The naturist/nudist resort Olive Dell Ranch set their 8th annual Bare Burro 5k run for April 23rd this year. Sean and I had never run the Bare Burro before but had heard about it from fellow runners at our first (and only prior) nude race at Glen Eden Sun Club in May of last year. When registration opened for the Bare Burro in February this year, I was ready and waiting to get us signed up! I think it may have been pricier than the average 5k race we usually partake in (maybe as much as $40 each plus Active.com registration fees) but it had much more to offer than just 3.1 miles. Not only did they promise a technical, challenging, scenic, dirt trail but they promised friendly attitudes and tons of fun amenities - pool, jacuzzi, billiards, and various sports just to name a few! So, the day before the race, we got the Mustang loaded up and drove down to Socal.
Day 1 - 4/22/17 (Donkeys!):
Olive Dell Ranch was actually hosting it's first ever Naked Beer Mile at 3pm today - the day before the 5k. We had too much else we needed to get done before leaving Vegas, however, so we couldn't make it in time for this. Still, we knew we'd have plenty of fun at the 5k tomorrow!
A few miles before Olive Dell, we started seeing herds of donkeys wandering the landscape just off the road. I guess I can see where the Bare Burro got it's name. How appropriate! And the donkeys were so tame! Many of them were happy to approach the road and us in our car when we pulled over.
At 5pm, we reached the race location:
Olive Dell Ranch
26520 Keissel Rd
Colton, CA
http://olivedellranch.com/bburro.htm
We didn't go in as admission, even with $10 Naked Beer Mile registration (had we been there for it a couple of hours earlier), though not with Bare Burro 5k registration, was $22 per person. We figured we'd save our money and save all that excitement for tomorrow. In the meantime, we weren't exactly sure what to do with ourselves. We soon worked it out though. Sitting near the entrance to Olive Dell, a herd of donkeys came over a nearby hill to greet us! One of them walked RIGHT up to me at the car and let me pet it! It didn't seem very happy when I didn't feed it but it still stayed a couple of minutes before wandering several meters away again to rejoin its friends.
Eventually, however, we caved and went over to the donkeys on the hill to share a teensy bit of food with them. (Shhhh and don't kill me!) That same donkey that's approached us and his nearest friend both came up for a bit of bread and some strokes then. They hung out with us for a little while, let us pet and take plenty of pics and vids with them, and even started to follow us back to our car when we finally left. In fact, one came all the way back to our car and stuck his whole head right in the window to try and get more snacks. I was tempted to put the top down on the car, throw him in, and take him home with me! A couple of other cars stopped to see the donkeys too. One car fed them so much they wound up with SIX donkeys right up at their vehicle!
We drove around just exploring the area a bit then before finally parking ourselves at Starbucks to get Sean a tea (using free gift cards we'd been given on our last trip) and get some work done planning our next trip, listing things for sale on eBay, etc.
In the same shopping center as Starbucks was a Walmart. Being one of the majority of Walmart locations that allows car-sleeping in its lot, we decided to spend the night there rather than driving 21 minutes to the nearest rest area. Once done at Starbucks, we drove over to find our spot for the night and snuggle up in the backseat. Of course, being back in the cramped Mustang felt pretty rough after the luxury we'd enjoyed sleeping in the Prius and the F-150 and we ended up getting the most broken sleep ever but we were happy enough and I always like an excuse to get extra close to Sean!
Day 2 - 4/23/17 (Bare Burro 5k):
We were up at 7:30am to head back to Olive Dell, this time to actually go inside. When we pulled up to their front gate at 8am, they checked that we were on the race registration list and then let us drive in. Once we'd de-clothed at the car, we made our way to the communal area by the pool, hot tub, sauna, tennis courts, etc to get checked in for the race. It was chip timed, using timing chips on our shoes (or ankles, for the few not wearing shoes). No race bibs, of course, as no one really had much more than shoes on but our race numbers were marker-penned onto our arms instead.
We had a long wait til race start then as the actual race didn't start til 10:30am. It gave us a good chance to look around and get a couple of freebies, however. We saw some familiar faces we'd met at Glen Eden's nude 5k the year prior while wandering around both before the race today and while relaxing after too. They all recognized us before we did them (are we that memorable?) but we remembered most of them after just a moment.
By the time the race was ready to start, it was already really hot and super sunny out. Still, over 300 of us were lined up in the buff on the start line (Sean, myself, and hopefully most others there with plenty of sunscreen on) to accept the challenge. They had a drone overhead then, ready to follow us and record us all on the course as we went along 3.1 miles of dirt trails, up some pretty hardcore hills and back down again. It was probably the hardest 5k I'd ever run and definitely my worst time ever on a 5k but nevertheless I dug deep, hung in there, and got my ass back to the finish line. It took over half an hour but I got there and actually placed 2nd overall female, 1st female aged 20-29 for doing so. To be fair, there were far more males than females in this particular race but it was still no walk in the park. I was absolutely dead when I finished! There had been plenty of aid stations on course - likely more than I'd ever seen in a 5k - but I'd only utilized one of them for 1 small cup of water as I figured there was no sense hurting my time for a sip of water when I'd soon be back at the finish anyway. Besides, the aid stations were nearly always just a few feet away from where I was on the course and I just didn't have the energy to sidestep over to them. Lol Fortunately, Sean was ready and waiting to greet me with plenty of water when I finished and as soon as I'd caught my breath enough he and I got showered and went to lounge in the pool and hot tub, enjoying some well earned indulgence and making a bit of small talk to those who approached us here and there. I suppose because we hadn't slept well the night prior, we weren't feeling particularly chatty with strangers today but we still had a very nice time seeing what Olive Dell was all about and enjoying a very unique experience there!
They hadn't offered finishers medals for runners in the race today but they did have awards for top overall and age groups finishers which they gave out at an awards ceremony at noon. They did "double dip" the overall and age group awards so that top 3 overall winners in each gender were also awarded for placing top in their age groups, taking away from the prizes available to others in the same age groups as those overall winners. This was pretty rough for some age groups, particularly Sean's, which had far more competitors than others. In fact, Sean's age group had all 3 of the top 3 overall winners in it. Pretty frustrating. I, on the other hand, was fortunate enough to be awarded an awesome plaque and a pair of running sunglasses for coming 2nd overall for the ladies and I got a really cool medal as well for taking 1st in my age group (20-29 y/o ladies).
They hadn't had almost any free nourishment other than water and a small Gatorade each at this race but we'd picked up a handful of free goodies including bags, hand towels, other bits. I actually bought a drawstring tote back themed after this race for $3 too. It was more about the experience than the stuff though. It was a great day, bright and sunny, blue skies. It was hot but it was perfect pool weather and we were naked and free! We relaxed and made the most of that for a little bit before we'd finally had our fill and decided to leave and find other adventures to indulge in.
As we left Olive Dell, we said one last goodbye to the donkeys in the area. We were annoyingly interrupted by a grumpy old man making threats about fines and private property, even claiming that the state of California would fine us $10k just for LOOKING AT a donkey, but we didn't let him dampen our spirits. (I know you can be fined and penalized for feeding and possibly interacting with the donkeys and other wild animals but it was still a hell of an exaggeration.) Poor, sad, old man!
We were THIRSTY then. Hungry too. We found a Circle K and a Panda Express just up the road in San Bernardino and remedied these issues. (Hooray for a free 3rd entree with a coupon, easily obtained by doing a short survey!)
We'd been short on time in the days leading up to this trip and hadn't had a chance to plan anything beyond the Bare Burro 5k but we weren't exactly ready to drive straight home at this point either. Instead, we spent a few minutes researching things to do in the area and devised an alternative plan: we'd detour to something we found called Heart Rock Trail in the nearby San Bernardino National Forest, still headed towards home but adding 48 mins onto our total travel time home as we took a different-from-usual route up through the forest before intersecting and rejoining the 15 freeway (which we usually take) a bit later.
As we made our way out into the hills, mountains, and forest we hadn't even realized existed before today, we enjoyed some wonderful views looking out over the landscape and even of the populated areas we'd just left in the distance. A small, unexpected, and curiosity-stirring (imo) town called Crestline appeared before us a few miles before we reached the start of the Heart Rock Trail. (We definitely need to return for a better look sometime!) The route to the trailhead wound through the town of under 11,000 population. Then, before we knew It, we were parking and following signs to Heart Rock.
The sun was getting a little low by that time so we decided to jog the trail to avoid missing the gold at the end of the rainbow. We made brief stops along the way, however, to really take in and capture the moment with both our eyes and our cameras. It was a really undulating to hilly route through the forest on a dirt trail over some rocks and tree roots with view of a nearby stream and finally mini waterfall just to the side of our destination when we reached it. There was actually even a random, empty, swimming pool enclosed behind a fence along the way! We weren't sure what to make of that. I'll admit, we got pretty lost right at the end, not even spotting Heart Rock when we arrived at it, and running back and forth a bit on both the dirt trail and oddly closed-off, paved road nearby til we'd practically done the whole distance twice and covered several miles. Really, some parts - especially the very end - could've been much better sign posted in telling hikers/joggers where to go and look. It was a great workout though and the trail and area were so beautiful we had no complaints! Besides, San Bernardino National Forest is free to enter (no gates or anything) so really how could we complain? Anyway, we finally worked out where Heart Rock was and were greatly rewarded with an awesome view of a large, heart-shaped hole in a rock adjacent to a little waterfall! We gazed at it for some time before taking our fair share of photos and videos and finally jogging back to the car.
Once at the car, there was a good amount of our alternate route left, winding us back down the mountains, past a big lake, and back to the 15 freeway.
When we reached Victorville, it was getting dark. We stopped for gas at a gas station just off the 15 on Route 66.
Just after passing Baker, we got a flat tire. What's with our car troubles lately? Well, I suppose we hadn't changed our tires since hitting that deer near Yellowstone last year. Though I'm not sure we'd be due new tires yet otherwise, I guess skidding on them when hard-pressing the brakes to try and avoid a deer is a logical reason for tires to lose their traction prematurely. We did have a spare on hand, however, so we put it on and drove perhaps 115 miles or so back home at 50mph.
The next day, we bought two new tires and balancing to replace the older and more worn tires on the front half of the car.
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