[torretxt]

I can't believe I am seeing a naked picture of myself on the Internet. I am trembling all over . . . you all have NO idea!!! But, like the parade it's something that I just HAD to do. If you read my write-up below of what I did maybe you'll get a better idea of WHY I did it and what it was like for a basically shy and introverted girl to do this. I agreed to have this posted a couple of places so forgive the "adult" disclaimer. I had to have my husband help me "cause I suck at writing."

Torre’s Real Exposure– the Fremont Parade, Part 1
BY: Torretxt and Hooked6

Copyright July 4, 2007 by Torretxt and Hooked6. No reproduction, reposting on another Internet site is permitted without the expressed written consent of the author (Torre3@hotmail.com). The following is intended for adults only. The reader hereby asserts that they are of an appropriate age to access adult material and the material is appropriate for the community in which the reader resides. Comments always welcome.


Torre’s Real Exposure – the Fremont Parade, Part 1
BY: Torretxt and Hooked6

This may not be as exciting as some of the fantasy stories posted here on this board but I wanted to share something that I managed to do a few short weeks ago. What you are about to read really happened. I promise that what follows is the actual account of my experience. I have not embellished or exaggerated at all. I am grateful to my husband Hooked6 for helping me with my grammar and for his loving support.

My name is Victoria but I go by Torre. Some of you may know me from previous postings. I’ve done a few risqué things in the past but nothing and I mean NOTHING compares to what happened June 16th of this year.

I guess I should start at the beginning. Several months ago I started corresponding with a very kind gentleman and marvelous photographer who goes by the name of “Klondike”. He had posted some images on a website (OCC) of something called the Fremont Solstice Parade. The images were of naked men and women, many wearing body paint, riding bicycles in a big city parade. I was intrigued. I marveled at the courage of the nude participants and tried to imagine what it must be like to be naked in such a public setting with all those clothed people watching. The idea of sitting on a bicycle also made the whole idea of public nudity appear somewhat safe to me. I wrote Klondike and told him how much I admired his photos. He was very kind and told me about the event which is held in Seattle each year and sent me some images of the parade route. He suggested that I try it.

I immediately dismissed the idea but it wouldn’t go away. It kept bouncing around in my head and the more I thought about it, the more I knew I just HAD to attempt it. I live on the East coast and the parade was clear across the continent. In my free time, just for the heck of it, I started checking out airfares – talk about sticker shock! On top of that there were hotels to book, food, and local transportation costs to consider. The whole thing seemed out of hand and darn near impossible on our limited budget. Even “IF” we could find the money, where was I going to get a bike to ride? I couldn’t very well take one over there on the plane and we certainly couldn’t afford to buy one in Seattle just to leave it back in Washington after the parade. When I mentioned this to Klondike, he sent me some websites about the parade and through one of them I met Elaine.

Elaine was an experienced participant who seemed very knowledgeable and supportive and also encouraged me to go for it. When I first started e-mailing her I wasn’t sure she was real. I mean I had all sorts of doubts about her, like in real life she was actually a guy or worse maybe an ax murderer or something just trying to lure a naive, innocent female into his trap. I finally confessed to Elaine my fears and she actually wrote back and gave me her cell number with an invitation to call her. I held onto the number for over a week before finally dialing her number. To my relief she was the real deal. We talked about the parade and she said she had even found a friend of hers, Paul, who would lend me one of his bicycles so I didn’t have to worry about how to get one.

I still wasn’t sure how to pull this off though and it continually occupied my thoughts. Eventually, I took my husband Hooked6 into my confidence and told him what I had been up to and what I secretly wanted to do. His eyes lit up and he smiled and said, “Honey, if that’s what you want we’ll FIND a way to pay for it. You just make all the arrangements and leave the rest to me.”

Such an understanding guy, I thought. Of course if you’ve read any of his works on this board you’ll know he really is a pervert at heart (of course I mean that in the most kindest and loving way possible) and I was sure his supportive attitude was due mainly to his wanting to see me naked in public!

I was a mess the next few weeks as I tried to make up my mind. My husband even wrote a story he called “Body of Emotions” that he posted at IndianOutlaw's ASN site after seeing how worked up I was over this. I thought the title was stupid. He countered by saying that I was the one who inspired it. Of course the story had nothing to do with me but it was nice that my roller-coaster emotions got him to write it.

Shortly after that conversation with my husband, Klondike sent me some suggestions as to “safe” areas that I might consider for lodging as well as some areas to stay away from. That helped and soon our flights were booked and lodging reserved and I registered with the Fremont Arts Council as a participant. Now all that remained was waiting that painstakingly long few months for the parade date to finally get here.

The closer it got to the time to leave, the more apprehensive I became such that I was ready to bolt back to the car and forget the whole thing as we stood at the airport check-in. My husband had to literally scold me, rather forcefully I might add, just to remind me of how much we had invested in this whole trip just to trash it all because I changed my mind at the last minute. I reluctantly boarded the plane.

Once in the air I calmed down. My husband kept telling me to just think of it as a vacation. That I wasn’t really committed to anything and I should wait until after arriving and checking things out before making up my mind. Sensible as usual I had to agree.

After checking into our hotel my stress levels began to rise. We had arranged to meet Elaine the night we arrived for dinner. Meeting her in person was really the turning point. What an amazing person! She was non-judgmental, out-going and fun to be with. She had so much energy and enthusiasm for this parade that I couldn’t help get caught up in the whole idea. She was brave and confident – two things I clearly wasn’t. After dinner she suggested that we accompany her to the area the parade would be held so she could show me around.

I must admit all my new found excitement seemed to vanish when we drove the parade route. The area was - how should I put it? Well, somewhat old. It looked like one of those borderline slum areas (sorry to everyone in Seattle) that are in the process of being redeveloped into a quaint, artsy district or something, you know with converted warehouses and older styled buildings and such. I didn’t feel safe at all knowing that I’d soon be completely naked roaming around out there. The fact that it was a strange town and it was almost dark outside when we drove through probably influenced my first impression. Elaine assured me that I’d be perfectly safe.

On the day of the parade, Elaine had arranged to pick us up and drive us to the area the cyclists were going to get painted up. I was shocked to find out that she wanted to leave our hotel at 5:30 AM!! I thought she was nuts but as I discovered later she was right on the money. We probably should have left even earlier!

First we had to drive to her friend Paul’s house and pick up my loaner bicycle, then drive clear across town to this staging area as she called it. Staging area indeed! I was shocked to discover that it was nothing more than a residential neighborhood! She found a place to park and we walked to a house belonging to someone I haven’t a clue. In the small front yard there were already several people naked in the process of being painted. That’s when my first of many reality-checks set in. At that point, most of the people naked were guys! Naturally my eyes went right to the good stuff. There I was standing not three feet away from 5 naked guys – pretty good-looking guys at that. It wasn’t that I was trying to be rude or act like a sl*t, but I just HAD to check them out. I must have been pretty obvious doing it as my husband had to elbow me in the side as Elaine introduced me to the group. It was embarrassing to be caught in the act and because of that I was determined not to make that mistake again. Do you know how hard it is to try and carry on a conversation with several naked guys and not look down? I have more sympathy for you men now and I won’t be too quick to judge in the future when I catch one of you staring at my chest instead of looking me in the eye when you are talking to me (grin).

Elaine asked me if I had given any thought as to how I wanted to be painted. I shrugged my shoulders. “No, not really,” I replied.

(see Part 2 below)