I'm glad the weather warmed up for you. It must be a big morale boost. This being a holiday weekend and the first warm warm weather we've had in a while, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more people out recreating in the desert. I may try to get out later next week when everyone is back at work/school. Enjoy.
I'm glad the weather warmed up for you. It must be a big morale boost. This being a holiday weekend and the first warm warm weather we've had in a while, I wouldn't be surprised if there were more people out recreating in the desert. I may try to get out later next week when everyone is back at work/school. Enjoy.
Yeah, looks like the temps are going to warm up to the upper 70s in the next 5-7 days. But better news is that the night time lows are going to warm up too, like low 50s. No more of this 30s crap.
Day 11 - Kind of a stay-inside day today, despite it being warmer again. Lots of sunshine. I should have spent more time outside, especially it being a holiday weekend. But then again, when you're camping alone, in the middle of vast desert, wilderness perhaps, you're never aware that we're celebrating Presidents Day. For that matter, I'm not really aware of what day of the week it is.
Being naked for this many days straight has given me a greater sense of openness about my feelings. I wonder if that's something that just comes natural when you don't have clothes on? I wonder if wearing clothes tends to give us some kind of symbolic facade with which we can hide our truths behind, and instead put up false fronts. Maybe it's not something we are consciously aware of, but perhaps feeling so secure behind clothing, cosmetics, our cars... are all facades that allow us to be disingenuous with ourselves?
I did make it outside to get a good look at the rubber seals on the ramp door of my trailer. They certainly have lost their resiliency. They remain flattened out from being closed against the door, and as a result, they have places where rain can get through. The good news is that there is no rain in the forecast for awhile.
I had thought about setting up my fire pit, but I don't have any wood to burn. There are pieces of old Palo Verde wood laying around here and there, but it seems like a lot of work to gather it all up. I may give it a try.
Attached photo is of a field of lava rock. Much of Arizona is ancient lava beds where volcanoes spewed up magma tens or hundreds of thousands of years ago. There are fields of black lava rock everywhere. Even in Northern Arizona, there are lava beds as far as the eye can see.
Day 12 - 12 Days of being continuously naked, all out in the desert of Arizona, miles from nowhere. Feels great.
Weather was perfect today. Skies totally blue. I did venture out on the scooter. I actually rode in the direction of the other camper, which had been about a mile away from me, along the BLM road. I couldn't see them, so I figured they had left. I got about 1,000 feet away, and I finally saw them. They had moved their truck and trailer to a different location, maybe just a few hundred feet from their old location, perhaps to get better shade, or something. I stopped the scooter, and was about to turn back, when I saw one of them. This person looked to be nude also! I didn't want to ride over there, because I'm sure he/she could hear my scooter approaching and would head back inside for clothes. And besides, anyone who camps out here, in the middle of nowhere, doesn't want to be bothered.
I turned around and rode down another trail and found an area that looked pretty nice to camp in. I was very tempted to move my trailer there. Cell signal was still solid there too. It would give me more seclusion, though there's hardly anyone around. However, I would have to secure stuff into boxes to move the trailer, hitch it back up, and so forth. For now, I'm gonna sit on it and decide later.
Venturing out through the desert naked feels great, but yet different than the feeling you get just after you've removed your clothes. I don't feel that "I'm finally naked now" feeling. It's more like feeling natural, perhaps in the way Nature had intended. That kind of naked. I walk out of my trailer naked, with no concern if anyone is around. I don't even look around. I jump on my scooter and ride off with no concern if anyone's nearby, or if anyone else might drive by.
There are moments when the thought comes into my head that if another truck or car happened to come by, and they see me riding the scooter, or hiking around, buck naked, if they would smile and get a quick laugh, or if they would feel uncomfortable seeing "some weird naked guy" roaming around. I've gotten to the point of not caring so much, and leaving for when the circumstance actually happens.
Attached photo: It was finally warm enough to open the ramp door on my trailer and get more air flow inside. I have a bug screen to keep the insects out. The ramp can double as a patio too.
You wrote that being naked for this many days in a row has given me a sense of being more open to my feelings and you wondered if this comes for living for an extended period of time without clothes. Good question: I wonder what answers youll find. I wonder if thats in part because youre alone.
And you wrote of losing a sense of what day it is, with a holiday weekend coming on. I wonder if it, too, is a matter of being by yourself. I remember reading of prisoners in solitary confinement scratching tick marks onto the wall to keep track of the time. Youre not in solitary, except voluntarily because you want to stay naked. But your insight about being more in touch with feelings, and losing a sense is time, as a consequence of having been naked and, except for cyber-contact, isolated, is fascinating. Ill be waiting to here more about this.
Any further sightings of the neighbor who appeared also to be naked? I wonder how the dynamic would be changed by the presence, however brief, of another naked person.
Any further sightings of the neighbor who appeared also to be naked? I wonder how the dynamic would be changed by the presence, however brief, of another naked person.
I'll keep an eye out. But keep in mind, this larger area of where I'm camped is mostly void of any campers aside myself and this neighbor, meaning people don't want to be bothered. There are more popular camping grounds to the west, in Yuma, Lake Havasu, and Quartzsite. These areas have BLM grounds, and where clothing-optional campers have set up for the purpose of having company. There are also kink campers that flock there too. I have not camped with these groups, but if I did, I'm pretty sure I'd spend most of time by myself. I'm just not that social. I prefer to write, as I'm doing here, and go into my thoughts.
I've also been to nude beaches, and they are enjoyable to visit. When you're visiting a place where nudity is expected, it becomes a more relaxing feel, but still maintains a temporary environment. That is, it feels great to finally remove your clothes and get some sun, but you have to put them back before the day is done. And, everyone else who's there is under that same constraint, and thus it changes the dynamic of nudism. I know there are nudist resorts where you can spend several days, or weeks, or months, nude. But then, the idea of having to pay money to get naked, and staying under another property owner's rules, just doesn't feel that "free and liberating" to me.
Hence, I like this idea of nude camping on federal land better. I can actually wander naked for 20 to 30 miles in any direction, camp anywhere I want, and practically do whatever I want to do. But, it comes with the caveat that you have to be here alone, or with your spouse, and that any venturing out to visit neighbors is generally an imposition.
But then, the idea of having to pay money to get naked, and staying under another property owner's rules, just doesn't feel that "free and liberating" to me.You have captured in one sentence what i would struggle to say in a short essay.
That's the way I feel too. I also have to be doing something. Sitting on a beach in the sun bores me, but playing in the water or sand with my grandchildren is great. I can swim for awhile but my endurance is not great. Walking the beach would be something to try after I get my new knee.
Day 13 - I took another extended naked ride through the desert on the scooter. I rode for 10 miles. I wanted to check out this other crossroad I found the other day. It was still full of water in some places, requiring me to find a path around. But eventually, I arrived at a fence line, and figured I had come up to private property. I didn't cross through, and turned around.
Thus far, of all the times I've ventured away from camp, either hiking or riding the scooter, I haven't added any more of a tan than I already had. I usually keep a very light tan. I do have the type of skin that tans easily.
I recall as a kid my parents would go camping in the desert, Anza Borrego Desert State Park, or surrounding BLM areas, and I would turn brown. My mom would say that I looked like a Navajo. Talk about my parents, I think they were the ones that opened the door for nudism. They would ditch their clothes once they got our camp set up. My dad had a 1976 Chevy van that he customized. It had carpeting, a bed, wood paneling on the sides, stereo speakers, lights, a cabinet for storage, a place to mount one of the old Coleman coolers... That was all the rage back in the 1970s, customized vans. They would sleep inside, and I would sleep outside, in a sleeping bag on a hammock.
Eventually, they stopped doing the naked camping thing, but we still kept camping once or twice a year. However, I was hooked on nudity. When my parents were not home, I would go bare inside. I would also dare myself to go outside, for very brief moments. But when I heard the van pull up to the house, I would put my clothes back on. Somehow, I couldn't get myself to be naked when my parents were not naked. I was not expressive with them at all. I felt very uncomfortable letting them see how I felt inside. And, I stayed that way into my adulthood. It's only when I met my second wife (current wife) that she helped me feel more relaxed at expressing myself. Though even now, it's still not easy to do. When I'm around other people, I can see how my closed-off expression impacts other people; they tend to remain closed-off too.
And that has a lot to do with me being solitary.
Attached photo is of my scooter at the end of the road, where it becomes private property.