Monday, August 11, 2008

VVRC Car Show: Another Great Time!

Big events like these are hard to write about, because there is so much going on at once. The really short summary is this: We had a wonderful weekend! The weather was cooler this year in the mornings and evenings, there were more people our age but a lower overall turnout, more mozzies, more people we knew, and much more fun!

Some new friends of ours that we met at the party decided to attend the car show for the first time. They volunteered to take some of our camping stuff, since I was a bit nervous about bending the motorcycle luggage rack with the weight. I'm very thankful that they did this for us!

After unloading the bike Friday morning, I spent about an hour with one hand holding a rag and the other hand holding "Honda Shine" (spray cleaner and polish that ROCKS!) I prepped the bike by putting my army bag on the luggage rack, which matches the army surplus gas-mask saddle-bags. I taped the signs to the windshield, and finished by putting Boxer in the passenger seat to win on "cuteness". I had some stiff competition though, since a younger kid brought a pocketbike. It was really cute too, so I was convinced that everyone was voting for him, or for the fancy crotch-rocket style bike that was parked in the back.

Saturday morning it rained a bit, which meant that I had to do quick rounds with the Honda Shine yet again. I'm pretty sure the bike hasn't been that clean in ages! More stiff competition showed up -- two very fancy trikes. I know I would've voted for them... Curiously though, they disappeared by Sunday.

Saturday was all kinds of fun! I played frisbee with my new friends for a while in the parking lot, and put a few dents in people's cars. (Just kidding!) We also played volleyball into the night, and only quit because we couldn't really see the ball anymore. My arms ended up getting bruised from the stiff ball, but it was fun anyway. By this time, the band was going strong playing our favorite tunes to perfection. They never got naked, and much of the crowd kept their clothing on too, because it was a bit cold that evening! I heard that last year, they had to make an announcement to get their underwear back. I'm sure their wives wondered how the gig went...

Saturday night was spent with our neighbors last year, and a few new people, while we made smores. By this time, I was a bit bummed that the elusive "Steve & Angie" from the All Nudist blog hadn't yet found us, since my earlier description was spot-on and we should've been easy to find. Come to find out, they were sitting right in front of me! They were camped out right behind our friends from last year and joined in around the campfire. I was finally able to deliver their cookies, although is wasn't quite the quantity that they were hoping for. They are fun people, and I'm looking forward to seeing them at the beach. If you haven't seen their post yet, they said: "We ran into Academic Naturist, accompanied by the lovely and vivacious Lady Friend." I should really start using that phrase when referring to her! It's an accurate description, although she is more than just a lady friend.

Sunday, we packed up early since our friends had to leave by 11 with the bulk of our camping gear. We stayed until 3 to enjoy the end of the show. For this event, the additional 4 hours is somewhat expensive but contains the parade and car show awards.

We met an older couple who have been to every car show except the first three, which is pretty impressive since this is the 19th show. We had lunch with them. While we were engaged in a deep conversation regarding the lack of participation by young people in both nudism and square dancing, an announcement was made for parade drivers. I got to the area just as things were starting, and figured it might be a bad idea to spend 10 minutes getting my bike cleaned off and started just to sit in traffic with a burning hot engine between my naked legs. I was wrong, and felt bad for not being in the parade. Additionally, they only announce winners as they go through, so my 1st place in the motorcycle category was never announced.

Woah, I got 1st place? I was shocked! Apparently people liked my bike because it was practical and well-kept for being a family-owned 1981 bike. Or, they liked it because they had one very similar in the past and loved it. Or, they liked my "lovely and vivacious Lady Friend" who was sitting on it and dancing naked around it for part of the day.

I really enjoy the parade, despite how short of a route it is. It seems to attract all the beautiful women to ride on top of equally beautiful cars. My girlfriend and another gal rode on the back of a convertible. The parade is the only point where I wish I could have a camera along, because the whole thing is so picture perfect. VVRC takes pictures of the winners, but I have no idea where those pictures go. When we get a chance, we'll take a picture ourselves for the brag book.

She got a slight all-over sunburn, and I got about 25 bug bites and bruised arms. Despite that, we had a wonderful time at this year's car show! We met a lot of great new people, and saw all of our friends from last year. Not only that, but we had a nude ride on the motorcycle before we left. (This adds a whole new dimension to the freedom felt by riding motorcycle!) We're hooked, and we'll certainly make this an annual must-attend event.

After the event, my vivacious gal thanked me for one of the best weekends she's had in a long time. She's been bragging about it to several of her friends, and a few of them might give it a shot next year. We'll certainly be there!


Trophy with the caption: "1st Place / 2008, 19th Annual Nude Car Show, Valley View Recreation Club".

Friday, August 1, 2008

Mazo Manor - S1E04 - Perfect Day in Paradise

I have no idea why the big crowds always show up later in the season... Today (July 26th), the parking lot was packed and we had to park on Laws Drive. Of course, the beach was also pretty full as well. The Contenders were there, and the Elders were there, and then a whole mess of other people. It was so full that I couldn't differentiate between groups. This concept made me happy, because it appeared that everyone was integrated into a single community instead of separating into sub-groups. If only it would stay that way...

Remember that this whole "Mazo Manor" thing is inspired by the Meerkat Manor TV show. (You have to admit that there's a striking resemblance between the FOMB and the FKMP, at least in the pictures.) I'm the production crew, who occasionally goes to the beach and then writes a dramatized, and somewhat anonymized, documentary of what's going on. If anyone is interested in writing episodes for days that I'm not around, I'd love to expand the production crew! I'm doing this mostly for fun, and I understand that I don't always get the facts right depending on who I talk to and how much I observe. I'm sure the producers of Meerkat Manor have this same problem, except with the whole "talking" thing.

With that said, I need to also point out that today overloaded the production crew. The lack of grouping and busyness of the beach made it very difficult to observe what was going on. Also, we were there for only 2 hours, and mostly showed up to meet with people before a party. Now, back to the story...

Walking to and from the beach, we encountered 5 couples who were being eaten alive by mozzies because they didn't bring any spray. We offered ours, and all of which readily accepted. We went through about half a can that day, and not much of that actually went on us. C'mon people, bring some protection before you enter the gauntlet. It was apparent that they were either new or hadn't been to the beach in a few years, because anyone who knows the current state of the gauntlet either bikes or has strong bug spray in hand.

Leaving the beach, we found a somewhat creepy business card on the small parking lot. Doing a quick search, I found that he's also listing this on craigslist here. I'm seriously failing to see how this could be considered entertaining, especially when stretched into a full hour. (No pun intended.) This guy has "exhibitionist" written all over him, and probably does free performances in the South-Ender section.

The beach also had a recent visitor hanging in the back and taking pictures. The Elders approached him, and demanded to see/erase the pictures and were going to tell him to go away. He popped out the camera's memory card, handed it over, and then took off. This action shocked the Elders, but it makes sense: In that situation, would you hand over a $40 card and consider it gone, or hand over an expensive camera with the possibility of losing the camera and getting beaten up? Of course he wouldn't have, but he didn't know that. Upon investigation, the pictures were all blurry and didn't amount to anything.

We saw the young couple from episode 2, and asked if they were attending the party. They were invited, but were unsure. The couple from episode 3 were also invited, but we never saw them. There weren't any other young couples our age at the beach, and none went to the party.

They missed out, because the party was awesome! We had a small but comfortable back yard (with a bouncer at the door), a campfire to roast our chestnuts and toast our buns, a pool to cool off in, the best pork chops I've ever tasted, and about 30 of the most entertaining clothing-optional guests! There were a few cameras, but all were in the hands of very trustworthy people and I know exactly where those photos are going. They're going into "brag books", one of which was recently started by us. So far, it only has photos from my trip to Australia, a few artistic ones taken locally, and a few of our place. It's no match for the photo library of Mazo history that a certain other person has. Lessons from his collection are: We need to bring back body-painting, and need to bring back the Nude Olympics. They looked like a lot of fun!

I don't want to go into the details of the party because it's not really beach related. But, I will say that it was a lot more fun and a lot more social than a day at the beach. We're considering a "movie night" (with my projector pointing at the white wall by the pool) and a "Passion Party night" for couples. It's important to point out that none of that is sexual beyond just words. We're true nudists, not swingers or anything else. It'll be a tasteful movie (I'm thinking "Sirens" or "Medicine Man" from the list), and a passion party just like one in the textile world. We may combine the two into a single party, depending on interest.

All-in-all, it was a great evening. I'm glad to see such a busy beach, and glad that people are willing to host such great parties!

NEXT EPISODE