Tampa Red Dress Run

Saturday was the Tampa Red Dress Run with Kiddie and Semper Bi as the hares. We had a really early start, for a pub crawl, of around noon so that people could go to the Gasparilla night parade if they wanted. Since I had seen everything from red body latex paint, red Saran Wrap, and even red duct tape dresses, I figured that I'd try for something a bit different; so I decided to go for a full body Afghan burqa. I did some internet searching and could only really find them in blue or black. Apparently red isn't a popular color for some reason and had to have one specially made and then shipped over from Pakistan. The full body burqa only had a mesh covering for the eyes and I needed some kind of access for drinking, eating, flirting, etc since even using a straw would be a hassle. ICP and I went to More Sex's place to pick up my outfit since she was quite kind enough to do some alterations for me by cutting around the mesh and adding some Velcro backing so I could open and close the flap (kind of like the knight in 'Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail'). We met at the Hyde Park complimentary parking garage's top level (also known as the 'there is too much f'n wind deck' in nautical terms) and waited for the hashers to arrive. We had a bunch of out of towners come in with several from Gainesville (Hops on Pops and 4-5 of her friends), BangsHerMash from England, and LateNightDriveThru from Washington DC (in town for her sister's wedding).

For transportation, Kiddie had given us change and a bus/trolley map that would take us downtown. We got a lot of honks from passing cars, including a red (of course) fire truck. We loaded onto the bus and headed downtown and had a good time singing through a few hash songs. We were doing a rendention of 'Today is Monday' and got to Friday, at which time the driver gets on the bus intercom and says "I like Friday too" to much laughter and applause from the hashers. A bit later, just before we get to the final destination, he gets on the intercom again and says "You should be aware that Florida state law requires that all hookers must stand in front of the yellow line". I immediately jump up and run to the front of the bus, well as much quickly as one may do in a burqa with a field of vision like that of looking through a toilet paper tube. He just glances over, grabs the intercom again, and simple says "ummm, nevermind". Too funny.

The first bar was across the street from the Ice Palace, Newk's. As we're going in I spot a line of police motorcycles parked in front and run up to get ICP to snap a pic (the one you see with blog this entry). It was a bit windy, so the burqa was a bit form hugging and gives an overall "I'm batman" kind of look, but I hope it'll make the hash pin-up calendar soon. After jumping on another bus (and having a shot stop" along the way) we walked to another bar later that turned out to be a local gay bar that opened up early just for us, since we were the only patrons. There was a tune box there so we loaded up on some songs, which I obviously had to include 'Y.M.C.A' from 'The Village People' and even a selection from 'Big Bad Voodoo Daddy' so I could do a little swing. We hit "The Hub" on our next pub stop and met a lot of great people since it is a pretty well known bar anyway. Kitty Litter and a few of the guys chatted with a couple of ladies and used one of them for a singing of 'Aloutte', much to the joy of the other bar patrons. By this point, all bathrooms became unisex as there was no distinction as to who belonged in one room or another, merely what seemed to have the shortest line. We even picked up a couple of other guys that joined us for the rest of the event and showered them with red accessories or extra dresses so they would fit right in.

We headed further downtown and went to the park that was being used as a staging area for the night parade and stopped at the Red Barron pizza tent for some free samples that definitely hit the spot! We went over to Gilligan's pub and relaxed there a while as the floats were set up. Instead of heading straight to the next bar, we simply walked through the barriers and went straight down the streets that had the parade floats set up with all the krewes hanging around waiting for the start. We stopped at seemingly every float and chatted with the pirates and their wenches who were as interested in us as we were them. I had never seen the hash pack so spread out and it was a miracle that those of us in the back could even find the bar since there were no trail markings being used. We went to Amberchucks, just a block from our first bar, and then took the bus back towards Hyde Park with a stop at The Moustrap by the University of Tampa campus. This was a dive bar that I am sure was well over the capacity limit with just the hashers. We had a few late comers (though better to come late than not at all I suppose) such as OpenWide and PorkTheClown. When we left a SNAFU had us walk past the bus stop and by the time we figured it out and turned around, we missed the pickup. Apparently after 9PM the busses were on a 30 minute schedule and of course we left the last bar at exactly 9:05PM, so it truly sucked sitting in the cold waiting for the next pick-up. We entertained ourselves as best we could, which pretty much meant we just huddled together to try to stay warm since the amount of clothing used to cover our skin might have been able to be made into a single bed sheet, though every now and then one of use would break off and play with the hula-hoop that someone snagged somewhere along the trail.

A couple of us came back to my place to hang out in the hot tub, though there were a lot fewer that showed up than said they would. Apparently they were not all athletes like some of us and petered out before they made it to my house. The 101 degree water was a nice contrast to the cold air and a good way to end the day and soak the sore muscles and blisters. Though we didn't have a lot of people (with only about 50 people or so attending which I suppose was by design to make it easier on the hares with logistics), it was a good time.

ICP has a bunch of photos posted on www.hashflash.com. Click on 'Tampa Flash' and then 'Red Dress 06'.