From: Bill Kirkpatrick
Subject: Re: The Road to Barefooting
Date: Sat, 04 Jan 1997 21:36:57 -0500

I didn't start going without shoes until I was sent by the USAF to Key
West NAS, Florida in 1979 at the age of 19. I arrived in August and soon
learned that shoes were definitely out. It was too darn HOT and humid to
wear them. In fact, anything more than shorts and a t-shirt was too much
clothing. Over time I began to get more comfortable being without shoes,
although I did have to wear them at work (part of the uniform, rats!). I
was on shift work, and enjoyed being barefoot for the three straight
days off we got at the end of a work cycle. I would still wear flip
flops in public, not yet having caught on to the idea of public
barefooting, although I did see quite a few folks in town that way.

In 1983, I was moved again by the Air Force here to Maryland. Now having
to suffer through winters again, my barefooting was curbed somewhat, and
I always enjoyed the arrival of spring.

In the summer of '95, I first became "wired," if you will. I began
"surfing" this by now cool thing called the Internet. Out of curiousity
one day, while checking out something called newsgroups, I came across a
newsgroup titled "alt.lifestyle.barefoot." I thought to myself, "Cool.
This might be worth checking out! I began lurking and soon realized I
wasn't alone in not liking shoes. There were many others like me out in
the world. As I continued to read about others' experiences/tribulations
I began to get the inspiration to actually try going barefoot outside
the house/yard for the first time. This was in April '96. I had a LOT of
inhibitions at first, always concerned about what others would think
when they saw this man walking toward them without shoes on. Over time
some of this apprehension has waned.

If it weren't for alt.lifestyle.barefoot and the WWW pages of the DSS
(along with Richard Frazine's 'Barefoot Hiker' page) I'd probably still
be only an at-home barefooter. 

-----------------------------------------------------
Bill Kirkpatrick        0ooo.
Columbia, MD    .ooo0   (   )  Just say "NO" to shoes!
                (   )    ) /   http://www.barefooters.org
                 \ (    (_/   news:alt.lifestyle.barefoot
                  \_)        http://www.radix.net/~billkirk