Part 4: The Weather's Beautiful! Wish You Were Here!

Here's where things start to get confusing. My intention in telling my little Burning Man story wasn't to go day by day. I thought two posts.. maybe three at most.. but I've found that, to no surprise to all of my five readers, I'm just too damn detailed and want to remember every bit that I can myself. I enjoy reliving it as well as trying to share this experience that truly is something that can hardly be described and really needs to be witnessed for yourself. That being said, I don't think I'm doing half bad - tho like I said - this is where I may have lost myself in the storytelling.

I left off on Wednesday night and I just realized that maybe most of that happened on Thursday. Also I just remembered I completely forgot the bit about the crazy guy who lit The Man on fire early and was arrested! And this is where you say, oh well, like it matters.. but see, it does to me! Also because I'm also realizing that honestly, I think I'm a bit OCD. No, really. Not to the point I need to rewrite the last few posts.. or shut doors six times or anything.. but it does point to the fact that all the days sort of ran together, tho the storms and my camera-losing were fairly specific time markers. Still the wandering on Wednesday night with Kat and her friends happened and the meeting of Random Guy and wandering on my own. The tiff with Pixie, losing the camera, and the first big storm were definitely Thursday. Again, you're saying.. uh.. doesn't matter.. move along.. which.. yes! Getting to now! Ok!

Finishing Thursday - for realz.

One of my favorite things that happened at Burning Man was something I never even witnessed, but I discovered after I returned home. It's called The White Procession and is just a silent walk out to the Temple Of Forgiveness on Thursday morning at dawn. The video intro is a bit lengthy, but stick with it, because the whole thing is beautiful. I really can't describe it more than that. You have to see it for yourself.

Thursday was the only day I made actual plans. And, fyi, no one makes plans for the most part at Burning Man. You just can't. You are like a child newly diagnosed with ADD and you're pulled in so many directions that even the most planny-type person would be late and distracted and would forget where they were originally headed. Not that I'm one of those people. Planny yes. On time.. um.. no.. but yay that I was so accepted!

I'd met this very nice person at the little coffee camp I was frequenting most mornings who happened to be a part of the Cirque Bezerk camp, which was just a small little camp of oh, about 250 people. Now THEY were planny type people. They had a real circus top tent that came with clowns and acrobats and fire dancery people and everything. And they were putting on a show on Thursday for sure around 8pm. That was the only thing I was set on seeing because of all things that Burning Man embodied, the circus always seemed to be the first thing that came to mind so I was thrilled there was actually a real live circus on site with all its circusy folk there. Who knew?!

I stopped by my shiny friend Sparkle/Mark's camp on the way, but he was sleeping, so I rode over to the big top on my own. Like every event there 'planned' for a certain time, it wasn't even close to hitting 8pm sharp. More like 9:30.. and then it wasn't Cirque Bezerk performing that night, but one of the other circus camps they were hosting so tho the performances were random and kind of funny and included a very cute clown who stripped down to nothing just because.. eventually there were just one too many fire jugglers/dancers/twirly type things going on. I sort of felt like there were three hours I saw a lot of the same thing I'd already seen. Fire dancing and juggling are great, but after so much of it, I would like someone to come up with something new. Maybe some spontaneous combustion? I don't know.. it's a thought.

Before the show started, an older guy called Flowers struck up a conversation with me about the circus camp and while we were sitting together kept saying who he'd introduce me to and where we would go next and I was ok with it at first. Then his 'friends' arrived. One was a blonde woman with fake boobs named Bubbles. It was appropriate. Later, we'd run into her again before Flowers and I parted ways, and ironically, she'd be the only one in the group who'd remember my name.

Unfortunately for Flowers, he did what Random Guy did the night before and I found myself inexplicably stuck with someone who probably thought there was more connection established than there really was. When he started talking about his former relationships and how hooking up at Burning Man wasn't actually as easy as some people thought, I knew I needed to be moving on and found a delicate way out.

Lucky for all of you I think that was the rest of the night.. Yay for you.

So FRIDAY.

Friday was The Best Day. Definitely my favorite. First and foremost because I was up relatively early, was bathed and ready for the day - which you seriously don't think is a huge deal til you're there, but if you can beat the sun and aren't boiling in your tent while you're baby wiping all your 1000 parts, then it makes ALL the difference, I promise you - and off I went to my favoritest little coffee camp for some caffeine and some friendly chat to start my day.

After that, I went for breakfast at 9:00 where the Pancake Playhouse camp was set up and got myself in line. Talking with the other anxious Pancake Waiters, I realized I was supposed to bring my own plate, but if not, someone would give me theirs since everyone was encouraged to reuse things like that. And I'm not one to be grossed out by someone's syrupy plate - well, not until Real Life Homeless Guy approached me - and as I was trying to figure out why this guy really and truly looked actually homeless - at an event where tickets cost actual money - and asked me if I wanted his plate - a plate that was sort of pathetic looking with half-eaten pancakes.. but I didn't really know the rules and felt obligated so I said, "Sure," rather unconvincingly. When I took a good look at the gift that I'd been offered, I noticed that in addition to leftover pancakes, there were a couple of yummy strings of hair. HAIR! ON THE PLATE! ALL SYRUPY! EW EW EW!

I was actually speechless for a moment and sort of looked at the other people around me like.. 'Help.. please?' Then a very lovely older woman holding an entire package of new paper plates sweetly asked, "Honey, would you like a clean plate?" and I thought I was going to kiss her. Not that anyone would've thought that was weird there.. but my point is, I was oh-so grateful.

Fully caffeinated and fed, off I went towards the main goal of the morning: to retrieve my lost camera.

I stood in line at the Lost & Found trailer with a few other people until each of them had taken their turn for their question - one for his misplaced backpack, one for her stolen bike, another for her cousin's boots she wore to Center Camp and accidentally left there (??) - and each were denied. So when it was finally my turn, I looked at my gifter earnestly, described the specifics of my little Sony camera and watched him shut his door secretly to go in search of my request. He opened the door, like the keeper of the Emerald City from The Wizard Of Oz, but nicer, and asked me what I last took pictures of. Trying not to hope too much, I told him they were of the statues at the oil derrick and he shut the door again, opened it up just a few seconds later, and there was my hot little camera staring me in the face. He barely got out, "Is this it?" before I was jumping up and down, hands in the air, and hugging him a big thank you. One of the other guys in line gave me a full double high five on my way out. Yes, it was going to be a good day!

You'd think the day couldn't get any better, but you'd think wrong. Oh it got better. Exponentially. There was an awesome tarot reading right after that by an even awesomer chain-smoking tarot reader guy who told me I was going to 'live to be an old broad' because who doesn't like to hear that? His tent was also connected to the Secret Exchange where there was a secret board. Read a secret, tell a secret and I didn't leave any, but I did take pictures of everyone else's. And.. AND you know what else? BACON. Yes! A girl, part of the crazy chain-smoking tarot reader's camp, was grilling mapley-smelling bacon right outside and offering it to passers-by who could barely believe it themselves! Oh you have no idea my absolute joy! It was really really good bacon.

Back at camp, Kat and I decided we'd get ice for the neighbors and ourselves, but when we got there, they'd actually run out completely. They expected it anytime between then and a couple of hours later so Kat said she was going to go off on her own and if she found ice from one of the other spots she'd get some and I agreed to do the same wanting to get some dancing in around the corner at the most popular day club called The Deep End.

I shook my booty for a little while when I felt a little call for ice and I was right, it had just arrived. While standing in line, I overheard a couple talking about the weather and saying things like, "Oh man, that looks really bad," while scanning what was beginning to be less blue sky. When I asked them what they were talking about, they informed me that this storm that was coming was Officially Bad and would have 60 mile an hour winds. And also, rain. Rain = bad on the playa. Rain + playa dirt = instant mud = yuck. Some math, eh? Hey, it's a gift.

They were warning people to get off the playa, which would be why when I was headed towards the ice tent that 4,503 people had been riding the opposite way towards me. And why some guy was then standing on top of a large truck with a megaphone telling people that this was not a joke and to find somewhere to ride out the storm. At this point, I listened, broke out of the line, and started heading back to my camp. Now, keep in mind, I was at 9:00 and Arctic and I only had to get to 7:25 and Jungle (remembering that the cross streets were alphabetic) so it really wasn't that far.. but before I even got to Desert Street, visibility was almost gone. I got off my bike and started walking with it like everyone else was doing, but most of the street signs had been stolen - which is normal I guess for jackasses people who want to take every little bit of memorabilia with them - so we had little idea of where the fuck we were, which did nothing for stressing me out any less. Luckily, we all helped each other get to where we were going, I found Jungle and took a left.. into the direction of the wind, which dear God, was not at all pleasant. You couldn't see more than five feet in any direction and the 'air' around you turned to a dark orange color. The earlier mention of Wizard Of Oz was no accident. It really felt like I was going to be swooped up by the madness of it all after a house dropped on someone.

I made it back to camp FINALLY, despite the tornado-like winds, to see our shifty shade structure was breaking loose again, this time for real with the stakes already up on one corner and another threatening to go very soon if we didn't do something fast. Kat had come back shortly after my discovery and the neighbors were quick to assist and all we did for about an hour was hold down the tarps, hammer down the stakes, drink and take pictures.

When the fierce winds started to calm a bit, we felt a few sprinkles here and there. It'd pick up again and then die down for a little more rain, but nothing terrible. In fact, quite the opposite. What happened next was nothing short of unbelievable. A rainbow started to appear.. and not just one.. but two. The inner one getting more and more shockingly bright with every passing minute and the outer one becoming clearer and clearer until there they were, both of them, so completely perfect that I swear to God Judy Garland could practically be heard singing. People stood on their rigs and roofs of their camps and cheered in celebration. I mean, what do you say about something as incredible as that? It was simply one of the most beautiful things I'd ever seen in my entire life.. and the day wasn't even over yet.

Part 3: Playa That Funky Music

Pixie and I ventured out to the middle of the playa to take in more of the art installations during the day after we buried our misunderstanding. Very quickly, we were back to normal, which is how I think a good friendship works. I felt so relieved and much more excited to be a part of this experience with her.

We made our way out to one of the farther points on the playa where Crude Awakening, a 90 foot wooden oil derrick had been constructed and in front of it were nine 30 foot metal statues, weighing seven tons each, in various positions of worship, each representing one of the major world religions. At night they would all spout fire. One from her eyes and hands, another from her head and heart, etc. The whole installation was so powerful with all it said about what was going on in the world today, not to mention the dedication of the artists involved who thought it up and brought it all the way to the desert to begin with.

We rode on after that over to one of our favorite installations of the entire event, the monkey zoetrope called Homouroboros. A tree-like structure whirled in a circle thru power from solar panels and participants peddling stationary bikes around the tree. Then strobe lights would flash and it would look like these monkeys were swinging from branch to branch while a bright green snake wound down from the top, down one of the monkey's arms and fed it an apple and thusly, itself. It was so much fun to just sit there and watch it. Drums would beat and usually there was an art car near by thumping techno, adding to the rave feel, but you could also tell people were just stunned with joy upon seeing it go. You can see a bit more of the artist, Peter Hudson's, previous designs in motion on his site here and watch the zoetrope close-up and in action here.

Wouldn't you know that as soon as we got within perfect-picture range, my camera was suddenly no where to be found. After we left Crude Awakening, I'd thrown my camera back in my bag that was in the basket wired to the back of my bike Pixie had so lovingly secured for me, and neglected to cinch it shut. It wasn't five minutes between its disappearance and my discovery that it wasn't in my possession so we turned around and scanned the dusty ground between the zoetrope and the oil derrick, but we couldn't find it anywhere. Nothing. It was gone.

I wasn't terribly broken up about losing it other than feeling the rest of my trip would remain undocumented. Every single and indescribable photo op would be missed completely. Pixie tried to reassure me that everyone else would take so many pictures and they'd be available afterwards online that I couldn't possibly feel I'd missed out, but there were the personal ones of people I would meet and of course her and Kat and our neighbors, not to mention the ones I'd already taken of our trip down that I was disappointed in losing. She and everyone else tho had the thought that once the camera was on the ground, it'd become MOOP and, therefore, someone had to have picked it up and would have every intention of dropping it off at Lost & Found. We could only hope.

Pixie and I separated shortly after that and went on our own little tours for the rest of the day. About two hours after that tho, our first dust storm began. It lasted for four hours. FOUR, people. Kat and I, luckily, were both around the camp at the time, which was good because our funky little shelter wasn't holding up against the strong winds very well. She, her friend, Dan, and I began holding down the points that had broken free and did our best to re-restrain what we could. When we had it stabilized the best we could manage, they started dancing salsa in the middle of the storm. The neighbors across the street joined them, smiling before they all put on their masks and goggles. Everyone looked like a bunch of happy, dancing aliens. I so wished for my camera right then.

Once our first big storm was finally over, we all cleaned up, dressed our best to impress, and headed out to find some adventure. I tried to find a bit of that on my own for about 90 minutes, but it seemed like I wasn't at the right place at the right time wherever I went. I walkied Kat to find out where she was and met up with her and her two friends trying to find what I had been looking for earlier. Again, we never quite found the thing that would entertain all of us and plant us in one place together. There were multiple dance clubs, a band that most of the playa was there to see who after 45 minutes of being late to go on couldn't hold our interest in waiting there any longer and off we went again, and various visual art installations that came much more alive in the darkness.

I told the group goodbye when I found the need to get down with my bad self and dance for a while. It was a good feeling to let loose and do that all by myself. But I eventually found I needed something more specific and went back to the stage where the band was supposed to have gone on earlier and arrived just as they were finishing their set. Again, never at the right time. But they came back on for an encore so I got a small taste and they were fun and funky and I was happy in my discovery, however fleeting.

That's when I met my first random. Or rather.. he met me. I don't even remember his name, but he was wide-eyed, full of compliments about how beautiful I was and how he had gifts for me.

Tho I naively thought he would go away if I didn't show interest, I felt an obligaton to be nice. We chatted about nothing, danced for a bit, but I wanted to call it a night and he was insistent I stay out with him. He had the resources for me to keep going.. and without expressing any sort of request for those things, they were suddenly in my possession. Hm.. conflict.. what to do?

For a while, I wanted the company and some direction of where to go and what to explore, but I didn't know this person and very quickly he was attached to me tightly and expected me to tag along with him or he'd tag along with me and I just didn't know how to nicely separate myself until finally after a couple of hours of riding around I had to be direct and said I needed to go off alone and explore. He seemed to understand and tried to coerce a concise time for the next day to meet for coffee. I was vague and brief and said sure, maybe.. but not really dedicated to the thought so I could more than likely avoid it.. which I did. I didn't want to make plans with someone I could barely connect with but who was under the impression that a connection was made nonetheless. It threw me a bit.

On my own, I wandered by my own camp, but didn't want to head to bed just yet. I found visuals to distract me and a boy who offered me my own personal frequency with an oddly shaped tuning fork. All he wanted was a smile in return.

And then when I'd given up, was tired and my hip was bothering me with a nasty little ache, a random boy saw me teeter on the verge of zoning out over a film that was depicting wild animals in winter on a screen outside this particular camp and realizing I was the only one watching it at 3:30am, I became self-conscious and continued on my way. He stopped to talk with me and we chatted and walked for over an hour after that, stopping at a trampoline for seating and more chat.

Things like that would happen at any given moment and you'd meet people and possibly never see them again. Tho he had introduced himself as Sparkle, his playa name a close female friend had given him, I had to press for his real name because, really.. Sparkle? His real name was Mark. He was sweet and kind and we had the same sense of humor. I wish I'd have gotten his real contact info but he became like most of the people I met there - a good memory. Nothing wrong with that, of course, but still - sometimes you wish you'd learned more about them.

I went to bed with some vibrant dreams, some techno pulsing in the middle of dawn coming up, and a smile on my face. I'd found my place and a good vibe finally. It was a good feeling.

Part 2: Don't Hate The Playa, Hate The Game

Part 2 of the playa begins on Tuesday morning.. our second day in Black Rock City and Kat and I found ourselves exhausted but smiling. She'd been out til well after sunrise and I turned in just before that, but because of the heat, hadn't been able to sleep much. The tents we'd set up were completely open to the sun's rays that were warming up steadily and exponentially and our little homes were turning into hot little ovens. We thought we could fight it, but by 10am or so, it was nearly unbearable and we were struggling and uncomfortable. Finally, I just gave into the frustration because I wondered how we'd manage the rest of the week if we couldn't even find a reasonable amount of shade in which to sleep.

Over the course of that morning tho, we'd met our neighbors to our right - also from Washington tho more southerly - and chatted with them quite a bit. They took one look at our situation and said they were having none of it. They offered to help us when the sun set later on to construct something tarp-like to cover our tents and provide some relief for the rest of the week. I think Kat and I nearly cried. Until then, they allowed us to share their lovely set up they'd created for shade and some peace and quiet during the hotter afternoon hours. I found myself many times in mid-conversation listening to someone and unable to stay awake at all, nodding into a fast sleep if I allowed myself and trying not to be in their way so not really getting to sleep deeply. Oh for the love of Pete, I thought.. I was just counting the hours til the sun went down.

When the sun began to relinquish its place in the sky, the neighbors along with Kat and I pulled together our collective tarps and fashioned something that looked pretty sturdy and would cover both our tents, since Pixie seemed cool enough in her larger and more covered unit. The neighbors were clearly much more skilled than Kat and I, knotting rope quickly, staking it down and all of a sudden.. we had ourselves a nice little space on the opposite side of their rented Ryder truck. Kat and I just looked at each other and sighed, instantly feeling 20 degrees cooler.

I'm sure many things exciting went on that night. I know Pix and Kat went out.. I, on the other hand, went to frickin sleep. For hours. And hours. But you can't sleep straight thru it all. There is SO much noise I felt only half asleep at times. There's constant oonce-oonce-oonce'ing of the bass from every camp blaring techno and a hum from the city and its new inhabitants cheering every so often all thru the night and into the early morning. Talk would fade in and out and I kept waking thinking I needed to see what was going on, but was literally so sleep-deprived and my head so heavy that I knew it was better to rest. It was early. There would be bigger nights and more of my attention would be required then. Better to pace myself and catch up on the dreaming than wipe myself out right away. And surprisingly, all the surround-sound just became white noise that never bothered me. Being a light sleeper I brought ear plugs.. and then never used them once.

I woke up Wednesday morning at 7am, feeling really good about staying in and heard Kat finishing her all-nighter and cozying up in her tent for a few hours of rest. I didn't hear Pixie rustling around so I thought I'd try to do some exploring on my own while it was cooler and challenged myself to get moving.

Pixie had tricked out my fancy playa bike with pirate tassles and stripes that went oh-so perfectly with the pink asian satin print with which she covered the bike seat so my backside would always have something soft to rest upon. God love her. So once bathed and dressed, I hopped on what would be my main mode of transportation other than my feet and made my first goal of the day to head back to this little coffee camp I found on Tuesday morning at 8:30 and Grasslands, just a few blocks away.

I parked my Bike Of Sassyness and made myself socialize with strangers for the next hour. The coffee was really good - that first day I'd found them they had real cream! - and so was the company. The pattern was to find something you could compliment or observe but really no ice needed to be broken like it would be out in the Real World. You could simply ask someone where they were from and they would happily humor you for a while. It wasn't hard to find things to talk about. There was art sprouting up every day on the playa, you could be a newbie or a long-time veteran.. it was easy conversation. Someone passed around homemade banana bread they'd made, which seemed very decadent after two mornings of Cliff bars and applesauce, and then the chit chat was interrupted by the 'delivery' of the 'newspaper' and the talk changed to the news of the man who burned 'the man' the night before. Truly my favorite little gathering place in the mornings for the cooler part of the day where you could indulge in the surprise breakfast offerings people brought over and would happily share and, at the same time, get your tidbits of playa gossip about this shocking pre-burn - the likes of which no one had ever seen before in all of the 21 years Burning Man has existed.

After coffee, I rode over to discover the far side of the neighborhood around 10:00 and Esplanade and checked each alphabet side street for something new. I thought I would head out into the playa for my own bit of art absorbtion, but was feeling like I wanted company so I went in search of Jumpsuit Boy at his camp to see if he wanted to join. Gladly, he did - but we rode over to Center Camp first so he could get his chai fix and we sat for a while there in the midst of all these people resembling carnies without a carnival.. dancing, sleeping, singing, drumming.. and caught up with ourselves since we don't see each other much back at home in the city.

Boy and I have a smattering of a nice past that was mostly physical and once in a blue moon we might dabble back in that, but it's been years now because a girl like me needs a bit more than that I decided.. and we genuinely like each other so we stay in touch when we can. Of course on the playa it's nice to see a familiar and adorable face and as a veteran burner being his seventh time there, I gleened some observations from him and I'm sure he found some new light from the wide-eyed joy I was feeling.

I tooled around mid-playa with boy for a while longer checking out the Steampunk Treehouse and these life-sized games we found that reminded me of my dad and then we both needed to move on to some other things, said our goodbyes of maybe running into each other again later on in the week, but we never did. I had a feeling we wouldn't.. there were just too many other entertaining diversions.

I was enjoying the random people I'd met, but I hadn't yet felt so comfortable I wanted to be independent all the time. I'm a girl who likes to share experiences and I hadn't spent much time with fair Pixie since we'd arrived. That led to a bit of uncomfy conversations, especially about my mini-meltdown of frustration due to lack of sleep between Monday and Tuesday. The playa is a very special place for Pixie and being new, and.. well, me, I was feeling the need for a bit of hand-holding and introduction that was probably more than she could offer. This was a big playground for her, rather magical, as it was becoming that way for Kat and I too, but she knew it better than we did and wanted to be out in it every second she could. I just missed her and wasn't explaining that in a way that didn't sound like I wouldn't be holding her back somehow. And sometimes friends tiff. Traveling together and extreme situations certainly bring out those qualities you overlook for the ones you adore during normal times and tho I prepared Pixie for the grumbling she might hear from me as I got used to the conditions, it didn't mean she liked it.

Thank God I'm a talker and a persistent little thing at that.. so I pushed a little and she would push back and we did that for a while until we eventually cleared the misunderstandings for good. And we found that tho we do and see things differently, our friendship remains solid. It's hard to have disagreements with the people you love, but we found a good balance of time together and time apart after that and maybe a little more understanding and respect for each other.

I love when love sort of wiggles into things and doesn't let go. It was so prevalent in everything out there that you couldn't help but notice, breathe it in, and hope it stayed with you when you left. So far, it has.

The Journey To Black Rock City - Where To Begin?

I've been thinking all weekend about where to begin my story about our three-girl road trip to Black Rock City, Nevada. It's difficult to pick a starting point because once we arrived it seemed things were happening all at once. Wherever we were things were going on, music was being played, people were dancing, everyone was saying hello to us and a smile would be shared with a knowing look that we were all about to experience something very special.

It took two days of driving 8 hours each leg and near the end of the first day, we started to see other burners on their way as well. We stopped for the night at a Best Western in La Pine, California knowing this would be the last night for seven days where we'd have a shower and a good night's rest after dining on real food. And tho it was obvious what conditions we were headed into, Kat and I really didn't register how big that change would be until we were in the middle of the desert for a couple of days munching on various trail mixes and 'bathing' with our baby wipes.

The second day was a beautiful drive. We received well wishes from the girl at the coffee stand, the grocery clerks and gas station attendants alike. More and more burners were converging on the same roads, making the final stop for water, everyone smiling and nodding knowing we were all headed for the same destination.

Pixie and Kat were both driving carefully. You didn't want to give the police a reason to stop you so they were extra respectful of the speed and besides that, once we finally started to see the line in, it wasn't moving fast anyway. All kinds of hurry up and wait - and an effort not to kick up too much dust, which was impossible.

I had heard stories about them pulling out the Burning Man virgins, stripping them down and spanking them in front of everyone else in line.. but Pixie assured me that practice had long been thrown out due to more respectful ways of welcoming the newbies. But when we finally got to our place at the front of the gate, our gatekeeper informed us the reason our line had gone particularly slow - and it really had - was because it was Make-Out Monday and he was kissing all the pretty girls. This was also true. And with that he pronounced he needed to continue on with that job and looked at Pixie expectantly who effortlessly and immediately claimed her non-singledom and oh how she couldn't possibly due to the shiny ring on her finger, but her passenger, ME, would be happy to oblige..... um.... I just want to state for the record that not only was I NOT happy to oblige, but I remember seeing a black tooth in his mouth. And I think other crooked teeth. And he smelled. Um... yeah. You do the math. The answer is ew no matter how you add it up.

So I hesitated.. like anyone would, thank you, and Pixie had to say that the man wasn't kidding.. which he agreed to with a nod. And I leaned in and closed my eyes - and held my breath. I think there was only a peck because he wasn't giving much back and then he blamed it on me and I had to really kiss him again. Whatever. I kissed the guy.. I don't want to talk about it further. It was ugly. I then chastised our fair Pixie after that and told her the rest of the black-toothed smelly guys demanding kisses were going to be up to her to appease and that was that. She just sat there grinning silently.

And shockingly, we still weren't actually in yet. We drove a bit further up and another guy announced to me that I needed to get out of the car. My thinking was that Kat, who was in the car behind us, had said she was with us and mistakenly slipped that she and I were both Burning Man virgins. But it was nothing horrible. They just made us get down and make playa angels. Screw the pristine and clean clothing you came in. Get down on the dirt and roll around in it, basically.. and so a few of us were out there doing this, were handed a crow bar thing of sorts and clanged a rusty bell, officially ringing ourselves into our first year of Burning Man. We drove thru the gate and I looked at Pixie beaming. We had arrived.

Then it was just a slow drive trying to figure out where friends of Pixie's might be so we could camp near them, but it wasn't working so we found our own space on the playa, which is set up on a grid like a clock with the times being the main streets connected to the Esplanade at the top where the letters going alphabetically started, which were the cross streets. We settled in on the fringe outside and away from the center because those areas were all reserved for the theme camps and found that 7:30 and Jungle (actually more like 7:25.. you didn't want to be late, we kept saying) seemed a perfect little spot to call home for the next week.

For the next hour or so, we got to work setting up our site. I don't know about the other girls, but every few minutes, I would get a massive head rush due to the heat or the elevation change, I wasn't sure which, and had to pause every now and then. Pixie or Kat would shove a bottle of water in my hand and tell me to drink and it sometimes seemed a bit dramatic, but with three tents and all our gear to set up camp and the heat streaming down unrelentingly, we needed to keep going.

Tho we all tired out very quickly, we eventually finished and there were high fives all around. So after setting up our own individual spaces and changing a bit, we headed out onto the playa to see what we could find. We set out on foot because we hadn't yet found Kat's friends who were bringing a bike for her and at least Kat and I didn't take into account how much walking we would be doing that night. The playa is five square miles and between the time we started our evening introduction to this adventure to the point we both finally crashed, we'd walked across most of the playa TWICE. I thought I was just exaggerating when I'd said it, but we really had walked closed to 10 miles on our first night there. Um yeah.. ow.

The three of us started out together, but it was clear the distractions that were arranged were made for pulling you in many directions and after a little while of doing her best to stay with us, finding the God phone and the dome where 'God' was actually manning the calls coming in from said phone, Pixie became a bit antsy and needed to wander off on her own little tour. This was her fourth year at Burning Man and she needed some time alone to regain her own feeling of coming home on her first night out.

Kat and I explored the sights on the Esplanade, the main road, met all kinds of people hosting different camps, some not yet completely set up yet like the DeathGuild's Thunderdome, proudly touting their history of 'Bringing senseless violence to the playa since 1999' and Dance Dance Immolation, which is Dance Dance Revolution - but with flame throwers. Pointed at you. No, I'm not kidding.

We were actually early, arriving on Monday night as most of the event really didn't get going until Wednesday usually, however, this year there was a lunar eclipse at 2am Tuesday morning, and we heard that there was more than the average population for a Monday because everyone wanted to be there to witness the eclipse from the playa. This, of course, was stunning to see, darkening the playa for hours and changing shape every time you checked the sky. It was also really warm and there were so many people out that Kat and I found it pretty easy to stay up with the rest of the city until dawn tho we weren't talking all that much. We were just trying to take in all the sights that we realized were going to overwhelm us very fast.

A friend of mine from Seattle surprisingly found me on the Esplanade (which would never happen again as the population of Black Rock City exponentially increased as the week went on) when he'd heard me introduce myself to a friendly stranger Kat and I had started chatting with. He was wearing this awesome United Airlines jumpsuit that was honestly.. um.. really hot on him and I couldn't help but notice and, of course, compliment, which I think was appreciated.

The three of us wandered around for a bit after that, but Kat wanted to stay out for a while longer and the morning was wearing on to dawn - something we noticed we did a lot of. My jumpsuit-clad friend and I were thinking of sharing each other's company further, so after making sure Kat would be ok on her own, boy and I set off for my camp to end our night.

Friendly faces, a lunar eclipse, a cute boy in a jumpsuit no less and my first night on the playa. I was liking Black Rock City and more than that.. I think it was liking me.

And She's Back..

It's true. I've returned.. older, wiser, um.. dirtier.. than when I left just over a week ago with a couple of braided-haired girlfriends, crossed four states, left lush forests for the dusty playa, baby wiped my entire body for my daily 'shower' and managed not to freak out about how my dainty emailing hands quickly turned into a construction worker's over night.. and had one of the most amazing experiences of my life.

I have a ton of stories about the people I met, the incredible creativity within the camps and art cars we saw, the breathtaking art pieces, and just the amazingly generous spirit of most of the people there. I highly recommend the trip to everyone.. it was something I'll never forget and I hope I can do again and again - I'll just have a better idea of what to expect now.

I'm still absorbing the effects, not to mention recovering from the sheer exhaustion of traveling and eating pounds of dust I'm sure and thus, picked up a little head cold at some point that reared its ugly head the morning after we'd left the playa so bear with me and be patient this week. Pictures are uploaded but I have to sift thru mine and then steal others' since I couldn't get everywhere over five square miles of dried up lakebed for everything. There were just too many distractions, but I will get something out soon my pets..

And huge HUGE thanks to Indy and Ammogirl for stepping in while I was away. I'm sure my five readers have now given up on me for good and will be your newest fans, which they should've done anyway. I bow to you both with great respect.

Off to bed for further recovery. Hope you all had a fabulous week and I'll write very very soon.. like.. maybe tomorrow! Crossing fingers!