Clothing Optional?

We have left Hilton Head Island for a few weeks, to visit Mom in Illinois and renew our driver licenses in South Dakota.  It’s a long trip and we decided to break it up by stopping at an RV park in Cleveland, Georgia. I don’t have any pictures to post from our stay there and the reason is simple: it’s a clothing-optional camp.  They don’t allow pictures and frankly, from what I saw, I wouldn’t have taken any anyway.  

Going to a clothing-optional park was kind of a whim - we’d never been, and we probably look as good now as we ever will.  The grounds of the park are full of steep hills with little bitty houses and trailers in a such bad state that they give the term “redneck” a bad name.  To check in, you drive down one of those steep hills that wasn’t really meant for big RVs, but we made it down safely.  The office is by the pool and the pool is strictly no-clothing, so we got quite a “view” of the place right away.  At the office a nice lady checked us in.  She was dressed . . . sort of.  Her pool-coverup was open to her navel but she was covered.  She was also very sweet and welcoming. 

There was no TV, no wifi, no phone service, so we spent a lot of time outside.  I decided to wear a wrap that covered me from my armpits to my knees, and Randy bought a short terrycloth wrap.  I was never comfortable being naked outside but almost everyone around us was.  A couple staying in a nearby converted van were nude 100% of the time.  They cooked outside on a small grill and chatted with us when we walked by.  She had such a lovely tan.   

The focal point of the park is a great salt-water pool.  I tried sunbathing but the only sunscreen I brought with me was 100 SPF which kind of defeated the purpose, so eventually I got in the pool.  Salt water is wonderful; it doesn’t stink of chlorine and it feels like silk.  Some of the other guests were our age and a few were younger, but most were older than us.  Carol, a nice grand-motherly lady who smiled all the time, told me about the kittens she and her husband rescued a few months ago.  She was so friendly and relaxed that I was able to relax, too.  A water volleyball game was going on and I decided to join because (a) I was bored and (b) they were just as bad at volleyball as I was!  If they had been good I couldn’t have joined, no matter what the dress code was.  

On our second day the park hosted a BBQ potluck dinner.  It was a perfectly normal pot-luck except that some of the women and most of the men in line were naked.  Most women put on something when they were not in the pool, but the guys here like to be naked all the time.

We left the next morning and got back on the road; another experience under our belts and who knows what lies ahead!  And here’s something I learned:  always wear a bra because gravity is not kind to the unsupported.

Three years ago:  Our own Pizza Party in Skagway!