Re-uniting Young Love Tour
It seems every time I update my blog I've taken another road trip to Florida. This one was an impromptu "Reunite Young Love Tour." Alyson's boyfriend Bryan was leaving for overseas, and I spontaneously decided that we should drive down and visit him in Pensacola before he left. Luckily this desire coincided with MLK weekend, giving us an extra day to make the trek. This germ of an idea soon expanded to include Aaron being reunited with his girlfriend in Gainesville (also where our friends Bryan and Amanda were in grad school), and Bill was added to give me my own touch of romance on the trip. Bill and Aaron met me in Columbus Thursday night, we drove down to Cinci, picked up Alyson, and drove ever southward. Aaron had brought a Game Cube along, and Bill and he instantly bonded in the back seat (I mean that in as suggestive a way as possible. They were definitely giggling and slapping at each other like teenage lovers). I know Alyson and I were having interesting, intelligent conversation, but I kept being distracted into laughter by the cries of "You set my ape on fire!" and other Smashbrothers related statements from the boys in back. We stopped at about 5 am somewhere in Tennessee, Aaron got us a hotel room and we crashed for all of 3.5/4 hours. Aly and I were huddle together shivering on one bed and Bill and Aaron (both self proclaimed "heaters") threw off most of their covers and lay spread eagle sweating on their bed. Not the most efficient allocation of resources...
8:30 am rolled around, and when Aly's cell phone went off I fairly leapt out of bed. My series of dance, prance, and song routines equally awakened and annoyed both bed's occupants. Alyson was particularly disconcerted, as she's used to my normal slow, surly fight against consciousness in the morning. The boys procured waffles from a Continental breakfast while Aly and I grabbed quick showers. One "Good Morning Tennessee" picture and we hit the road again. Bill, Aaron, and I switched out driving. We made it through Alabama with little incident (other than the glory hole at a gas station. It even had conveniently posted "BJ" hours, as well as a phone number you could use to make an appointment) and dropped Aly off in Pensacola with Special Forces Bryan at 3:30 or 4 Friday afternoon.
My first meeting with Special Forces Bryan was a bit frenetic, as Bill was jubilantly picking me up and yodeling his pleasure at being out of the car and Aaron was pacing around in his cowboy hat like a barnyard rooster, anxious to get to Gainesville and his hen. After a few joyous "hello's," the dynamic duo and I leapt into the car and continued on to Gainesville, arriving in record time. Aaron's girlfriend Allison had no idea he was coming, so his arrival was greeted by a combination of happy tears, disbelief, and hysteria. Hockey Bryan was also extremely happy to see Aaron (Bryan lives as a lone masculine beacon in two apartments filled with women), but he showed his approval in a less orthodox manner than Alli. We were crashing Amanda's surprise birthday party, so there were ridiculously nice hors d'vours and chocolate martinis awaiting us. A relaxed Saturday was spent in Gainesville, high lights being the Natural History Museum, visiting Bryan's fish store, trying sushi for the first time (not at the fish store), smoking cigars with my boys, and seeing both "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" and "Shawn of the Dead" that evening. Sunday afternoon we all woke up late, and Aaron, Bill, and I headed back to Gainesville to retrieve our Aly.
Bill had pointed out Ponce de Leon state park on our drive to Gainesville, which he had visited in his youth. Apparently it contained a beautiful natural spring with crystal clear, warm water that visitors were encouraged to swim in. This was a planned stop on our trip back to Pensacola, but we misjudged the sunlight a bit. By the time we had wended our way through the backwoods town of Ponce de Leon, the park's gates were closed. I believe it was Aaron who said, "Well, we can sneak in, but you all have to run," so we backtracked up the road and parked at a church. This parking lot was about half the size of a normal gas station, and services were just beginning, so there was a very interested young boy in his Sunday best watching two guys and a girl park and dart furtively up the road. Once past the gate, a well lit guard house gave us a bit of a scare, but further investigation proved it to be deserted and we continued onward.
The spring was lovely. One side had been altered to include a shallow area for children and a ladder allowing a slow climb into the water, but all other sides were bordered by natural boulders and rock walls. Two large trees sprung from the middle of the spring and moonlight shone on the smooth, stone floor beneath the water, for all the world like bright sunlight on the bottom of a pool. We all circled the water and made admiring comments. Bill began to take off his clothes. Now we had all discussed swimming on our way over, but the unplanned flight from the car had prevented me from getting the shorts and t-shirt I had planned on swimming in, and I think Aaron had assumed swimming was off as well. I watched bemused as Bill stripped down and hot footed down to the water. He started exuberantly splashing around, immediately swimming laps and goofing off. Aaron and I kind of looked at each other, me with a "Dare we?" glint in my eye, and Aaron with a "Oh, Jesus save me" set to his jaw. I walked over to the shallows and dangled my feet in the water. Aaron paced around the clearing fringes, obviously looking for an escape route.
I kicked my legs back and forth through the water, taking deep draughts of the night air in through my nose and releasing sighs of pleasure at my place in the world. A magical spring in Florida, a place I'd never heard of on a weekend I shouldn't be there, all the spontaneity and exuberance and delight... I started taking off my clothes. Bill delightedly swam over to the shallows and Aaron grumbled "You've got to be kidding me," turned his back, and started edging over to some trails behind the spring. Our derisive jeering only prompted a "I'll be back in a half hour, holler if I don't come back," and he was gone. My daring only extended so far, so I used the ladder climb down into the spring. The cool water stopped my breath and I plunged all the way underwater, swimming blind for several strokes before coming to the surface. The trees swept out of the water before me, and as I flipped and paddled around the spring, I could feel the natural currents pushing gently past my skin. The water was warmer than the air, but that wasn't saying much, and before long my limbs were comfortably numb. I swam over to Bill and gave him a quick kiss. I swam backwards from him, coming up onto my back and floating through the water. Soon Bill did the same along side me, taking my hand as we floated, hearing the water echo in our ears and seeing the moon bright above us. After the trip Bill wrote me an e-mail saying his thoughts at that moment were "Where the hell are the stars?" and "Jules is a better swimmer than I thought." My only thought at that moment was to wish that we all were in the water. Alyson and Bryan, Aaron and his Allison, Bryan, Amanda... all of us. It wasn't sexual, it was sensual. It was pure exuberance and energy and damning of conventions. For me it was the culmination of everything that was uncalculated and joyful about the whole trip.
Soon after our moon gazing, Bill and I exited the spring. We were a flurry of Irish paleness and goose-bumps as we tried to fit wet limbs back into dry clothes. Aaron moseyed back over and offered to grab the car, get it warmed up, and bring it up to the gates. Later he told us that the boy in the church parking lot had been joined by two men, both of which pointed at him and laughed as the lone boy of our boy-boy-girl equation retrieved the car and drove off. We got back on the highway, and after some truly awkward maneuvers, I managed to manipulate my ungainly legs out of my skirt and into a dry pair of jeans. One of the nice things about skinny dipping is how quickly you dry afterwards, since your clothes don't get soaked.
We spent a fun night with Aly, her Bryan, and Bryan's friend Travis. The next morning Bryan took us all to Waffle House for breakfast, and we headed north. Some souvenirs were picked up in Alabama, most memorably Aaron's "Beer is the Reason I get up each Afternoon" trucker hat and the "I gave up smokin', drinkin' and sex... it was the most boring 15 minutes of my life" bumper sticker he stuck on my car while I wasn't looking. Aly was dropped off in Cincinnati, and I fell asleep for the drive from there to Columbus. We arrived at midnight, but both Bill and Aaron had to continue up to Cleveland that night, Bill at the end of his vacation and Aaron at the end of his weekend. Bill made it to John Carroll at 5 a.m., but when he woke up after 2.5 hours of sleep to go to his 8 a.m. class he discovered he had mis-read the calendar. Class didn't start until Wednesday.
The way I see it, the whole trip was blessed, up to and including Bill's last minute reprieve from class. While Aly and Bryan's goodbye was extremely sad, she said in the car that "It wasn't as bad as the last time we had to say goodbye." This trip was unexpected... a gift. We weren't supposed to be there, the logistics of the drive should never have worked, and the sadness of leaving loved ones combined with the sheer number of hours we spent in the car should have cast a pall over the entire endeavor... but it was wonderful! Every minute, in and out of the car, was charged with a zesty, "Why the hell not?" attitude. And from it I have the glow of these memories... and a picture of my youth, eternally captured skinny dipping in Ponce de Leon's spring.
8:30 am rolled around, and when Aly's cell phone went off I fairly leapt out of bed. My series of dance, prance, and song routines equally awakened and annoyed both bed's occupants. Alyson was particularly disconcerted, as she's used to my normal slow, surly fight against consciousness in the morning. The boys procured waffles from a Continental breakfast while Aly and I grabbed quick showers. One "Good Morning Tennessee" picture and we hit the road again. Bill, Aaron, and I switched out driving. We made it through Alabama with little incident (other than the glory hole at a gas station. It even had conveniently posted "BJ" hours, as well as a phone number you could use to make an appointment) and dropped Aly off in Pensacola with Special Forces Bryan at 3:30 or 4 Friday afternoon.
My first meeting with Special Forces Bryan was a bit frenetic, as Bill was jubilantly picking me up and yodeling his pleasure at being out of the car and Aaron was pacing around in his cowboy hat like a barnyard rooster, anxious to get to Gainesville and his hen. After a few joyous "hello's," the dynamic duo and I leapt into the car and continued on to Gainesville, arriving in record time. Aaron's girlfriend Allison had no idea he was coming, so his arrival was greeted by a combination of happy tears, disbelief, and hysteria. Hockey Bryan was also extremely happy to see Aaron (Bryan lives as a lone masculine beacon in two apartments filled with women), but he showed his approval in a less orthodox manner than Alli. We were crashing Amanda's surprise birthday party, so there were ridiculously nice hors d'vours and chocolate martinis awaiting us. A relaxed Saturday was spent in Gainesville, high lights being the Natural History Museum, visiting Bryan's fish store, trying sushi for the first time (not at the fish store), smoking cigars with my boys, and seeing both "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" and "Shawn of the Dead" that evening. Sunday afternoon we all woke up late, and Aaron, Bill, and I headed back to Gainesville to retrieve our Aly.
Bill had pointed out Ponce de Leon state park on our drive to Gainesville, which he had visited in his youth. Apparently it contained a beautiful natural spring with crystal clear, warm water that visitors were encouraged to swim in. This was a planned stop on our trip back to Pensacola, but we misjudged the sunlight a bit. By the time we had wended our way through the backwoods town of Ponce de Leon, the park's gates were closed. I believe it was Aaron who said, "Well, we can sneak in, but you all have to run," so we backtracked up the road and parked at a church. This parking lot was about half the size of a normal gas station, and services were just beginning, so there was a very interested young boy in his Sunday best watching two guys and a girl park and dart furtively up the road. Once past the gate, a well lit guard house gave us a bit of a scare, but further investigation proved it to be deserted and we continued onward.
The spring was lovely. One side had been altered to include a shallow area for children and a ladder allowing a slow climb into the water, but all other sides were bordered by natural boulders and rock walls. Two large trees sprung from the middle of the spring and moonlight shone on the smooth, stone floor beneath the water, for all the world like bright sunlight on the bottom of a pool. We all circled the water and made admiring comments. Bill began to take off his clothes. Now we had all discussed swimming on our way over, but the unplanned flight from the car had prevented me from getting the shorts and t-shirt I had planned on swimming in, and I think Aaron had assumed swimming was off as well. I watched bemused as Bill stripped down and hot footed down to the water. He started exuberantly splashing around, immediately swimming laps and goofing off. Aaron and I kind of looked at each other, me with a "Dare we?" glint in my eye, and Aaron with a "Oh, Jesus save me" set to his jaw. I walked over to the shallows and dangled my feet in the water. Aaron paced around the clearing fringes, obviously looking for an escape route.
I kicked my legs back and forth through the water, taking deep draughts of the night air in through my nose and releasing sighs of pleasure at my place in the world. A magical spring in Florida, a place I'd never heard of on a weekend I shouldn't be there, all the spontaneity and exuberance and delight... I started taking off my clothes. Bill delightedly swam over to the shallows and Aaron grumbled "You've got to be kidding me," turned his back, and started edging over to some trails behind the spring. Our derisive jeering only prompted a "I'll be back in a half hour, holler if I don't come back," and he was gone. My daring only extended so far, so I used the ladder climb down into the spring. The cool water stopped my breath and I plunged all the way underwater, swimming blind for several strokes before coming to the surface. The trees swept out of the water before me, and as I flipped and paddled around the spring, I could feel the natural currents pushing gently past my skin. The water was warmer than the air, but that wasn't saying much, and before long my limbs were comfortably numb. I swam over to Bill and gave him a quick kiss. I swam backwards from him, coming up onto my back and floating through the water. Soon Bill did the same along side me, taking my hand as we floated, hearing the water echo in our ears and seeing the moon bright above us. After the trip Bill wrote me an e-mail saying his thoughts at that moment were "Where the hell are the stars?" and "Jules is a better swimmer than I thought." My only thought at that moment was to wish that we all were in the water. Alyson and Bryan, Aaron and his Allison, Bryan, Amanda... all of us. It wasn't sexual, it was sensual. It was pure exuberance and energy and damning of conventions. For me it was the culmination of everything that was uncalculated and joyful about the whole trip.
Soon after our moon gazing, Bill and I exited the spring. We were a flurry of Irish paleness and goose-bumps as we tried to fit wet limbs back into dry clothes. Aaron moseyed back over and offered to grab the car, get it warmed up, and bring it up to the gates. Later he told us that the boy in the church parking lot had been joined by two men, both of which pointed at him and laughed as the lone boy of our boy-boy-girl equation retrieved the car and drove off. We got back on the highway, and after some truly awkward maneuvers, I managed to manipulate my ungainly legs out of my skirt and into a dry pair of jeans. One of the nice things about skinny dipping is how quickly you dry afterwards, since your clothes don't get soaked.
We spent a fun night with Aly, her Bryan, and Bryan's friend Travis. The next morning Bryan took us all to Waffle House for breakfast, and we headed north. Some souvenirs were picked up in Alabama, most memorably Aaron's "Beer is the Reason I get up each Afternoon" trucker hat and the "I gave up smokin', drinkin' and sex... it was the most boring 15 minutes of my life" bumper sticker he stuck on my car while I wasn't looking. Aly was dropped off in Cincinnati, and I fell asleep for the drive from there to Columbus. We arrived at midnight, but both Bill and Aaron had to continue up to Cleveland that night, Bill at the end of his vacation and Aaron at the end of his weekend. Bill made it to John Carroll at 5 a.m., but when he woke up after 2.5 hours of sleep to go to his 8 a.m. class he discovered he had mis-read the calendar. Class didn't start until Wednesday.
The way I see it, the whole trip was blessed, up to and including Bill's last minute reprieve from class. While Aly and Bryan's goodbye was extremely sad, she said in the car that "It wasn't as bad as the last time we had to say goodbye." This trip was unexpected... a gift. We weren't supposed to be there, the logistics of the drive should never have worked, and the sadness of leaving loved ones combined with the sheer number of hours we spent in the car should have cast a pall over the entire endeavor... but it was wonderful! Every minute, in and out of the car, was charged with a zesty, "Why the hell not?" attitude. And from it I have the glow of these memories... and a picture of my youth, eternally captured skinny dipping in Ponce de Leon's spring.
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