Heading to New York City Barefoot

My shoes came off on Friday evening at 4:47 pm, for what I hope is the last time for the next week.  The family is heading to New York City for several days of site seeing.  My research says the real tourist places will make me wear shoes, but everywhere else I should be fine.  I didn't bring a keyboard with me, so I'm hoping to get caught up over the next few days of our complete adventure.

On the way down to NYC on Saturday we stopped at two highway service centers with no problems with me being barefoot.  I visited the restrooms at both stops.  Getting out of the van at the second stop I was surprised to feel the pavement was cool, even though it was a dark black color.  I gathered from this sensory input that the sun had not been shining much in that area that day. It was cool that I could gather additional information just from being barefoot.

Once at the hotel we drove up to the valet parking and quickly dropped all our gear onto the side of the driveway.  I headed inside to grab a luggage cart and since I didn't see a bellhop I just grabbed the nearest cart and brought it outside.  Upon returning the bellhop was not very pleased with me.

I checked in barefoot and then I went to see the bellhop again to let him know our room number, he informed me that I was required to wear shoes in the lobby and it didn't matter if I had religious reasons, and he listed several other reasons that didn't matter.  I was none to pleased.

My daughter wanted to see the pool so I put on my sandals and we headed back down to the lobby to get to the pool.  Sandals already and I hadn't spent a day in the city yet.  I was a little bummed out.  My sister was willing to head out so we left the two kids behind and I wore my sandals down to the lobby again and once outside took them off and we headed to Central Park.

My sister had seen a video of a Pizza Rat in NYC and she was hoping to see a rat while we were there.  Our luck was with us, we say several rats and also 5 raccoons.  After just a little exploring we headed back.  Once at the hotel I slipped on my sandals to trudge across the lobby and took them off in the elevator.

So much for being barefoot 100%, but still was barefoot a lot.

Shoeless Weekend - Day Two Saturday

Saturday rolls around and I roll out of bed and head out the door shoeless once again.  It is much easier this time, I had no worries about being harassed.  I packed up all my stuff and brought it out to my vehicle.  Then spent the morning indoors attending different sessions. 

At noon the convention ended and I was ready to drive the three hours home.  My first stop was the bathrooms.  This definitely made me do some thinking.  I had to go and my shoes were in the vehicle out in the lower parking lot.  I already had been shoeless for around 42 hours and the two day mark was fast approaching.  So with a little hesitation I headed into the men's room and almost walked back out.  Around the urinals the floor looked all wet.  I decided to straddle the wetness and figured that the carpets outside the bathroom would soon wipe my feet clean again.  After I finished my business I got to thinking, sure my feet will be wiped clean on the carpets along with everyone else who cleaned the soles of their shoes off, and they probably stood right in the middle of all the wetness.  So that means I've been walking on some of this stuff all weekend long.

After chatting with some friends I was ready to leave again and realized I probably should visit the restroom again and this time take a seat.  I felt more awkward having my bare feet showing under the stall wall than anything else.  We humans can be real funny in our thinking at times. 

On the way home I stopped at a convenience store to pick up a Mt. Dew and some chips.  Then after a few hours pulled into a McDonald's for some more food.  I opted for the drive through since I didn't want to push things and was looking at making it barefoot for 48 hours.

Overall I was thrilled with the weekend.  Can't wait to repeat and to actually stay barefoot for a longer period of time.  Unfortunately Sundays at home I always wear my shoes to church, so I was barefoot from around 5:00 pm on Thursday till 8:30 am on Sunday.  That makes about 63 hours going without shoes and no ill effects.  A great start to a barefoot lifestyle and a definite boast after being rejected at a third store near my house last weekend.