Carla Finds Nude Travel Tricky! Pt. 01

A week after Thanksgiving, Carla found herself wrestling a cube van full of all her belongings along a winding 2 lane highway, late in the afternoon of the fourth day of her planned three-day trip. She had planned to cover the 1,350 miles between Ardmer, Oklahoma, and her hometown of Homestead, Pennsylvania in three days, a bit of a stretch for someone who didn't like long days of driving but doable.

She hadn't figured on her own preference for sleeping in, which cost her much of the morning on day number one, and definitely hadn't planned on the iffy condition of the truck she was traveling in. A good part of day number two was spent waiting for a tow after one front tire blew and two of the four rear tires developed serious leaks, followed by a few hours waiting for the repair shop in a one-stoplight town to track down some replacements.

By day number three she was kicking herself for taking the deal offered by the only rental place in Ardmer even willing to discuss a one-way rental. The deal was not for a rental, exactly; she paid the exorbitant one-way rental price, but actually was buying the truck, getting to keep whatever she could sell it for at the end of her trip. If she had any doubts left, the burst radiator around lunchtime on day number three confirmed her suspicion that she'd been stuck with a truck the owner at Eddie's E-Z rent was happy to be rid of.

Day number four was going surprisingly well. Carla got going early, by her standards, hitting the road by 8:00 AM. The truck was performing well, by its standards, with nothing malfunctioning or falling off. After the various mechanical issues she'd had to deal with already, as well as not liking at all the way the truck handled at Interstate speeds, she had decided to stick to two lane routes. Even on the slower roads, with the inevitable slowdown at each small town, she had made good time for a change, covering as many miles in one day as she had in the previous three.

Coming upon a local park with what looked like a fairly decent restroom, Carla pulled in and parked, her truck joining two cars in the small parking area. Getting out of the truck and walking the twenty yards to the restroom reminded her how long she'd been behind the wheel without a break; every part of her from her neck down to her ankles was stiff and ached as she walked. After the much needed pit stop, she looked around the park, surprised to see nobody despite the other vehicles in the parking lot, thinking, "must be hiking trails or something beyond the empty open field."

Doing a few stretches outside the bathroom building, Carla noticed a sign near the Men's room door which she guessed probably explained the whereabouts of the park's other visitors; the sign had a list of rules for visitors to several natural hot spring pools further into the park, and a crude map showing the layout of the dozen or so pools. "Man, would that feel good right now!" she said to herself, "I've covered a lot of miles today, and with a little time relaxing here I might be able to do more after dinner." It didn't take long for her to decide a visit to the springs would be time well spent, and she went back to the truck to look for the box with her bathing suits. She hadn't been expecting to need a bathing suit in December but was pretty sure she remembered where they had ended up.

The sight greeting Carla when she lifted the truck's back door was just plain ugly. Whether the jumble of tumbled-down boxes and loose items formerly in boxes was a result of her haphazard stacking, the swerve the truck had made when the front tire blew out or, more likely, some combination of factors, the end result was the same. Unless it happened to be somewhere near the top layer of loose items, finding any particular thing in the mess would take a lot of time. Beyond her possessions being messed up, she saw bits of broken glass scattered through the debris field, either remnants of her kitchen goods or worse yet the bottles from her liquor cabinet, whose contents were now spreading through the piles of whatever.

Carla slammed the door shut and locked it, though she thought anyone stealing something from the back of the truck would probably be doing her a favor. She expected to not lift that door again until she reached her parents' house; she'd just have to pick up anything she needed over the next few days somewhere along the way. With no swimsuit shop close by, the hot soak she'd been looking forward to was canceled before she'd even dipped a single toe in. She saw a trio of middle-aged women emerge from a trail across the field and suddenly felt jealous. As they made their way to one of the cars parked nearby, Carla realized there was now only one other vehicle left beside hers. "Maybe if I can find out where they are I could steer clear of them and not worry about having a suit!" she said to herself, "Or not having one!"

Telling herself she was just going to have a look at what the pools were like, and that if she ran into anyone using a pool she'd steer clear; if she couldn't be sure of privacy her clothes were definitely staying on. It occurred to her that even a suit-free dip in a spring-fed pool in the woods was way, way tamer than what she'd done back in Ardmer on Thanksgiving just over a week ago. "That night was a one-off for sure," she told herself, "just too much alcohol intersecting with too much emotional turmoil." Even though she knew she'd never have a night like that again, she couldn't help smiling each time she thought about it.

Walking along the trail she'd seen the women come out from, Carla noticed smaller side trails branching off, and turned onto the third one she found. No more than 60 yards down the narrower trail she found a neat little pool, about the size of a twin bed, three feet or so deep and lined with stones. Hot water poured out from a gap between a couple of stones at the top row and continued down a stone-lined gully towards a river which she'd spotted from the road she'd been driving on. She slipped her right foot out of her pink Croc and dipped her toes into the water. "Just like a warm bath, perfect!" she said. She put her shoe back on and headed back to the main trail, now really hoping to figure out where the occupants of that last remaining car were; her small test of a single pool left her wanting to have a good soak more than ever.

Carla had intended to walk along the main trail until she could figure out where the other visitors to the hot spring part of the park were, but when she reached the main trail she saw a couple walking hand in hand, headed away towards the parking lot. As far as she could tell, she now had the park all to herself! Now that she was probably safe from being observed, she felt a little bit of a letdown, like it was less of an adventure now. The odd excitement she had been feeling ever since she began seriously thinking about getting undressed out in the open came roaring back as she realized that once she was off the main trail, presumably naked, she'd have no way to know if someone might be headed her way. With so many pools available to her theoretical intruder, the odds seemed to favor her remaining unseen, but she knew there was always a chance for a different outcome.

Carla hung around the intersection of the main trail and the small trail leading to the pool she'd already visited for nearly ten minutes, thinking if there were any new arrivals to the park they'd be bound to pass this way. Without a hint of anyone else coming to join her, she figured she was safe. She took a few halting steps towards the pool, then stopped. After one more look back towards the main trail she unbuttoned her cutoff denim shorts, unzipped them, and let them drop to her feet. Though it was unseasonably warm for the first week in December, she shivered as she pulled her t-shirt over her head. She took the elastic keychain with the key to her truck from a front pocket of her shorts and slipped it onto her right wrist, then remembered to retrieve her phone from a rear pocket. She hung the shorts and top on a tree branch next to the trail. She thought that in the unlikely event someone else came this way, her clothes hanging in plain sight might make them move on to another, more private pool. She tried not to think too much about what message someone not looking for privacy might take from the display of her clothing.

A minute or two after leaving half of her clothing behind, Carla was back at the pool she'd tested. She kicked off her Crocs and set them on a stone bench. After another minute straining to see or hear any sign she wasn't alone, she was about as comfortable as she expected to get about stripping out of her plain white bra and pink cotton panties. With nobody around to put on a show for, she was going for whatever got her out of her lingerie and into the warm water as quickly as possible. She unhooked her bra and quickly slid it off her arms, then slipped her panties down over her butt and let them drop to the ground. She set the bra and panties next to her shoes and slipped into the water.

As soon as she sat down in the pool, immersed in the warm water up to her shoulders, any worries about other visitors to the park faded away. In just a few minutes she could feel her legs and back beginning to loosen up; she closed her eyes and listened to the water splashing down the hill and felt like she could have a pleasant nap if she kept her eyes closed for more than a couple of minutes. "Nap? No, no, no! It sounds lovely but can't be a good idea," she said as she reluctantly opened her eyes. She wondered how long her eyes had been closed. When she studied her surroundings she thought the position of the sun, though still high, had changed enough for its rays to be streaming into her little clearing at a slightly lower angle.

The change in lighting led Carla to notice a sign she'd overlooked, with arrows pointing to three trails; she had been so focused on the pool she was in and so nervous about being naked before settling in that she hadn't noticed the other trails at all. Curious now, she stood up and climbed out of the pool to have a closer look at the sign. It clearly showed the trail she'd taken, leading to the main trail connecting all the pools. Also shown were three shorter trails, apparently shortcuts linking the pools to each other without backtracking to the main trail. The names shown for the pools at the ends of the shorter trails intrigued her enough to make her put her Crocs back on and head for the pool named "Summery", saving the other two to be visited in the order the paths led to "Lookout", then finally "Fiery".

"Summery" was a short walk from the first pool she visited, which she belatedly learned was named "Balmy"; she wondered if there was really much difference between the pools, or if she should just pick one and stay there. She wasted no time easing into "Summery" as soon as she reached it. The latest stop on her tour of the park's pools was a bit hotter, but the big difference was its depth; standing on the bottom Carla was submerged to a point part way up the lower curve of her boobs.

She propped her phone up on a stone at the edge of the pool and took a few shots of herself in the pool, first with her knees bent enough to leave just her head and shoulders above the water, then a couple more standing straight, with her nipples just above the surface! "Not sure who I'd show these last shots to, but I definitely want to remember this experience," she whispered to herself, still slightly nervous to be enjoying a public park while naked. After a few minutes floating she got out of the pool, collected her phone and shoes, and headed for the next spot on her tour, the pool named "Lookout".

During her walk to Lookout she wondered how her next destination came by its name, "Fiery is kind of obvious," she said to herself, "but Lookout? The trees are pretty dense, I'm only getting glimpses of the river." She almost walked past the pool, barely noticing a set of stone stairs leading down to the spot she was looking for. She headed cautiously down the rough stairs, finally understanding the name of this spot; someone had gone to the trouble of cutting down a dozen or more trees, apparently to give anyone visiting the spot a good view of the river and its opposite bank, no more than 60 yards away.

Carla lingered back where she could stay hidden from view, checking to see if there was anyone on the opposite river bank close enough to see her if she dared venture out where the trees had been cleared away. Most of the opposite bank was farmland, corn fields well after harvest from the look of it. "Okay, good, no sign of people there," she said. One property, just upstream from her spot was more worrisome. What looked to Carla like a warehouse was on it, fortunately for her with no windows facing the river, but unfortunately with a parking lot between the building and the edge of the river, and a few picnic tables right at the edge of the river. It was way too late for anyone to be having lunch, but she saw three men and a couple of women sitting at the tables having a smoke break.

"Okay, now at least I know," Carla thought glumly, "The parking lot itself doesn't scare me that much, I'm guessing the drivers would be focused on their driving. The smokers are a whole other story. They're there for 5 or ten minutes with nothing to do but look around." Without being conceited about it she was pretty sure a tall shapely naked blonde woman, as near to them as she already was, had a good chance of getting their attention once there wasn't anything blocking their view.

Despite her every instinct telling her to leave RIGHT NOW, Carla at least wanted a better look at the pool before deciding whether or not it was unique enough to be worth risking being seen in the nude. She stepped away from her shelter behind a large tree trunk twenty feet away from the clearing and trotted down to a spot behind a considerably thinner tree right at the edge of the clearing. Somehow her new choice of cover had seemed more useful for hiding behind when she had been some distance away, but once she was actually trying to hide behind it she realized it wasn't quite up to the job.

Despite the less than complete cover her new location provided, she gave herself a minute to have a closer look at how this pool was fitted out before retreating back up to the trail. She took a step or two closer to be able to study the design of the pool, moving slightly into the cleared-out space surrounding it. Seeing it up close, she needed far less than a minute to see this spot was completely different than the pools she'd already enjoyed. Unlike the other pools she'd soaked in, instead of being deep enough for a bather to completely submerge themselves with water pouring in from below, this pool was more of a platform, with only one shallow layer of stone at its edge and hot water pouring down from a cast-iron pipe sticking out from the hill above. What looked like a homemade fitting at the end of the pipe spread the water out like a waterfall "Lookout?" Carla laughed, "Looks like more like a public outdoor shower!"

She was about to heed her sensible side, skip this location and head up the stairs when she paused to look around; there was no denying it was a scenic spot, and definitely different from the other pools she'd been to. She had to believe the heavy stream of hot water pouring out from the pipe like a thick sheet would feel fantastic. The people across the river were definitely a problem for her, a big one. They likely as not would notice her, and as well as she could see them, well, they could be getting a really good look at her if she let herself go further into the clearing! But with the river between them, it wasn't like they were any kind of threat to her. She told herself that she would just be a pleasant memory to her small, semi-distant audience, her appearance something to talk about during the rest of their shift.

Carla was stunned to realize she was now looking for ways to justify intentionally allowing herself to be seen naked! Somehow, risking being seen naked by a bunch of strangers had become something she not only felt like she could do, but it had also become what she wanted to happen! Besides, she thought, "I've spent the last few minutes standing here basically in full view already, I might as well enjoy the shower!" She set her phone up again, this time to record a video. She hit the record button, careful to be sure the platform and its steamy waterfall were in the frame; a few seconds later she showed up on the screen herself, walking toward the platform!

Carla stepped onto the stone platform; once she had made her decision it couldn't have been simpler, at least physically. There were no knobs or levers to control the rushing water, nor any soap, shampoo, or even a washcloth. All this spot had going on was unlimited steamy water flowing over a beautiful naked young woman. The beautiful naked young woman in question was, despite the gallons of hot water splashing over her, shivering almost violently. As much as she wanted this, thinking about the likelihood that a cluster of strangers was watching and enjoying her exposure was still nerve-wracking, more and more the longer her show went on.

With no washcloth available, Carla made do with her hands, sliding them slowly over every inch of her body. At first she faced away from the opposite river bank, still hesitant to show her audience all of herself. When she finally turned to face the river she kept her eyes closed, trying to decide whether she wanted to know for certain whether or not she had acquired an audience.

She finally stepped forward far enough to get her face clear of the stream of water and looked across the river, smiling when she saw all five smokers standing as close as they could to the edge of the river and looking straight at her! She almost turned away again, but seeing the strangers staring at her, she just said, "Fuck it...let them watch!" and kept caressing herself! After a solid ten minutes of the hot stream of water splashing over her, she stepped off of the stone platform, faced her audience, now at least 13 strong, took a bow, and blew them a kiss. As she finally turned away from her audience she noticed that somewhere along the way while she was busy showing off her naked body, her shivering had vanished.

Carla could hardly believe she had gone so far, but in fact had barely avoided giving in to a strong urge to put on an even more graphic show, not quite able to let her audience see her masturbating on her tiny stage. She shook her head and laughed as she picked up her phone and slipped on her shoes. When she reached the trail at the top of the steps she paused a minute or two to review her newest video.

Seeing herself on the phone's screen, clearly enjoying performing for her audience, confirmed how shameless she was becoming about exposing herself. She thought about ending her adventure, heading back the way she'd come, thinking she'd had more than enough excitement for one day. "Maybe enough for one month, or one year!" she said. Still, the thought of a more relaxing, more secluded soak in a really hot pool was still appealing, so she moved on as planned, walking one more segment of the trail to give "Fiery" a try as the final stop on her tour before strapping herself into her much-hated truck and moving on.

Reaching her destination a few minutes later, Carla thought Fiery looked fairly similar to the first pool she'd visited, at least as far as the pool itself was concerned; roughly twin bed sized and deep enough for the water to come up to the upper slope of her boobs when she sat down. The unique feature of this pool was a series of mirrors arrayed around three sides of the pool. The mirrors varied in size, height, and angle, and all were mounted on steel poles in fixed positions. "What exactly was whoever installed these trying to accomplish?" she wondered.