Day One
Nadine and I are finally on-playa, arriving on Saturday
afternoon around 4 PM, approximately 12 hours later than our original plan. As
always, getting home to Black Rock City was not as straightforward as we would
have liked LOL!
What a crazy week it has been! Several weeks ago, Greg Junnell (a long-time burner from San Luis Obispo and a good friend) died of cancer and the week before I was scheduled to leave for Burning Man, a group of Greg’s best friends decided that we needed to build a temple for him which we would take to Black Rock City for our own memorial service and then burn by placing it in David Best’s big temple. I felt I had to be there in solidarity over Greg’s loss and so I spent a good part of that weekend down in SLO helping create and then build the temple. Although certainly not on the scale of Burning Man’s temples, our temple was a personal creation to honor the memory of one of the most sensitive souls many of us had ever known.
With most of my planning/prep time reduced drastically because
of this (but absolutely without any regrets, it was one of the most important
things I feel I have ever done), I spent most of the week working and trying to
cram my last minute shopping and packing into spare hours (of which I had few).
My plan to pick up the Groove Tube on Wednesday, turned into Thursday and then
into Friday. In fact, because of work, I couldn’t even get out to Discovery Bay
until early Friday night. Making matters worse, I had to hitch up the trailer
in Discovery Bay and then trek all the way back to the peninsula to pick up
Nadine. What could possibly go wrong?
Lillith, if you are reading this, you know what could go
wrong LOL. The trailer lights! (I say this because it already happened last
year when Lillith and I went to Burning Man together and she knows the whole
said story which just repeated itself a year later). Groove Tube is a vintage trailer, over 40
years old and its electrical system is a bit dicey. I have had recent problems
getting the lights to work and this time, they failed on me again just as we
were ready to leave. So, I tried stopping at Walmart on the way back to see if
I could come up with a solution, but it was clear that the running lights were
not working at all, and one of the turn signal/brake lights was also out. Sigh…
I called Nadine and told her to stand by, that things were
getting delayed hour by hour. I had no idea when we would actually leave and we
were already a few hours past our planned departure time of 6 PM (which we
hoped would get us to the playa by 4 AM Saturday morning with time enough to
sleep a little, get up in the morning and pitch camp and still provide me with
some time before I had to go to the DMV – the Department of Mutant Vehicles –
and work my first shift – more on that later).
The best laid plans of mice and men, yada yada yada… Nadine
was very hesitant about any quick fix that would leave us without full lights
on a night trip and I agreed. We discussed just delaying until the morning, but
we really didn’t want to do that. Then as I passed Home Depot, a thought struck
me. I had a set of temporary trailer lights that worked and the only problem
was they were magnetic and the trailer doesn’t have any metal for the magnets
to stick to (it’s a complete plastic outside wall). But if I purchased a couple of mending
plates, I could screw them into the trailers roof and the trailer lights would
stick to them, I was sure. So I turned In to Home Depot and sure enough, the
plan worked. It was now 10 PM and we
actually had a chance of getting on the road in the few hours. I went straight
home and finished packing the trailer, and then headed over the bridge to
Nadine’s in Belmont.
It took us another hour to pack her stuff into the trailer
and by the time we were ready to depart, it was almost 1 AM. But we had a
chance to make it, so we headed out towards Sacramento. Forrest (my Ranger
truck) did an admirable job of pulling the trailer (partially thanks to the
fact that most of the heavy stuff was already on its way in the Hair of the Dog
camp truck which made things much lighter than in previous trips). We grabbed a
quick bite of food on the way and headed up into Donner Pass.
Nadine is a “birgin” and we spent a lot of time talking
about Burning Man, but as anyone who has been here knows, you just don’t really
get it until you actually participate. So I gave her the overview, but I could
tell that she was still skeptical of the concepts behind gifting and radical
participation. It will be interesting to see if she acclimates well.
By the time we got within 50 miles of Truckee, I was fading
fast and so was Nadine. At about 4 AM, we pulled off the road behind a huge
semi-trailer. Nadine didn’t like where we were (she spoke of bears and crazy
guys with guns, etc., oh well). I just
went straight to sleep in the seat and didn’t wake up for 3 hours.
With a little rest, I figured we could make it the rest of
the way, although we still had to shop somewhere. We made our first real stop
just a couple of exits up from where we slept (if we had continued for a few
more miles, we would have reached a rest area, but who knew?) It was at this
stop that I gave away my first couple of Default World tickets to some obvious
burners who also had early entry and were heading for the playa at the same
time. They both got a kick out of the ticket and that made me feel good about
what I was planning.
We got back on the road and made quick work of the remainder
of Donner Pass and the downslope into Reno. I decided we would take the
Sparks/Pyramid Lake route because it was more scenic and only a few extra miles
compared to Wadsworth/Fernley. It also has one of the biggest Walmarts to shop
at (okay okay, we all know that Walmart sucks, but we also know that almost
every burner shops there because it is just too expensive to buy all that crap
at the regular stores, right? So, please, no snarks or flames, okay? J).
We pulled into Walmart at about 10 AM, and immediately
started shopping, mostly for food. We only had to shop for one BIG meal because
we are going to be part of a camp dinner consortium, meaning we will cook for
about 20 people one night and be fed the rest of the nights by the others. That is a terrific way for a small camp to
really get to know each other and also to make buying food easier. It is hard to buy 6 meals that are
interesting for 2-4 people, but if you buy one big meal for a lot of people,
and the others feed you the rest of the time, you have a good chance of eating
really well all week. The cost is about
the same (maybe even a little less due to volume) but the main thing is the camaraderie
of eating with everyone else.
Unfortunately I have to miss several of the meals
because I will have DMV shifts. On the plus side, the DMV will feed me either
at the shed or in the commissary and that is fun.
We had already decided to make a burrito/soft taco bar, but
now we faced a dilemma. Our dinner isn’t
until Saturday (burn night) and we either have to figure out a way to make the
food last until then without spoiling or we will have to do a mid-week exit and
go back to Fernley or Sparks and shop again on Wednesday or Thursday. The pass to leave Burning Man is only $20,
but the gas is huge, as it is 100 miles each way to either major shopping
center (about ¾ tank of gas in my truck) plus it takes over 2 hours each way so
it is a big time loss. I decided to take
a shot at using dry ice to keep our critical food in good shape. I bought an
extra Coleman cooler and purchased dry ice at Safeway (and gave out a whole bunch
of free tickets to the Default World because there were a lot of burners at
that shopping center).
All told, shopping today took us WAY more time than I had
hoped. In fact I started to worry about
making my 7 PM shift at the DMV. We finally got on the road and headed to the
lake.
Pyramid Lake is indeed a spectacular sigh, almost as
spectacular as Lake Tahoe. As you come over the crest, you see a huge wide mass
of water (it almost looks like a land-locked sea). I always love taking
pictures of the lake but we decided to push on instead. We just had to get to
the playa as soon as possible.
We did stop at the Nixon store to top off the gas tank and
met some more burners (and gave away some more free tickets). Two of them were actually biking all the way
to Burning Man (and I think that is an amazing achievement). Back in the car and off we headed on the last
leg of the journey home.
Another 2 hours drive to Gerlach and we were almost there. We
didn’t stop at the Empire Store, something I have almost always done on the way
to the playa, but time just didn’t permit it. Maybe we will stop on the way
back to the Default World. (I want to
say that it is amazing what Tammy and Dana Sparkes have managed to do in
keeping the Empire Store open since the entire town was virtually shut down
just over a year ago by the closing of the US Gypsum plant. They have kept the
store going in the face of outrageous odds, relying on the few weeks of massive
activity surrounding Burning Man and the lower level of tourist activity that
takes place around the Black Rock Desert the rest of the year. I actually felt
a little bad that I couldn’t make a contribution to their economy on the trip
home.)
The last couple of miles was amazingly short even at the reduced
speeds that are required by Empire and Gerlach and believe me, you won’t catch
me breaking the speed limits after my double ticketing in 2010, for “speeding”
through Nixon 4 miles over the posted 35 mph limit and then for having expired
license tags by ONE DAY when we ventured out to Fernley in mid-week! The best
part of that experience was getting to explain my license plate (MRPERKY) to
the tribal cop in Nixon who offered to go easy on me if I would tell him what
it meant. I warned him, but he insisted and the answer made him turn beet red!
I got off with a special “day speeding” ticket with only a $75 fine and no
points on my driving record, plus he gave me a Drunk Driving tee-shirt! LOL!
We hit the entrance to the playa and I could see that Nadine
was getting excited (as was I). Of course the long drive in to Gate was as
bumpy as ever (possibly more bumpy!) and we watched on art car which had
several bikes hanging from a rear rack but obviously not roped or bungeed to
the rack as it bumped over the road and lost several bikes without even
realizing it! We tried to catch them to
tell them, but they were driving far faster than the 10 mph speed limit we were
supposed to follow so we gave up. It wasn’t our fault, of course, but it was
sad.
And then, finally, there it was. Gate! We were just a few minutes from being home.
Well, actually not L.
Nadine had her ticket (a lucky $240 face value ticket she scored two weeks
before the burn as the ticket market collapsed – if we waited another week, she
might have gotten a ticket for just $100 or less!) but mine was at Will Call,
so the Gate guy sent us out of the line into the Box Office parking and I made
the trek to Will Call. It was about this
time that I noticed the wind picking up and we started to have some early whiteout
conditions. This was looking just like people had been saying: lots of wind and
lots of dust – nothing at all like 2011 which was virtually perfect.
My friend Lillith was in line too (playa serendipity!) and
we waited together as the line slowly got shorter. As always while waiting at
Will Call, almost everyone had a story to tell, of a previous burn or their
trip in. People are hugging friends, and even strangers as we all welcome each
other home. Newbies are being told what to expect (sometimes way out of
proportion to reality LOL).
Lillith and I made plans on how to reconnect to get her the
stuff I had transported for her camp and we agreed to meet before I headed for
my DMV shift. I got my ticket (cool, it is marked “SPECIAL” without a price as
it was a staff ticket I earned for working DMV last year for 18 hours – I knew
I had a ticket to Fertility 2.0 without even worrying about lotteries or STEP
programs, yeah! Total cost, $160).
I made my way back to the truck and we got back in line. In
just a few short minutes we got to security and they did the “dance” through
the truck and trailer. The obviously sent the smallest Security person (a
miniscule but lovely young lady who couldn’t have weighed more than 90 pounds)
they had because she clearly could get into our trailer even as packed full as
it was (and she did!)
Fortunately, they didn’t find any of the hidden contraband
(JUST KIDDING!) and they scanned our tickets and our early arrival passes and
sent us on our way (but not until I gave them all free tickets “outa here”!)
Another drive to the Greeter stations. And shock of shocks,
NO BURMA SHAVE signs this year? Wassup with that? Fuck, I practically LIVE for the Burma Shave
signs. It keeps the mind busy as you slowly make your way from Security to the
Greeters. It was even funny sometimes.
Disappointment was clearly felt by that missing element. I hope that
this is purely because we are early and they will be up before Monday, but last
year they were up as we drove in, so I am not sure. I will try to find out by
the end of the event.
And finally we arrive at the Greeters station. They ask if
we have been here before and of course I say yes, but Nadine admits to being a “birgin”.
So they ask her out of the truck and go through the Burning Man Virgin ritual,
but not before the Greeter observes sagely that given the strength of the wind
and blowing dust, the ritual is largely irrelevant.
Nadine takes it all like a
trouper. She lies down in the dust and makes dust angels, then rolls around.
She finally gets up and rings the bell, and she is no longer Burning Man Virgin! We all hug and we get
back in the car and slowly head for camp (although we can barely see forward
more than about 30 feet!)
Fortunately, Hair of the Dog is a very short ride, almost
straight from the Greeters’ station to 5:30 and Alyssum. As we pull up, we see
that the big U-Haul has made it, but the camp is still virtually empty. It will
be interesting to see how long that remains.
Unfortunately with the wind blowing badly, we can’t do a
whole lot. We manage to lay out the ground tarp and tack it down with stakes
and move the trailer onto the tarp, but that is about all we can manage in
these almost whiteout conditions. I guess set-up is going to wait until
tomorrow.
I have to head out for my first DMV shift in a few hours,
but just as I think that thought, Lillith shows up. We talk about what stuff
she needs (some of it is in the camp trailer, but fortunately they have
unpacked the important stuff – the conduit for the shade structures). Lillith
needs to go to Fandango to pick up some more stuff and asks to borrow the truck
while I go to the DMV shift. I figure why not? So I hand her the keys and she
is gone, promising to be back in a few hours.
And now its time for the DMV. I will report back after shift and hopefully
sooner or later I will be able to post this first on-playa blog entry I have
ever written.
Namaste to all,
Bleurose/Jon
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