.  Have fun and stay barefoot...

					Love, Hope, Peace
					      Ryan