A Day At The Beach
Posted by LeviLovR on January 01, 2023 at 21:01:07
So this is what happened today, January 1, 2023.
So if you read my other post you will know that I spent last night at a hotel and had a fabulous time.
So this morning I got up about 5a.m., packed up all my wet stuff and checked out of the hotel and headed home where I unloaded all my stuff and prepared for the polar dip I was planning to do.
So the weather report had called for rain starting last night and ending about noon today with unusually warm temps. So it had rained during the night but stopped. When I stepped out of the hotel I was struck by how unusually warm it was. As the dawn broke the day turned nice and sunny and bright. Thank goodness! It was absolutely beautiful. The thermometer in my car was reading in the 50s when I left the hotel and the have been in the 30s or even lower. Supposed to get up to almost 60 on Wednesday, which is rare for this time of year but then drop back down to normal as of Thursday.
So I unloaded the car, dealing with one bag of wet stuff and got ready to go to the polar dip. So if you're going to jump in the Atlantic Ocean on the coast of Maine in January you need to "cowboy up." So that's what I did! Brown boots, a pair of Levi 501s, brown chaps with fringe (actually called chinks because they only go down 3/4 the length of a regular pair of chaps), Wrangler denim shirt, polka dot tie, brown leather vest and brown cowboy hat. I had a Lee fleece lined jacket for purposes of warmth but not to wear in the water. Also an old blanket to wrap up in when I came out of the water plus some towels.
So got to the beach and the place was mobbed. This particular beach does not have much parking. It's a very narrow street with parking only on one side and every single space was filled. Not only were people there for the polar dip but because it was such a nice morning many folks were there just walking the beach with their dogs. I finally found d a place on a little s side street about as far away from the actually site as you could possibly get. Literally the other end of the beach, maybe half a mile. There are actually only two side streets, one is one way and not the way I was headed and the second is two way, which is where I ended up. There are bunch of hotels and cottages, but you can't park in those places.
So I got out of the car and was immediately hit with strong wind right off the ocean. I put on my jacket, but as I got walking it was really too hot. I was carrying my blanket on one arm and trying to hold onto my hat with my other hand and didn't feel like stopping to take the jacket off so I said, "Suck it up, Buttercup" and kept on trucking. I finally got to the registration booth and signed in then went and put my gear on the sand and got the jacket off. If it hadn't been for the wind it would have been really hot.
Everybody was in high spirits,talking, jovial, anticipating. I was the only person fully clothed. A few people asked me if I was intending to guy in the way I was dressed and seemed surprised when I said yes and that I had done so before many times but in different garb. I had some lady take my picture on my sell phone but she was facing into the sun and they came out very much as silhouettes rather than detailed photos. I got another lady to take videos of the actual plunge and they came out quite good.
So they were announcing that there was a professional photographer who would take pictures of the dipper. So one elderly lady approached me, she was apparently a volunteer for the event, and told me I should make sure to get my picture taken. She was a very sweet lady and I asked her how much it cost because after paying my entry fee I had no cash on me. She said it was free so I agreed and then we went off to find the photographer and when we did I said to the lady that I wanted her to have her picture taken with me, which pleased her very much. Then it was just a matter of waiting for the dip.
So we all lined up and counted backwards from ten and ran into the ocean. OK, I never was a very good runner and there were a lot of people in front of me so I jogged towards the water and when I stepped into it I froze, both literally and figuratively. The announcer told us the water temp was 43 degrees and the air temp in the mid 50s. I looked up and people were running back out of the water - right at me! I was gonna get knocked down! So I just laid down where I was, which wasn't very deep, about up to my shoulders,and some guy running back pulled me up and we exited the water together.
Sorry folks, but I didn't go all the way under. It was just too cold. Have done it many times in the past and stayed in longer but I'm getting too old for this kind of thing. But at least I got part way in. And then of course there was the wind to contend with when you came out of the water. I was about three fourths wet (not above my shoulders b ut everything below) and I was looking for the lady with my cell phone and she was looking for me. Finally she came running out of the crowd. She wasn't sure what she had gotten but the two vids she took actually came out pretty well. Finally I was able to run up by the registration booth where I had left my stuff and get my jacket on and head back to the car. The walk back felt like an eternity the car was so far away, and again I was starting to get overly warm with that fleece lined jacket on. Didn't need the blanket at all. Back home I took a nice hot shower m- fun to do in those leather chaps, vestgs and boots. Did I mention I had spurs on the boots? Anyway I couldn't get the boots off, which meant I couldn't get my Levi's off. I needed my boot jack - which I had left in the bedroom. Nothing to do but run through the house dripping wet and then back. Finally got the boots off and then the chaps and jeans. Not as big a mess as I thought it would be, but totally worth it in the end. Got plans for those chaps this summer. I have one of those inflatable floaties andit would be fun to have a little mini rodeo at the lake.
So my new year got off to a really great and fun start. Hope it continues and hope you all have a wonder, wet, wacky new year!
- Re: A Day At The Beach Zonie 05:20:11 1/02/2023
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