The Journal Of The InnKeeper

OK, not really, but damn!



How I Found Them:

So, I prefer to go barefoot whenever possible, but when I have to wear shoes, I wear these pretty ugly brown rubber sandals when I'm not dancing or at work (where I wear steel-toe combat boots or extra-high black Converse) or otherwise in costume (fetish gear and girlie outfits are incuded in "costume" for me).  That sounds like a lot of exceptions, but really, I'm barefoot or in these sandals a vast majority of the time.  I bought my first pair at a street kiosk in Cozumel when I took a cruise and realized I forgot to pack sandals and it was too hot for tennis shoes.  I thought rubber sandals were a great idea for a beach environment, unlike leather or canvas that would just get destroyed with all the saltwater (this was years before Crocs).  Just when those wore out, I happen to find the exact same style at a Flying J truck stop just outside of town.  I've since purchased several pairs, one after another as each pair wears out.  They're only $10.

They're not pretty, but they're comfortable, water-proof (very important here in Florida with daily summer rains), not girlie, and are fairly thin and unobtrusive. I'd prefer if they were black, since brown sandals kind of stand out when the rest of the ensemble is black, but, eh, I don't much care what I look like in general.  If I was dressed up, I wouldn't be wearing rubber sandals in the first place.

Anyway, my sandals are about to wear out, and that truck stop is now 80 miles away since I've moved.  I could buy a pair the next time I go to Tampa, but since there's no guarantee that the Flying J still carries them, I've been looking for shoes closer to home.  Turns out, there are no non-girlie, non-between-the-toe-thingy, waterproof, all-purposes sandals in black and women's size 6 or men's size 4 to be had.  I can't even find non-girlie, non-between-the-toe-thingy, waterproof sandals in my size in *brown*, which I'd settle for at this point.

Until I passed a Crocs kiosk.

I really hate the look of original Crocs, and of their followup Mary Jane styles, but I haven't paid much attention to them since - I just don't like clunky or blocky shoes, so I wrote them off completely after their first one or two followup styles were just as clunky as the originals even though they tried to make them more stylish.  Plus, the original Crocs were very much uncomfortable to me.  The rubber actually rubbed my foot raw just in the short time of trying them on in the store.

But what caught my eye at this kiosk was a pair of sandals that were black, had no between-the-toe-thingy, and rubber.  They were a little bit clunky, as I've come to expect from Crocs, but not as bad as the originals, and they were just a little bit girlie with their criss-cross strap instead of straight straps and their elevated heel, but otherwise, they weren't horrible.  I was a little bit concerned about them looking silly for being too girlie paired with my old ripped up BDUs, but I hadn't found any other acceptable sandal, so I have been thinking about giving them a try.  I hadn't decided yet, but I figured I should at least consider them since I wasn't immediately turned off by them.  I didn't even realize I was looking at a Crocs kiosk at first.  But they didn't have the black in my size.  I tried on the brown ones in my size, and they seemed to fit well and didn't pinch like the original Crocs did, so I wrote down the style and went online to find them.

I actually found a pair of sandals I like better - they don't have the girlie criss-cross strap and they're less clunky.  They're still not all that attractive, but I kind of expect my sandals to be unattractive, since I don't like girlie shoes.  They look pretty much like a lot of guy or gender-neutral sandals, so I'm willing to trade just a little bit of "clunky" in exchange for "not girlie".  But they're not any *more* unattractive than the sandals I currently own.  Plus, they're cheaper than the pair I found at the kiosk.

While searching the Kiosk for a size 6 in black, I came across the Crocs heeled shoes.  This is a very bizarre concept to me, and the examples they have are still a little clunky and blocky, again, as I associate with the Crocs brand.  But, I have picked up a couple of outfits that are very tropical-beach sundressy and I don't have good shoes to go with them.  I wear my sandals, because you just *have* to wear sandals with a tropical-beach sundress-type outfit, but when I wear an "outfit", I want my shoes to match.  And I don't have any "dressy" sandals.  Well, that's not true, I did just get a pair of black leather heeled sandals (almost all of my shoes are black, and that does seem to keep my shoe collection to a minimum since black usually goes with everything), but, although one of them has a really long skirt that I think I need heels to keep from stepping on the hem, the black just doesn't match the colors in the outfit.  I know, how can black not match?  These beach outfits really look better with earth-tone accessories, and the black stands out too much.  So I need yet *another* pair of shoes that need to be comfortable, waterproof, etc. but kind of dressy and brown too.

So, when I saw these heeled Crocs, even though they're a bit on the clunky side for my taste, I thought maybe they could work for these tropical sundressy outfits.  Only problem is that the kiosk only had the heels available in a light tan color, and not the rich earth-tone brown of some of the other styles that I think would match better.

So, since I'm online now looking for those size 6 black sandals, I decided to see if these heels came in other colors too.  Unfortunately, they don't come in the colors I was hoping for.  But Crocs does have other styles of heeled sandals that might work.  But I want to try them on first.  I want to make sure they fit and I want to make sure the color and style matches the outfits, and I *don't* want to spend money or time shipping back shoes that aren't right.  So I did a search to see if I could find a shoe store in Orlando that carried the styles of Crocs that I'm looking at.

And that search led me to a website with these funky, "five-finger" shoes.

I can't imagine a more uncomfortable pair of shoes than something that separates each of my toes.  I hate regular flip-flops because of that one between-toe-thingy, there's no WAY I'd wear shoes with something between all my toes!  I understand that some people like the toe-socks, but those socks are soft and flexible and don't really separate your toes (and I dislike even that minimal separation).  Yes, there's a layer of sock between them, but your toes are still just as close together as normal.  Not so with this hard rubber separation.

I've tried those toe separator things for pedicures and they freakin' hurt!  My feet are really, really, small, and my toes are quite cramped together thanks to years in dance shoes.  My pinky toes even curl under and I actually walk on the sides of those toes, not the bottom.  I've never found any toe separator that had a small enough separation to accomodate my toes - they all feel like they're stretching my toes apart and usually I can't even reach the last couple of toe slots.  I can't think of anything more uncomfortable than forcing my feet into individual toe separators that are standard distance, one-size-fits-all (or one-size-fits-none, as we like to say for the crew shirts bands give out to the local crew) and then walking around all day.

Plus, they're FUGLY and not just a little creepy looking!