I met Barefoot Ted at an Earth Day Celebration

I went to Earth Day at the park. It was cool because their were loads of people there and it was a more hippyish crowd than I usually see.

I could hear Hari Krishna music as I walked in. A Hari Krishna dad urged his daughter to give me a flower. It was a really weird situation because he was like, “Give the flower to the nice lady.” and she smiled shyly at me and seemed like she was about to walk forward. So, I started to bend down and smiled at her. Then she backed up. So, I straightened up and watched the Hari Krishna muscicians who sounded good, but looked like they were on drugs or brainwashed.

The whole time I was standing there, I could hear the dad encouraging his daughter to give me a flower. This went on for a while. Walk forward, I look over and smile, back up. Sheesh! Give me the flower already kid! She finally gave me the flower. I felt like I’d worked for it. At a certain point, I wasn’t about to leave til I got that darn flower. Darn Hari Krishnas.

I walked further into the park looking at the booths. There was a “goths for public service” booth. I thought that was good of the goths, although they still looked somewhat frightening. I’m curious about why you are so into the black and freaky make-up, goths.

As I walked, the Hari Krishna music faded and some awesome funky music got louder. A lot of people were gathered around the stage. Hey! It’s a band I’d heard before. I got an autograph from the lead singer at a Martin Luther King Jr. celebration a couple years ago. They’d really gotten better. Now, I think I’ll keep that poster and autograph after all. Bonus.

(To listen to the band click here. Warning: music starts automatically at the site.)

Then I came to a booth where everyone was sitting down. Figuring I’d walked far enough, I asked if I could sit too. They said I could. They were demonstrating some fruity gadget of the kind that you are likely to see at Earth Fair, but I was game. As long as I could sit there with my shoes off.

I started talking to the guy next to me. He said he ran marathons. He said he ran them barefoot. I said, “Hey, I think I’ve read your blog!” He said his name was Ted. And that’s how I met Barefoot Ted! He was personable and looked very healthy, and his feet looked very strong. I told him that after I read about his blog, when I was training for a marathon, I ran for miles at night in my bare feet.

I also met several of the merchants who I could tell were from Utah by their accents! I stayed at that booth chatting and “earthing” til the end of the fair.

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