In a prior story, I wrote about my first camping trip to a nudist campground last fall (2000). My friends, Ann and Jim and their kids are members at this campground and they invited me to camp with them for the weekend. We had an awesome time. It was one of the best nudist experiences that I’d ever had. During that weekend, I made a number of new friends, one of whom was a girl named Amanda (along with her parents). As we parted company at the end of that weekend, we agreed to meet there again sometime the following summer. This is the story about that reunion in July (2001).

Having not seen each other for almost a year, it was interesting to note the changes that had taken place with Amanda and I over that long time period. Some were good; a few were not so good, but hey, we always need to keep trying to improve ourselves. Being open and honest and vulnerable enough to candidly discuss what we see in each other is one way to accomplish that. A lot of the sharing process that we went through is contained in this story. That process included meeting some new friends, as well. Here’s what happened.

Amanda and I had exchanged e-mails occasionally throughout the winter and as summer approached, she (along with her parents) began to suggest dates for us all to meet at the campground. It took several tries, but we finally came up with a date that would work for us all. I was to be their guest because Ann and Jim would not be going this time. Once we had a date set, I gave them a call one evening to discuss the details and find out what I could bring to help out and that kind of thing. After that it was just a matter of enjoying the anticipation of being there while I waited the week and a half for the day to finally arrive.

It would be fun to see Amanda again. Also, it would be fun to be back in a true nudist setting as opposed to the non-nudist places around home where I secretly did my nude running and hiking. Nothing can compare to the awesome freedom of enjoying nude recreation in a place that is set aside for just that. The plans were that I would drive over to the campground and that we would all arrive around noon on Friday. Then we would camp until late Sunday afternoon or early evening.

Finally, the day arrived. It was a beautiful morning and I couldn’t wait to get going. I only needed to allow two hours for the drive, but because I was so excited, I was up and ready to go two hours even before that. So I decided to take off. I figured I could wait there just as well as I could wait at home. And if the caretaker would go ahead and let me check in, I could have just that much more time to enjoy being there.

The trip went smoothly, but it seemed like it took forever. I just couldn’t wait to be there. At last I was pulling off the road and into the lane leading through the trees into the campground. I pulled up to the caretaker’s house just past the trees and stopped to check in and see if it was OK for me to be there ahead of my hosts. The caretakers are a retired couple. I found them working near by and introduced myself and told them why I was there. They remembered me from last year and remembered that I had come with Ann and Jim. They asked about Ann and Jim and I told them that Ann was pregnant. They were glad to hear the news. They said that my hosts hadn’t checked in yet, but that there was no problem with me being there early. Just go on up and make yourself at home was what they told me to do. They’re very kind and friendly. I thanked them and left.

As I walked back to my car, I saw no reason not to start enjoying my nude time right away. I slipped off my top as I walked and as soon as I got back to the car I took off the rest and threw it in the back. Then I got into my car and drove the short distance on up the hill to the parking area at the edge of the camping area. Driving nude – that was a first for me. I glanced at the clock and noted the time because I wanted to see how long I could be continuously nude this weekend.

There were already a number of campers in place in the camping area and there were bound to be a lot more arriving later. The weather forecast was calling for clear skies all weekend although the temperature would be pretty hot.

My normal habit whenever I leave my car is to roll up the windows and lock the doors, but today was way different. I realized that there was no need for those kinds of worrisome security measures here. I simply opened the door, got out, closed the door, and walked away. I was carrying nothing – I was wearing nothing – I was free of everything. What a concept!

I decided that a swim in the pool would be a great way to start things off. Walking toward the pool took me into the camping area a little ways before turning down the path to the pool. Of the campers I walked past, I didn’t recognize anyone from last time, but we exchanged greetings none the less. The path took me by the restrooms and then to the pool. I went in through the gate, around to the deep end, and dove in. The water was cool, but nothing near as cold as it had been when we swam here last fall. It felt great. I swam a few lengths of the pool and then at the shallow end I stood up and smoothed my hair back as I climbed the steps out of the pool. I then headed back out to the path that became one of the trails that led through the grassy area and eventually into the trees.

As I was walking along the trail, I was thinking how liberating it is to just go from one thing or place to another without having to bother with a wet suit or towel or any other material things. The sun was keeping me warm and the breeze was drying me off as I walked along enjoying the beautiful, peaceful surroundings. All my immediate needs were being met naturally without me having to worry about a thing. What a concept!

I have to stop right now and say to anyone reading this who has yet to experience nude recreation in a place set aside for it like this, you need to do this and you need to do it as soon as you can! This is absolutely the most awesome of experiences! Take all the good things I’ve ever written in an attempt to describe it, multiply it by at least ten, and that might begin to tell you what it’s like. Doing this needs to be moved to the top of your priority list and you need to start taking steps to make it happen. Now! You’ll be so glad you did!

OK, back to the trail. Soon I found myself entering the trees and then coming to the creek. I paused to just enjoy the natural surroundings. It was so quiet – so peaceful. There were no sounds of civilization at all - only the sounds of birds singing and the sound of the wind blowing through the tops of the trees. Even my footsteps were silent since I wasn’t wearing shoes or sandals.

I continued on along the long circuit of trails around the property taking my time and letting my senses take it all in. I occasionally encountered another hiker or two. One couple stopped to chat. We exchanged introductions and a little background and agreed that we’d talk more back in the camping area during the course of the weekend.

Eventually, I ended up back near the camping area. I had no idea what time it was nor did I even care. My watch was in the pocket of my shorts, which I had no plans of touching again until Sunday evening. My feelings of hunger told me that it was time to eat something so after stopping by the restrooms to shower off the sweat and trail dust, I walked back up to my car and grabbed an apple, which I ate as I walked back toward the pool.

There were a number of people at the pool by now – a few families with young children, some older couples, and a few individuals. I made my way in to the pool area and walked down the steps into the refreshing water. I did a little swimming and then scooted up onto the edge of the pool with my legs dangling in the water. It wasn’t long before I was drawn into conversation with some of the other folks there, talking about where we were from and that kind of thing.

I was on the farthest side of the pool from the campground, which allowed me to keep an eye out for Amanda’s arrival. It wasn’t too much longer before I saw what I thought I remembered as their vehicle and camper slowly pulling into the camping area. I excused myself from the pool conversation and headed back up to the camping area. Sure enough, it was them. By the time I reached them, Amanda and her mom were directing her dad as he finished backing their camper into a campsite.

"Hi," I said.

Amanda responded first, "Sunny! What’s up!" We hugged. "Well, it took forever, but finally here we are again."

"I know!" I replied. "I thought this day would never get here."

"Hi, Sunny," Amanda’s mom said. "It’s good to see you again." We hugged, too.

"Thanks," I said as Amanda’s dad joined us. I felt a little awkward in how to address him, but I smiled and held out my hand and said, "Hello again."

He shook my hand and said, "Hi. Sunny. Glad you could join us this weekend."

"It’s so good to see you all again," I said. "Thank you so much for inviting me."

"Oh, it’s our pleasure," her mom said. "I’m sorry we’re so late. You probably wondered what had become of us. The caretaker said that you got here about mid-morning."

"We saw your car on the way in," Amanda said. "I recognized the name of your college on the sticker in the back window."

"I haven’t really been waiting around," I said. "The caretakers told me to come on in and enjoy myself, so I did. I’ve hiked the trails and been hanging out at the pool. I really have no idea what time it is."

"Well, it’s way past lunch time, so let’s get organized and eat," she said.

Amanda said, "Good. I’m starving."

"Why don’t I bring down the food and soft drinks that I brought?" I suggested. "Then we can pool it all together, if you like."

"Sure. Good idea," said Amanda’s mom.

"I’ll just drive down here and unload it," I said. "Be right back."

"Hey wait," Amanda said. "I’ll go with you. Just a minute." She undressed quickly and left her stuff lying there on the seat of the picnic table. "I’ll put this stuff away when I get back," she said and we took off toward the parking lot talking and beginning to get reacquainted.

We drove my car down to the campsite and unloaded my things. Then after figuring out what we were going to eat, the four of us sat down to lunch. As we ate, we talked about what all had been going on in our lives for the past winter.

After lunch, we picked up and then all worked together to finish getting the campsite set up for the weekend. In addition to their camper trailer, they also had an open, screened-in cabana type of tent that Amanda and I tried to set up out behind the campsite, but we had to call on her dad to help us finish that task.

When it seemed like we had done all we could to help get everything set up, we decided to wander on down to the pool. Her parents were busy visiting with their camping neighbors and said they might see us there later.

From the moment we first said hello, Amanda and I talked and talked about all the things that had been going on in our lives since last fall. As we walked to the pool, these discussions continued. Once we were in the pool, our discussions became more difficult due to the noise level of the kids there and the interruptions from others wanting to say hello and visit. I was sensing some frustration on Amanda’s part that we weren’t able to talk without interruption.

Finally she abruptly said, "Come on" and then swam down to the shallow end, stood up, and walked up the steps.

I excused myself from the couple that we had been talking to and followed her. She was standing there dripping as she waited for me to catch up. As I started up the steps, she headed out the gate and down the trail.

When I caught up to her I still sensed her impatience. I asked, "So what’s the hurry?"

"Oh, I don’t know," she said. "I just didn’t feel like we could talk back there."

"We’ve got all weekend," I said.

"I know. But I’ve got so many things on my mind that I want to talk to you about."

"Like what?"

"Well…like…do you think I’ve changed? I mean, I think you’ve changed and I just wondered if you think I’ve changed."

"Well, like how? Physically? Emotionally?"

"No, no, no. I know I’ve changed physically. I just mean, do you think I seem older or more mature or anything? I think you do."

"Well, yeah, in a lot of ways I guess you seem older. Why?"

I wasn’t at all sure what she was driving at, but as we continued to walk along the trail side by side she went on to explain at length. She said she was frustrated with her friends and frustrated with her boyfriend, because they all seemed so immature and childish so much of the time. She also lamented that she didn’t have any older friends to hang out with. Older in the sense of college-aged – not older like her parents. She said she felt that those were the kind of people she ought to be with, rather than her high school friends.

Then I said, "Well, I can understand why you would feel that way. But maybe you ought to just accept your friends for who they are and as they are for right now. They’ll change, too. Maybe not as soon as you’d like, but it’ll happen eventually."

"Sometimes I can’t even stand to be around them – any of them. They say and do the stupidest things."

"Maybe you just need to be patient and look for the good things in them. You know, maybe be a little more tolerant of their imperfections."

"I don’t know. I wish I could meet your friends. They sound like a lot of fun."

"I wish you could meet them, too. You’d like them. And I think they’d like you – even though you’re younger."

"Hey, what’s that supposed to mean?"

"Well, it’s kind of the same situation. You’re younger, but you want to be accepted by me and my friends who are older."

"Yeah, but I act older. That’s the difference."

"OK," I said. I still wasn’t getting through to her. Then after a pause, I said, "I’d like to meet your friends, too."

"What for?" she asked seemingly astounded that I would want to do such a thing.

"Oh, I don’t know. I like you so I’d probably like them, too. Don’t you think?"

"No," she answered as though I had just suggested the stupidest idea in the world. Then after a pause she changed her answer and said, "Well, you might. You’re friendly to everyone."

"I think that’s a good thing."

"Well, it is to a certain degree. But, you talk to everybody. And I don’t know why you do that."

"I guess I just like people. As long as they’re nice, that is. And everybody here is nice."

"I don’t care. I just can’t relate to most of these people."

"We’re more alike than we are different," was my only response.

And with that, the subject was changed and it changed again and again as we talked on and on about everything imaginable. We continued walking through the woods and out across the grasslands until we began to get hungry. Then after a stop for a quick shower to rinse off, we walked back into camp and helped Amanda’s mom prepare dinner.

The four of us enjoyed dinner together and spent most of the rest of the evening talking together and with the other campers around us. A lot more people had arrived during the late afternoon and evening.

Eventually Amanda’s parents announced that they were tired and were going to turn in. They had extra space in their air-conditioned camper for me to sleep if I wanted, but I thought it would be less intrusive if I slept in the cabana-tent outside. Amanda decided to join me, so together we put up a couple of cots in there and then we spread our sleeping bags out on top of those. The sleeping bags were for padding only, because the temperature was still way too hot to be covered up. The occasional breeze that blew through felt nice as we both lay on top of our sleeping bags. But sleep didn’t come for a long while. We continued talking at length about anything and everything that popped into our minds – lots and lots of girl talk. Hope no one was listening!

The sun was well into the sky before the sound of Amanda’s parents moving around the camp site awakened us the next morning. We got up and put away our bedding. They all sat down to some breakfast while I went for a run. Amanda declined to join me – she’s not a runner, at least not a nude one. As I took off down the trail, I thought how nice it is to be able to run nude without having to get up way before dawn and sneak around in the dark like I have to do back home.

After I finished running and after a quick run through the shower, I rejoined Amanda and her family. This day was as perfect as the day before and we spent our time simply enjoying it to it’s fullest.

It was about mid-afternoon when Amanda and I decided that another swim was a good idea. I don’t remember how many times we’d already been to the pool that day. As we walked down the path toward the pool, I noticed a boy and girl a little way off the trail playing Frisbee. I didn’t think anything about it as we continued walking along the path and talking. Then all of a sudden I noticed their Frisbee rolling on it’s edge along the ground in a wide curve that brought it near our path, apparently the result of a wild throw by the girl. The boy seemed rather exasperated with her for it as he started toward us to retrieve the Frisbee.

"Stay there. I’ll get it," I called out to him. I went over, picked up the Frisbee, and snapped it back to him

"Thanks," he said.

Then he threw it to the girl. She missed the catch even though it had been thrown right to her. She clearly was inexperienced, but that’s how you learn. Amanda and I continued on, but then here came the Frisbee on the ground toward us again. The boy appeared even more exasperated now. Then he looked over at us to see if I was going to return the Frisbee like before. Without saying anything, I picked it up, but this time I turned toward the girl and threw it to her easy. She missed it again even though it went right to her and should have been an easy catch.

"Hold on a minute," I said to Amanda. "I’m going to see if I can help." Amanda rolled her eyes in impatience with me as I started toward the girl.

In the meantime, the girl recovered the Frisbee and attempted another throw to the boy. The result was the same, except now the boy had to walk over toward Amanda and retrieve the Frisbee himself while she completely ignored him and remained detached and aloof.

"Hi," I said smiling as I approached the girl. She appeared to be a pre-teen. The boy looked to be a little older, maybe in his early teens. She was nude; he was wearing some loose fitting black shorts.

"Hi," she replied in a cheery, friendly way.

"How about letting me show you a couple of tricks for throwing that thing?"

"OK," she said. Then pointing to the boy she added, "My brother says I’m way beyond help, though."

"I don’t believe that," I said laughing. "You can learn to throw a Frisbee just as well as anybody." Then as I held up my hand motioning her brother to throw me the Frisbee I added, "I’ll show you."

Her brother’s throw was high and I had to jump to catch it.

"Whoa!" she said. "That was pretty high."

"After I show you how to throw, I think maybe you need to show your brother."

"OK," she answered laughing. "That’ll be fun."

"Here’s the first thing you need to do," I said standing in front of her with the Frisbee in my hand. "As you throw, you need to snap your wrist right before you release it." I demonstrated the motion a couple of times slowly. "That will give your throw the extra power it needs."

Continuing, I said, "The other thing you need to do is keep the Frisbee flat as you throw it. That way it will go straight. Later, when you can do that consistently, then you can start experimenting with throwing it at an angle so that it curves. But keep it flat for now. OK?"

"OK!" she said.

"Keep it flat. Snap your wrist," I repeated as I demonstrated with an easy throw to her brother. He caught it and then threw it back to me as I motioned for it.

"Now let’s get you ready to do it," I said. "Stand like this," I said taking her shoulders, turning her around, and positioning her at an angle to her brother.

Then standing close behind her and holding the Frisbee around in front of her, I said, "Now you’ll start with the Frisbee back here like this and then bring it across like this." I demonstrated the motion for her a couple of times.

"OK. Now you take it," I said handing her the Frisbee and stepping back. "Look at who you’re throwing to, keep it flat, and snap your wrist as you throw."

"OK," she said and she immediately executed a throw. Her throw had power and it went straight, but she didn’t release quick enough causing the Frisbee to fly off to the right of her brother just out of reach.

As he went to retrieve the Frisbee, I said, "That’s OK! That’s OK! That was a lot better. It was straight. It had power. You just need to release sooner - as soon as you snap your wrist."

She was smiling in satisfaction at her accomplishment as I motioned for her brother to throw it back. As soon as he threw, I said, "You catch it!"

She stepped in front of me and caught it clumsily with both hands, but she caught it.

"Good," I said. "Now try it again and remember what I said."

"OK," she said as she positioned herself and then gave it another throw. This time it went straight enough to her brother that he caught it without having to chase it.

"Awesome!" I said. "You’ve got it. Now you just need practice so I’ll leave you two to do that. I’ve got to get back to my friend."

I turned and started walking back to re-join Amanda. When I was almost there, I heard the girl say, "Hey wait a minute. I didn’t thank you."

As we started to talk, Amanda came over still acting impatient. Also, the girl’s brother came over to join us.

"My name’s Angie," the girl said.

"I’m Sunny," I replied. "And this is Amanda."

"I know. Hi," Angie said to Amanda apparently already knowing who Amanda was. Amanda didn’t respond. Then to me Angie said, "And this is Jason, my brother. He’s fourteen. I’m twelve."

"Hi, Jason," I said. "It was fun throwing the Frisbee around with you."

"Hi. Thanks," he said quietly not really looking at us.

I asked, "So do you guys want to go to the pool with us?" For that, I received a very disapproving look from Amanda.

Angie said with lots of enthusiasm and exuberance, "Oh yeah! I’d love to go with you!"

"Jason?" I asked.

As if struggling to make up an excuse, he stammered and said, "Uh, no thanks. I can’t swim very well."

I replied, "Oh. Well if you want me to, maybe I could help you. I’ve been a swimming instructor and I’m a lifeguard."

Again, he began struggling for a response, but before he could answer Angie interrupted saying to me, "Oh, don’t worry about it. That’s just an excuse. He never goes to the pool anymore. You have to be nude to go to the pool and he doesn’t like to be nude now that he’s a teenager so he doesn’t go to the pool anymore."

Jason said not so quietly this time, "Angie! Shut up!"

But Angie didn’t. Continuing on with the same exuberance, "Mom says it’s just a phase that teenager’s go through and it’ll run it’s own course and that we should just ignore it, but I’m almost a teenager and I can’t imagine ever being like that, but Jason is and…"

"Hey-hey-hey-hey-hey," I said interrupting her and making a "T" with my hands to signal time out. "Maybe you should let your brother speak for himself." Jason was clearly embarrassed and angry with his sister for her sudden tell-all outburst. My attempt to defuse the situation was too little too late. Jason angrily turned away and started walking back to their campsite.

As the three us walked on down the path toward the pool, I gently said to Angie, "I think you really embarrassed your brother just now."

"Oh, he’ll get over it," was her casual reply. The whole thing would have been pretty funny, except that I felt sorry for Jason.

Angie proved to be quite a talker with lots of enthusiasm and lots of questions. She said to me, "I’ve never seen you here before. Are you both in high school? Do you go to the same school?"

I answered, "You haven’t seen me here because I’m not a member. I came here for the first time last fall with some other friends and that’s when I met Amanda. We became friends then. Her parents invited me to come this time. And we don’t go to school together because she’s in high school and I’m in college. We don’t even live in the same town."

"Whoa! You’re in college? How old are you?" she asked.

"I’m twenty-one," I answered.

"You don’t look that old," she replied.

"Thanks, I think," I answered smiling as I looked at Amanda to gauge her response, but she was not amused.

We swam and talked and enjoyed the sunshine for quite a while. Later, Angie had to go back to their campsite and then soon after that, Amanda and I left, too for a short walk in the woods.

Later on while Amanda and I were hanging out back at our campsite, Angie wandered down to join us. Amanda was clearly annoyed that Angie was there, but I tried to make her feel welcome. She seemed like a good kid to me who just wanted to hang out with other girls. Older kids in a nudist setting seem to be fairly rare and it seemed to me we should do things to encourage them and make them feel welcome and included. Angie was very friendly and very outgoing so it was easy to keep her engaged in conversation. In fact, she often carried the conversation all by herself joking around about her friends and her school and that kind of thing. Even Amanda couldn’t maintain her sour attitude for too long and had to laugh at some of the funny things Angie said.

After Angie left to return to her campsite, Amanda sighed and said to me, "Oh I though she’d never leave!"

"Come on, she’s a good kid," I said. "And she needs some friends here."

"Why doesn’t she hang out with kids her own age instead of pestering us?"

"And how many others her age did you see today?"

"That’s her problem. Why do you encourage her to hang around here like that, anyway?"

"I told you. She needs a friend. It just seems like we ought to stick together and help each other out, you know? Besides I think she’s pretty funny."

"Oh, please! She’s so immature. She hasn’t even started to develop."

"What’s that got to do with anything?" I asked laughing in amazement that Amanda would make an issue out of that kind of thing.

"It just shows how different from us she is."

"Oh come on, Amanda. Have a little compassion. Don’t you remember what it was like to be that age?" I asked. Then I added jokingly, "Or were you born with those?"

That finally made her laugh and opened the door for some more open communication.

"I guess I just wanted it to be you and me all weekend," she said. "It seems like it’s taken us forever to get together and who knows how long it’ll be before we can do it again and – well – we’ve got so much to talk about."

"I know, " I replied understandingly. "But we’ve got plenty of time - all evening and all day tomorrow. So it seems like we have time enough to ourselves and enough time to spend with Angie, too."

"Yeah, maybe."

"Come on – enough of this sitting around. Let’s walk and talk," I said getting up.

"OK, where are we going?"

"Wherever we want."

"And what are we going to talk about?"

"Anything you want."

"Cool." And then after a pause, Amanda asked, "Hey, you don’t think I’m immature, do you?"

Suddenly I found myself in a tough situation. Yes, I did think she was acting in an immature manner, but should I address that with her or should I side step talking about it and just try to set a good example for her to follow? I decided on the latter.

"I just think you should try to be more understanding and accepting of others. It’s OK that we’re not all exactly alike. In fact, I think that’s a good thing. Think how boring it would be if we were all the same. So lighten up on Angie, OK? She’s a great kid. And it appears to me that she could use some friends kind of like you needed a friend last summer. Remember?"

"Yeah, I remember."

"Good."

"So what do you want to talk about?" Amanda asked getting back to the subject.

"Whatever you want."

"Anything?"

"Why do I get the feeling that this is going to get real personal?" I asked laughing.

She laughed, too and then started in on me - and yes, it was way personal.

So this evening went on much like the previous evening and the next morning started out much like the previous morning.

Along about mid-morning Amanda and I were sitting at the picnic table in our campsite talking. We were both sitting on the bench seat on the same side with our backs to the table. We were leaning back on our elbows and staring lazily down along the camping area and out onto the grassy area as we talked.

Changing the subject suddenly, Amanda exclaimed, "Eew! He just gives me the creeps!"

I said, "Who? You mean Jason?" His family’s campsite was down the row from us a ways. I had noticed he was there, but hadn’t noticed anything beyond that.

"Yes," she said disgustingly. "Look at him down there just lurking around. He keeps sneaking looks up here thinking we don’t notice." Then she sat up and crossed her arms in front of herself.

"Oh, come on," I said. "Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid?"

"No!" she fired back, clearly becoming more agitated the more she thought about it. "He’s always there and he’s always sneaking peeks at us like he thinks we won’t notice. He just slinks around over there like that. You know?"

"Are you sure he doesn’t just want to hang out with us? You’re about the only one here that’s close to his age other than his sister. He just seems like he’s shy to me."

"Oh, please! He seems like a little perv to me. See! He just looked over here again!" Then she jumped up, walked around the table, and sat down opposite me so that I was now between her and him. "You know what he’s thinking about! And he always wears those same shorts and you know what’s going on in there!"

"Amanda, come on. Be real. You’re way overreacting," I said trying to calm her down.

"How do you know?" she replied. "Somebody needs to tell him how creepy he makes people feel."

"So go tell him," I said challenging her.

"No way! I’m not getting near him."

"Oh, he seems pretty harmless to me."

"So I don’t see you going over there."

"So watch me," I said answering her challenge as I stood up and started walking away from the table and straight toward Jason.

"Whatever!" was the only thing I heard from Amanda behind me.

I walked straight toward Jason. He saw me coming right away, but pretended not to notice. I suppose it made him feel uneasy or intimidated since he could probably tell that we had been talking about him. He may have been afraid that I was going to chew him out or something.

"’Sup," I said in a friendly greeting as I walked to where he was sitting on the bench of their picnic table. He was the only one there - I don’t know where the others were.

"Hi," he said rather sheepishly clearly wondering what I was doing there.

Then I said, "Where’s that Frisbee? Let’s go throw a few."

"OK," he said and walked over to a bin near their camper to retrieve it.

"Here," I said holding out my hand for him to hand it to me which he did. Then I said, "Let’s get out in the open over there away from these campsites.

"OK," was all he said as we walked out into the grassy area together. I was intentionally being bossy because I didn’t want him to opt out of playing with me. I wanted to talk while we played and I figured he would probably be less uncomfortable if we were doing something while we talked. I noticed Amanda had left her place at their picnic table. I didn’t know where she had gone.

Once we were out in the open, I said, "This is good enough. Stay there." I walked a short distance away from him – but not so far that we couldn’t talk - and then we started tossing the Frisbee back and forth. I tried to initiate a little small talk while we played, but my success in that was limited.

Finally, I said, "OK, Jason. Here’s a question for you. How come you didn’t come over and say hi to Amanda and I?"

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"I mean, you saw us there hanging out and you kept looking over there at us. So why didn’t you just come on over and say hello? It would have been the friendly thing to do," I said.

"I don’t know," he said. "I guess I didn’t have anything to say." And then he added defensively, "Besides, I wasn’t staring or anything."

"Actually, sneaking peeks over at us like that is worse than staring if you ask me," I said. "And it makes Amanda furious. But my guess is that you’re not doing it on purpose. I’m thinking that you’d kind of like to hang out with us, but you’re just not sure whether or not you’d be welcome. Am I anywhere close?"

"Yeah, I guess you’re pretty close. I didn’t mean to cause any trouble. Sorry," he said.

"Forget about it," I said. "From now on, just come over and say hi or something. Be friendly. People will almost always like you when you act friendly so don’t be afraid to just come up and start talking."

"I don’t know. I don’t think Amanda likes me much," he said.

In all honesty, I couldn’t really argue with him about that, but I still had some other points I wanted to make that I was hoping might help him.

"You need to know that it tends to make people nervous and suspicious when someone sort of skirts around out on the edges – always nearby; always watching, but never getting involved," I said. I did not go into how he appeared to be a lurker and non-participant even more so by not being nude. But I knew that there were probably extenuating circumstances surrounding that issue and I didn’t want him to come away from our conversation feeling bad or inferior.

I continued by saying, "So my advice is don’t be afraid to get involved. Speak up. Just talk – just say hi and take it from there. What have you got to lose? And – just to let you in on a little inside secret – girls like guys who aren’t afraid to talk to them."

"Yeah, but I mean, Amanda is so…" he paused.

"Hot?" I finished the sentence for him.

"Yeah," he said. "I mean, I just can’t walk up and start talking to girls like that. I’m afraid they won’t like me or they’ll laugh at me or something and I’ll just end up looking like a loser."

"You know, most girls feel the same way you do. Like if a guy comes up and talks to them, they’re afraid they’ll say or do something to make the guy think that they’re a loser."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Whoa."

"So see, there’s no need to be shy. Don’t be afraid to make the first move. The odds are in your favor, so go for it. Be friendly. Be nice. Say hi and see what happens. It’s really as easy as that, you know."

"No, I don’t know. What do I say after that? What if I can’t think of anything to talk about?"

"Just ask a question or two. That’s all it takes to get something started."

"Questions?"

"Yeah, like what kind of music they like or if they’ve seen some movie or what classes they’re taking. Just stuff like that. Start out with a question or two like that and before you know it you’ll have a conversation going. And that’s it. That’s all there is to it."

"Maybe I’ll have to try that."

"No maybes. Try it out today."

"Huh?"

"Come by and hang out with us later."

"Oh. I still don’t know about Amanda. I know she thinks I’m a loser."

"Just stop by. If Amanda doesn’t want to talk, then she’s the one not being friendly – not you - and that means she has a problem - not you. You’ll know that you’re doing all the right things. Just be yourself. You’re cool. Besides, you’re doing fine talking to me," I said trying to build him up.

"Yeah, but you’re older."

"Yeah, I’ve heard that before," I said laughing as I remembered what Angie had said the day before.

Then I handed him back the Frisbee and said, "Listen, I’ve got to get back. Remember what we talked about." And as I turned to leave I added almost as a command, "And I’ll see you later."

"Hey, I didn’t mean anything bad when I said you were older," Jason said after a pause. I could tell it was more of an afterthought as I was walking away.

"I know," I said without stopping and without turning around.

"And I didn’t mean that you weren’t hot, too," he added as another afterthought.

"OK," I said laughing to myself at how awkward and clumsy he was starting to sound. I was thinking ‘Jason, you should have quit while you were ahead.’

"Because you’re hot, too." He was really stumbling all over himself now. This was getting funnier by the second.

"But just older," I said bantering with him and still laughing to myself.

"Yeah."

"Hey, later," I said as a final statement since we were too far apart by now to continue talking. I smiled and laughed to myself at how awkward boys can be at that age. And then it occurred to me there are plenty of guys my age that are still just like that. I was still smiling as I walked back into our campsite. Amanda was now back from where ever she’d been.

"What’s so funny?" she asked. "Something stupid that creep Jason said?"

"No, it’s not really about him," I replied.

"I still can’t believe you went over there," she said.

"Why? You said somebody needed to talk to him," I said.

"What did you talk about?" she asked.

"If you were so interested, you should have gone with me," I replied.

"No way. And I’m not interested – at all," she answered and that was the end of that discussion.

Then later in the early afternoon, Amanda and I were again sitting at the picnic table in our campsite much as we had been earlier. It was a very hot day and I recall we were saying that we should get up and go do something since we were going to have to leave in a few hours, but the heat and our laziness was keeping us there in the shade. We were just talking when out of the corner of my eye I saw Jason coming toward us from the lane that goes through the camping area.

I glanced over just as he came around the table and said, "Hi Sunny. Hi Amanda. ‘Sup?"

"Hey, Jason," I responded. "’Sup?" Amanda immediately sat up, crossed her arms in front of her, but stared straight ahead and didn’t say anything.

"I just thought I’d stop by and say hi and see what you guys were doing," Jason said.

"Good," I said and then added, "Have a seat," as I patted the bench beside me. As he sat down, I glanced at Amanda on the other side of me. She was scowling in disapproval that I had extended an invitation to Jason to join us.

Now there was silence. I knew it was up to me to get some conversation going, so I said, "Jason, did you know Amanda got her license this summer?"

"That’s cool," he said.

Then there was silence again. So just to draw Amanda into the conversation, I said to Jason, "Guess how many tickets she’s gotten already."

"Hey, what are you talking about?" Amanda interjected. "I haven’t gotten any tickets. You know that."

"I know," I said laughing. "I was just kidding." Actually, I was just trying to break the ice.

Then Jason looked across me to Amanda and said, "Amanda, did you take Drivers Ed?"

"Yeah," she answered flatly.

"What was that like? Were you nervous the first time you drove with the class?" Jason asked.

At first Amanda’s answers were short and curt, but as Jason continued to ask questions about driving, she began to relax and open up and offer more and more information in response to his questions. I was thinking, ‘Way to go, Jason! You couldn’t have picked a better subject to ask questions about to get things going.’ Within a couple of minutes they were doing all the talking, carrying on a conversation across me as though I wasn’t even there. Amanda began to tell about some of the funny things that happened during her class and to her and her friends as they were learning to drive. We were all laughing.

The three of us talked and goofed around a while and then Jason said he needed to get back to their campsite. He said his parents didn’t like the heat and that they would probably pack up and leave before much longer. We said good-bye and he headed back the way he came.

Then I said to Amanda, "Come on! We’ve got things to do! We’re running out of time, too."

As we began our walk down the path to the pool, I began kidding Amanda by asking, "Are you feeling all right?"

"Yeah. Why?"

"Just checking. You were almost nice to Jason back there and so I thought maybe the heat was getting to you or something," I said laughing.

"Maybe he almost stopped being a dweeb," she quipped in return.

"Come on. You know you’re being too hard on him. He’s basically a good kid."

"Yeah. I guess he’s not so bad when he’s not lurking around like some kind of a stray dog. Is that what you guys talked about?"

"That and other things."

"It seems to have done some good. But you know, it still gives me the creeps to be nude around a guy who has clothes on. Doesn’t that bother you, too?" And then she immediately answered her own question. "No, apparently not. You just went right up to him."

"True," I said. "I don’t know why it doesn’t bother me. I guess maybe because I know it’s perfectly normal to be nude here. I think even if every person here was dressed, I’d probably still be just like this."

"I know you would."

"What are you trying to say?"

"Oh, nothing bad. You’re just always so confident. And you just automatically fit in with whoever you’re with. You’re just always so…you."

"Well, thanks…I think," I responded with some doubt in my voice.

"It’s a good thing," she said laughing. "That’s what I meant when we first got here and I said I thought you’d changed. You act like you have even more self-confidence than you did last summer. I wish I was more like that."

"You seem pretty much like that to me," I said. "Maybe it just comes along with growing up."

By now, we were at the pool and we lost no time in diving in to cool off. We swam and talked with others in the pool. We were out and getting ready to hike the trail when we saw Angie running down the path to the pool.

She came up to us and said to me, "We’re getting ready to go and I wanted to say good-bye." She was dressed.

"Hey girl, I’m glad you came to find us," I said. "I enjoyed meeting you and getting to hang out with you this weekend. You’re pretty cool and you’re a lot of fun."

She beamed.

"Come here," I said as I held out my arms and hugged her.

Then she said, "I hope I see you here again this summer, Sunny."

"I hope so, too," I responded.

Then she looked at Amanda and said a little bit hesitantly, "’Bye, Amanda."

After a second or two, Amanda just smiled and held out her arms motioning with her hands for Angie to come get a hug. Angie beamed again as she went up to Amanda and hugged her.

Amanda said, "Probably see ya here again before long."

"Hope so," Angie replied. Then she said, "Well…gotta go…everybody’s waiting on me. ‘Bye!" And with that she turned around and took off bounding back up to their campsite.

Amanda and I then went on down the trail for another long walking and talking session. We never seemed to run out of things to talk about and then all too soon it looked like it was about time to get back to camp. We knew her parents would probably be thinking about packing up. So after a stop in the showers, we drip-dried our way back to the campsite and indeed Amanda’s parents were packing up. We all pitched in to help. There wasn’t too much left to do, because all during the day we had been putting things away as we finished with them.

Amanda and I walked back up the road to the parking area and brought my car down to the campsite to load up my stuff. During the process of loading up, I had grabbed my clothes out of the car and laid them on the picnic table while we finished up. I had brought a change of clothes to wear home, but I just grabbed the ones I had taken off two days before instead. I hadn’t worn them very long and it occurred to me that one of the benefits of being a traveling nudist is not needing to pack much if any clothing. I resolved that next time I wouldn’t bother bringing extra clothes – what I was wearing on the way would more than suffice (although next time, I’ll fold them so they won’t be so wrinkled).

When it looked like there was nothing left to do except get dressed and leave, I said to Amanda’s parents, "Thank you again for inviting me this weekend and for all your hospitality. It’s been wonderful being here with you all."

"We’re so glad you could join us," Amanda’s mom said. "It was such a pleasure to see you again."

"You’ll have to meet us here again some time," Amanda’s dad said.

"That would be fun," I said.

"That would be a lot of fun," Amanda said.

"This is such a great place," I said.

"Oh, I know," Amanda’s mom said. "It’s always so hard to leave when you’ve had such a great time. But…the real world is calling."

"Hey, does anybody know what time it is?" I asked.

"Looks like it’s just after five o’clock," Amanda’s dad said.

"OK, that means I’ve now been nude for…let’s see…24…48…about 55 continuous hours! That’s a major record for me," I said.

"Go, you," Amanda said. "And you needed every minute of it to get rid of those tan lines you brought with you."

"Hey, you had your spots when you got here, too," I said.

"I know. I was just kidding. Looks like they’re gone now. Turn around," she said. "Yep, not a trace. How about me?"

She held out her arms and then turned around. It was just like we were trying on new outfits, except we weren’t.

"Hey, you could almost pass for a nudist," I said laughing. Her parents laughed, too.

"Very funny," Amanda said smiling, but with sarcasm.

"I’m just glad you girls didn’t get too much sun," her mom said. "It seemed like you were always on the go."

"We were careful," I replied. "I’m a big time believer in sunscreen."

"That’s smart," her mom said.

We talked on like that for a few more minutes but finally we couldn’t postpone getting dressed any longer. Four nudists slowly and unenthusiastically put on their clothes. I couldn’t believe how cumbersome it felt to be dressed again. I never would have imagined that clothing would ever feel that unfamiliar, but 55 hours of complete, total, healthy nudism had reconditioned my nerve endings. Now I couldn’t stop noticing the feeling of cloth touching me everywhere.

Finally, it was time to say our good-byes. I thanked Amanda’s parents again. I wanted them to know how truly appreciative I was of their hospitality. I hugged her mom and shook her dad’s hand. Then Amanda and I hugged and vowed to stay in touch via e-mail until we could manage to meet here again – hopefully again this summer. Then we got into our vehicles to leave and I followed them out. We all exchanged waves with the caretakers as we drove by their house. I followed Amanda’s family only for a couple of miles until we reached the highway. At that point, we exchanged big waves as we turned in opposite directions and drove away. It was sad to be leaving, but already I was so looking forward to the next time - whenever that might be.

During the course of the two-hour drive back home, there was lots of time to think. I thought about how great it is to have friends and I thought about how easy it is to make friends there in a nudist environment. Each time that I’ve been there, I’ve been amazed at how open and friendly virtually everyone is. It restores my faith in people and society as a whole. Oh sure, Amanda had somewhat of an attitude again this time and yeah, she wore my patience thin a few times, but she’s just working through some issues and I know she’ll get past this little phase OK. It’s just part of growing up. Besides, who am I to say I don’t have any wrong attitudes? We’re all constantly growing, constantly changing. We just need to stay on track to make sure we grow in positive ways. Things like figuring out who we are and what we’re all about, taking charge of our life, developing self-confidence, learning to be patient with others – these are growth areas worth pursuing. We’re each a work in progress. Let’s progress well.