I arrived into Seattle at 11pm where one of my best friends, Nena picked me up and bless her heart drove me down to Portland. The next day, my friend & ride share Bret picked me up and we made our way out toward Black Rock City. A ten hour drive. As we made got closer, we got more and more excited. Like children in a candy store. Reality was starting to set in. We were going to Burning Man. I couldn't believe it!
The mountain side lit up.
This BRIGHT orange moon rose up above it. As we rounded a corner the lights from the city sunk in to our souls & we were both amazed. We arrived at 11:30pm and a short line time. A few minutes later in line we arrived at the gate. Dust angles and the 'virgin' bell ringing, we were no longer virgins. I was home.
I was.
It being as late as it was, there was absolutely no way I was going to be able to set up my tent. But Bret and I split up to find our Theme Camps.
I found it; Bob's Rainforest and my new home for the next glorious week. The only green on the Playa. That evening, I meet Ian or Bamboo Bob, Toi Box & Zak. Everyone else was either already asleep or partying. Bamboo Bob was camping somewhere else and offered up his couch for me to stay on that night. We rode off and Bamboo Bob took me to see The Man. A beautiful clear evening and everyone so nice and friendly. Everyone dishing out hugs. We rode over on our bikes to one of the big party sides of the city and watched one of the fire art installations shoot up to music.
Morning came fast and it was cold. I got up and left in search of my friend Evan. The sun was very warm and pleasant. Soon, it was hot again and once I'd tracked down my friend I made my way back to Bob's to see if I could bring my stuff over. I sat and chatted a bit until Jason, Uber Bob, was up. I had brought him a bottle of Jamesons as the day before was his birthday & I had missed out.
Jason showed me where to set up & about 10 minutes later Bret showed up with one of his camp mates to drop off the rest of my gear. I was to thankful for that being I had already moved my cooler and a few other things on my bike and it wasn't easy.
I was placed inside the dome for my tent and waited a little while before setting up so that I could hang out with the rest of camp and get to know everyone a little bit. I met Allen and Haley & Emma. Everyone was so nice and welcoming. At about 10:30 in the morning Tom awoke & met me with biggest hug & the hugest smile on his face. Through out the next day I met the other Bobs of camp.
Aimee, aka MonoBob, Kristine, Da Vor, Lillian, Tuffy, Kyle, Carolyn, Evan, BobLight, JT or BobScout, Whitney, Doug, DildoBob, Bonnie Rose, Makana, Jenna & BabyBob Jaxon, Pat and a few others. BabyBob was only month old & the cutest little burner. Might possibly have been the youngest. They even had him place his hands in the dust at The Gate when they arrived.
I set off by myself to explore a little bit and to grab a couple things from Bret. Then went off with Emma, Allen and BobLight to the top of MallMart, a HUGE 4 story tower that the week prior our camp had helped build. It was like an apartment building! Very awesome and from the top... you could look out and see everything. Absolutely amazing.
The afternoon was followed with Porn30, an awesome camp dinner of fajitas. Then a bunch of the Bobs hopping into Zak's truck to take a tour of the art installations and explore the Playa. We partied atop a stage during a Rave party that is held down at one end of the Playa every night. We watched fire dancers and light shows. We went out into Deep Playa and came upon a refrigerator bolted shut covered with TONS of magnets. On one side, someone had written a message that said "Thank you Bobs". So, naturally, we responded with "You are welcome." We drove off into the night and rode out to the perimeter where we found an art car bar. We all gathered around and had a shot of Whiskey.
Off went went again and saw a movie theater that was playing a different movie every night. Then, we ran into the Dust City Diner, complete with 50's waitress drag queens. Deloris and everyone in character. Serving up Coffee that they could spike for ya, Tea, and the BEST Grill Cheese sandwiches I've ever had!
Balls on your face Wednesday came around and BobScout and I rearranged the kitchen and the camp worked on putting up a few more tarps over the big dome. That afternoon Phife, Emma and I went out to the Golden Calf Cafe for some drinks. Did I mention, that everything at Burning Man is Free or available for trade minus Ice and Coffee at Center Camp? Yeah, I love it!
Later that evening I cooked up Halibut and boy did it go fast. Apparently those of my camp mates that were lucky enough to try some went ga-ga. ...Next year, I think I'm going to try for more Halibut, and some Salmon and Moose meat.
That evening I went out to explore with Evan who was gracious enough to show me all over the Playa. We chilled a top a bar on the Esplanade who's roof was one HUGE hammock. Watching sat there for awhile just watching all the art cars drive around and all the fire/light art installations light up the sky. We listened to all the music mixing in the sky and said hi to everyone who climbed up. One of which was a beautiful fallen angel with wonderful wings. After a little bit, we climbed down and checked out the Giant Rock Em Sock Em Robots. We even took turns fighting. So much fun.
We wandered around until three in the morning to watch some of Evan's friends play at Center Camp. They were the best, such a mellow mix of Electronica and Folk. It was the perfect way to end the night, listening while lounging on a bunch of couches and pillows spread out in front of the stage.
On the third, I went to the Golden Calf Cafe again, this time with Evan and met up with Phife. I had an alcohol infused strawberry dipped in chocolate. It was decedent! We both agreed that Evan had to get one of those needle things they used to inject the fruit with alcohol so that his girl back home could try it. SO GOOD! After our drink at the cafe, we hopped aboard a small art car and drove around blasting Reggae and jammin with our fellow taxi friends. I was gifted a magnet from them. After a little while, we hopped off in hopes of being able to board another art car we saw driving around the night before. A beautiful magnificent Shroom car. Super colorful at night. We were out of luck, they weren't driving it until closer to night. But we chatted awhile with some Burners from the camp the car belonged to who were from San Francisco.
We went by some of Evan's friends who were camped out not to far from where we were. They told us of a camp a block away or so that was serving up soft serve ice cream. We jetted off to get some for ourselves.
Now, being from Alaska... I can say I LOVE ice cream. It's one of my favorite treats. But out on the Playa, it is one thousand times better. Fantastic. In fact, just about everything was a million times more amazing on the Playa then anywhere else. It was as if I was tasting everything for the first time. Ice cream, bacon, fish, alcohol, onions, coffee. You heard me... coffee. I know. I was surprised (iced coffee).
we hopped aboard the Dodo, a huge double decker bus, we road it around and got to see the Esplanade in the daylight until it drove right by home. That late afternoon, we played Fizzball in the middle of the street.
That evening, was the Portal Burn. I could feel so much energy at Burning Man. The Portal, for me, was a burning to welcome us home. My friend Evan and I got front row seats. With a nice clear sky we got an amazing view of the burn. Afterward, a whiteout hit us and we had to walk our bikes towards camp because we could not see more than a couple feel in front of us. Finding friends we snaked back and fount the Temple.
The temple was a very welcoming, spiritual place and I was able to find a marker and write a message to the skies and to Aspen who had passed just a month prior. I was unable to fully deal with her loss at home and so I made it clear how much she was missed and how much she meant to me as well as my first cat Thai. I know she knew how special she was to me. She got me through a very difficult time in my life, but I wrote to her anyway. Grateful to them both. I wanted them to know how much they meant to me, and to let them know they'd always be with me. I wrote a message to my brother, who, no matter what happens, I will always love and cherish and I wrote that because I wanted him to know that even though he wasn't at Burning Man, he was there with me in spirit. With a hug, Evan and I pressed on, back toward The Man and the lights.
We hit up the Thunderdome and the dust died down. We watched some amazing fights and my friend BambooBob was down inside the dome with a bunch of other people from Deathguild. My friend Ian was a medic for the Thunderdome and I stayed to watch some epic Mad Max style fights. Evan and I climbed onto the dome and watched for about an hour. At one point the whiteout kicked back on and you couldn't see inches in front of your face. After awhile, we climbed down and rode off to camp.
Saturday was Bobs Arctica shift- 9am to noon. Pirate themed and the MOST FUN I have EVER HAD working. I honestly did not feel like I was working emptying ice out of the huge trucks that they were delivered in. We were all dancing, laughing, drinking and moving so much ice. We entertained the crowd and raised more money than any other camp before us.
Afterward, Kristine, Evan and I walked down Bangdad (our street) to a nighbour camp that was having a little party and partake in some of the Pussy Extract. I was given an awesome temporary tattoo which read "Cock Candy". Completely amused, we wondered off, in search of what else the Playa had to offer in the late afternoon sun.
As we danced off down the street sipping our drinks we laughed. We wondered. Walked across a rope bridge & danced as the sun went down, played pool and sipped more alcoholic drinks.
Back at camp we prepared for The Man to burn. As most of camp went to MallMart to partake in the festivities from higher up, Evan and I went out closer so this virgin could get a first hand experience of the true spirit of Burning Man. That night, there was reported to be over 50,000 people watching The Man burn. The mood was wild and happy. People were happy and friendly, but definitely more people were 'tourists' (people who only come for the weekends and who know Burning Man as more of a party than anything else).
In a show of hundreds of fireworks The Man went up in flames. A signal that lit up the sky in a great show of what we had created. A wondrous place where there was magic and wonder all around. A greeting to the party that was known at Burning Man.
My friend and I walked around after The Man went down dancing away and enjoying all the art cars that were also out to enjoy and celebrate The Man. While dancing to some great music, a mini rave started around us and the camp the art car belonged to thanked us for starting the whole thing by gifting us with a CD.
Afterward, we make it over to the Irish Pub in one of the districts. There, we sat and sipped Irish Coffee and chatted up a storm, laughing at the hilarious zombie movie they were playing. Shortly there after, UberBob, Emma, T.J. and Phife. We all played Chess and darts. We listened to Jason read aloud his proverb. After the chess game ended and the darts were thrown we split up and slowly made out way drunkenly back home.
Wrong Day Monday came around and we started breaking down camp. It was quite a site to see. The little rainforest we all knew as home was broken down and packed mostly away within two hours. The feeling on the Playa was no longer a party place... (well, it was...) but more a somber, melancholy and everyone knew that the end was drawing nearer. The whole day, we just hung out, drank whiskey and wine and told stories from the week with everyone and worked hard. We were a team, a family.
That evening, we piled back into Zak's truck and headed to temple. All bundled up. One of my camp mates had brought her favorite wine to share, a chocolate cherry wine. Marvelous. The only words there... "WOW"
We all slowly unfolded out of the truck at Temple and chatted until the show began. The Temple burn, was unlike any of the other burns. It was a somber evening. It was a slow and peaceful burn. Soon the flames shot up engulfing the temple and all our prayers and words,thoughts and letters. As the flames went up, the smell of sage filled my lungs and I immediately felt a sense of cleansing and protection. I felt as though I would always be at peace in this magical place and that my thoughts and messages had been heard. It was an emotional burn. And the simple burn silenced everyone and it brought on heavy sighs and teary eyes from everyone. Silence as our prayers and thoughts were sent up into the skies.
As the Temple fell down, it was an outstanding show where the structure fell down upon itself like domino's. Everyone hugged everyone, saying good bye, knowing we wouldn't see each other for another year. And until then, the sage that was burned in the fire would protect us back in the Default world.
There were no parties that evening. Instead, we all headed back and shared the rest of the evening as a family, sharing more adventures, sharing the sense of love and peace and connection and community.
Until next year my fellow burners.