(U-WIRE) ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. – Ryan Harris and Stephen Lyle measure the University’s cleanliness with the bottoms of their feet.

Harris and Lyle go everywhere barefoot – classes across campus, through their dorms and restaurants.

They say the University of New Mexico has dirty days that can measured by the appearance of the bottom of their feet.

“Today,” Harris said, looking at the bottom of his right foot. “Today’s moderately dirty.”

After awhile, he said his feet get pretty dirty.

“When I step into the shower, all the water starts turning black,” Harris said. “It’s kind of gross, but everything has its drawbacks.”

Lyle and Harris said they have spent most of their lives barefoot.

“I’ve never liked shoes,” Harris said. “My parents put them on me, and I would take them off.”

Lyle said if people haven’t been walking around barefoot all their lives, it can hurt. He said some places in New Mexico are not so friendly to feet because of stickers and cacti.

Harris said he didn’t even know what a goathead was until he stepped on one, but that wouldn’t make him slip on a pair of shoes.

The two met in the Coronado dormitory.

“I was walking by him one day and was like, ‘What? You’re not wearing shoes,'” Lyle said.

They jokingly say they are two members of BWA or Barefoot Walkers of America, a club they are trying to organize on campus.

But some people just don’t have the calluses for it, they said.

Harris said his calluses are so thick he accidentally walked through glass and didn’t even notice.

His girlfriend thinks it’s funny. She won’t step into the dorm without shoes.

“She thinks it’s dirty, and she’ll get diseases, which happens sometimes,” Harris said. “I’ve gotten hookworm four times when I lived in Virginia.”

But, Harris said, she’s getting better, because she only wears sandals.

The sign “No Shirt. No Shoes. No Service,” displayed in restaurants and stores doesn’t deter them.

– Rivkela Brodsky