MOUNTAIN LIFE - Coast Mountains | Summer 2018

114 MLCM SUMMER 2018 words :: Carmen Kuntz illustration :: Dave Barnes Sun on bare skin. Fresh air through the car window, music cranked, the road unravelling and adventure on the horizon. I drive naked. Not around town or running errands, but on long drives, drives with destinations. I road trip naked, why don’t you? Road tripping feeds the soul and being naked recharges the body. Combined, the two offer an invincible feeling of adventure and freedom. Few feelings compare, especially in an environment as strict and regulated as a highway. It’s a celebration of being alive that is raw, real, and completely in the moment. I started naked driving a decade ago, 20 years old and heading west on another cross-country voyage in search of rivers to kayak and mountains to ride. Watering the roadside grass somewhere in Northern Ontario, with the strong July sun beaming down on my bare bum and bare shoulders I thought, ‘ Damn, this feels good!’ Back in the car, I peeled off my jean shorts and tank top, tossed them on the passenger seat and drove all afternoon through the endless jack pines with sun-deprived nipples basking in warm, northern summer air. I didn’t cause any accidents; I don’t think anyone even noticed. But it felt freeing. Since then I’ve driven classy – long stretches through the prairies where no one knows what I’m doing – and I’ve driven trashy – hanging out the window waving goodbye to downtown Queenstown, New Zealand with two girlfriends I converted to my nude highway ways. We stopped for drive-thru burgers and snapped nude photos at tourist stops while motorhome husbands did their best not to notice. For me, driving naked isn’t philosophical or political. It’s simply a fun, light and (used to be) secret thing I do for myself. Much like how people sing in the shower because no one can hear, the semi-privacy and comfort of my car provides similar security. Whipping down the highway, I’m free from wandering eyes, judgment, and social rules. PEDAL DOWN, TOP OFF NUDE ROAD TRIPPING IS A THING, AND IT RULES FREE SPIRITS