Here I am, sitting in the shady comfort of my dome home at Burning Man. We arrived on Sunday night and set camp. Monday the dome went up and Tuesday I left Burning Man.
You see, I’ve been sick for like 2 weeks now and I really wasn’t having a very good time. Between the heat of the day and the cold of the night I was not getting any better. So Tuesday came and I left the Man for Reno. I spent the day and night taking all the drugs I could find for colds, flu and sinus issues, slept in a happy Motel 6 and woke up feeling fine. After a brief excursion to the world’s liquor vendors I headed back to the Man and it’s been just fine ever since.
We just did a long tour of the entire area which I wasn’t feeling up to before. There is some really impressive stuff happening out in the middle of nowhere including the biggest rubber duck the world has ever seen. Alex told me that this morning a plane crashed a bit away from camp. Aparently the pilot forgot to put the landing gear down AND completly missed the runway. He’s alive, so I hear.
I finally got some infos on The Mermen. They’ll be playing Thursday and Friday for scheduled shows and then randomly throughout the week. Alex just read me a “rumour” from the paper that says Jim Thomas (the front man, guitarist) quit the band this week and has been replaced with a violinist. I am pretending he didn’t say anything for now.
For anyone wondering, there are lots and lots of naked people.
As we made the trek to the Man and during the first few days we learned some important lessons. The first, and most important is that everything you have read is a lie. Except the dust. The dust is true. The weather is beautiful. If you can handle a mild day on the beach you can take Burning Man. The nights are cool and pleasant and the wind has not been bad enough to blow the dome away yet.
The day we arrived in Reno we stopped at Walmart to finish out last minute shopping. We pulled into the parking lot and ended up right next to a truck that was quite obviously going to Burning Man. He had trees on top. We met the guy who owned the truck inside at the bike department and he and I kinda went back and forth over the same bike. It ended peacefully and I am now the proud new owner of a blue ladies mountain bike which I have modified with a non ass reaming seat. Total cost: $60. Walmart was a total riot. EVERYONE there was going to Burning Man and the Walmart people didn’t know what to do. Some were putting out displays of water and camping gear. Some were trying to manage the crowd and some (like the bike department guy) were just standing there slack jawed and shell shocked. You would think the biggest store closest to Burning Man would be used to this by now but I guess they have enough turnover that it’s a new batch of monkies every year.
I’ve taken lots of cool (I hope) pictures so far but I am using film for almost everything so I won’t be cool like Alex and upload any until I get back.
That’s all for now. The sun is considering setting and I am feeling better than I have in a week or more. Tonight I will really see the place at night and hopefully make some new friends.