This was Arizona, but bad enough. I too used to enjoy going unmasked wherever I could. When they finally lifted the mask restrictions around here, one of the pharmacy techs at Safeway said something to the effect that it was nice to see me without a mask, and I laughed and told her that she had never seen me with a mask. I suspect the gray beard sometimes caused people to think I was wearing a mask.
I always got a laugh out of guys with big beards wearing masks. All that air just blowing around and through the beard, not through the mask.