I have always enjoyed being nude. As a child my parents had a difficult time keeping a swimsuit on me in the summer. In fact, our family often skinny-dipped together on camping trips. I was fascinated by sleeping nude; feeling the cold cotton sheets against my skin. As a teenager, I loved going for bike rides in the country, swimming nude in a gravel pit pond and sunbathing on its banks. Occasionally a friend and I would explore the woods near our homes, and each other, in the innocent play of teenage boys without clothing.
In later years I began to frequent the nude beaches outside of Portland at Sauvie Island and Rooster Rock. There is something totally liberating about sun, wind and water on a naked body in the peacefulness of the outdoors. The memorable fear I had of being around nude boys in the locker room as a kid - and being "found out" or aroused - disappears in the safety of a beautiful nude beach frequented by gay men totally at ease with themselves in the elements. My enjoyment of outdoor nudity has also taken me to incredible locations in Mexico, the Caribbean, Hawaii, British Columbia, Washington State, Florida and California. One experience at a nude beach stands out in my memory.