Burning Man, the aftermath, the cleaning, and the Java Hut

Burning Man. Hmmm... where to begin. As I left off in my last post...

Tuesday and Wednesday (Aug. 26th and 27th) consisted of driving. I'll spare you the amazing details of sitting behind the wheel of a 9,000 pound behemoth, barreling down route 70 across Kansas, Colorado, Wyoming, Utah, and Nevada. Suffice it to say, I wasn't editing video this time.

I made it to the Burning Man festival on Wednesday night at about 11pm and finally rolled into a permanent spot at around midnight. "Hey - you need a drink!" was shouted from 4:20 and K-Car (street names) and I promptly pulled over to have that drink. After sitting in my van for two days straight, driving in what seemed an endless daze, this man was correct. I needed to pull over, stop driving, and partake in a tasty beverage. To make a long story short, I found my camp and it was at 4:20 and K-Car that Bessie and I would make home for the next 4 nights. The people at Break It Down Camp were awesome. Gracious, fun, and open - we had a great time together playing music, talking, partying, and jst having a good time!

The pictures I've posted here don't do justice to Burning Man. They don't even give a cursory view of the festival. In fact, let me just say my picture taking was limited and I'm sorry if you're looking for something juicy that I didn't catch on film. I have some video also, and while it will get posted soon, it too doesn't do justice. You just have to go to really experience the festival, the community, the sharing, the art, the music, the insanity and splendor (oh, and DUST - lots of DUST) that is Burning Man.

I walked around the night I arrived - for about 5 hours on my own, in the dark, - not knowing anything other then a few landmarks near Bessie. Suffice it to say that I was, in a stupor from driving, completely and utterly fascinated, excited, dumbfounded, and dead tired. My brain was in sensory overload and it was amazing. Lights everywhere. Glowing mutant vehicles driving around. People on bicycles lit up with strobes, x-mas lights, glow sticks, flashers – you name it. Discos at the turn of every street. Live music every few blocks. Free food and drink. People reveling in life and happiness and music and each other. It was beautiful and chaotic all at the same time.

Apart from going out on hikes during the day to see the various art installations, art cars, and theme camps (9 square miles of interesting things to see!), I basically just hung around Center Camp and listened to live music (performed on Sunday myself – been asked to perform next year!), read rants, and drank Mochas while talking to interesting people. My time was relatively low key.

The burn on Saturday night (the night they burn the Man) was climatic and anti-climatic at the same time. It was the largest spot of communal gathering the entire week/weekend and it was sweet, yet it seemed like a senseless act also – my environmental side was screaming the whole week and seeing the man burn was more like a roar inside. Originally the burn was a celebration of the solstice, but it now seems to be more about the celebration of human spirit, ingenuity, self reliance, art, and community, with a WHOLE LOT of partying involved. Everyone, everywhere was partying and dancing, and generally just enjoying life. It was this that kept my mind coming back to letting go of the environmental devastation and bombacity that ensued.

I decided to stay Sunday night also, even though my van was a totally mess, filled with dust, and I was pretty tired of being in the desert. Sunday, while at the Jazz Café, a super hip spot right off Center Camp, I met up with a couple people needing a ride to Reno and was more than happy to oblige. Having some road company sounded great to me after traveling 3,000 miles alone. Tamra, Eric, Christine, Ben, and a couple people whose names I forget, and I hung out all day walking around to theme camps, and finally trying to all meet up for the Temple burn (yes, the burn something else – Sunday night the Temple is burned). The Temple is a spot in the desert where they place a building which symbolizes the essence of self expression. People place gifts, letters, words, poems, art, symbols, ideas, music, lyrics, and anything else meaningful to them and their life. It was truly amazing to see it all.

After the temple burn, Tamra and I, having been separated from everyone else, tried to find Christine and Eric, etc… to begin our journey out of Burning Man and back to civilization. The ride to Reno – most of which was sitting in a road of dead stop traffic for a few hours – was long and tedious, but also really enjoyable with the company I had (and I was so happy to have company for the trip!) Tamra was gracious enough to let me take a hot shower and crash on her couch for the night before heading to Lake Tahoe. She even took me on a really sweet hike outside of Reno Monday, which was SO needed after my lungs had been pelted with the Black Rock desert dust and silt (I’ll be cleaning it out of my van for weeks!) Thanks again, Tamra! After the hike I rolled down to Tahoe – a 1 hour drive, thankfully – and crashed on the side of the road in Tahoe City.



I woke up Tuesday morning in disbelief at how trashed my van was. The dust and silt of the Black Rock Desert (granite silt) was in and on EVERYTHING. I was told by someone at the burn that the silt is deadly to car engines - great! Just what I need... at least everything seems a-ok with Bessie right now.

Tuesday morning brought me to the car wash, the laundry mat, and the Java Hut in King's Beach CA, where I now sit typing this blog post. I met up with some gracious people here who let me use their electric so I could vacuum out my van. I have to say, taking jst about everything out of my van and cleaning it all was a nice way to end a week and a half of driving and desert camping – sort of like a re-examination of my life, the stuff I have with me, and my living space. I’m so much happier with a clean van, and clean things. I had to do 7 loads of laundry – washed EVERYTHING - washed the outside of the van three times, and vacuumed twice, and I’m still not sure I’m happy with the outcome in the van, but I’m comfy again and that makes me happy.

I worked yesterday and today, and now having cleaned, I’ll be heading out tomorrow for hikes around Lake Tahoe – which is unbelievably gorgeous!

Enjoy the pics from Burning Man (on the right side). I’ll have some video up soon, and pics of Tahoe – once I take some. Missing home, but having a blast. Much love.