My Experience at Burning Man

This post is very long, but interested people will have no probelm getting through this. Forgive my poor writing since i wrote this straight off the cuff without any organization whatsoever:

http://www.burningman.com

Is there a way to adequately describe what this magnificent event is about? In a word: No. I will do my best though because the place filled me with wonder and awe that will never be forgotten. A brief, but inadequate description may be that it is like a one thousand ring circus that has the feel of Mad Max and Thunderdome, Dr Seuss, Alice in Wonderland and a touch of the non-gambling aspects of the wildest parts of Las Vegas all rolled into one.

The event takes place in the Black Rock Desert of Northern Nevada about two hours north of Reno near a town called Gerlach every year for a week before Labor Day. The desert there is extremely harsh and foreboding. In the old days of wagon trains heading west, people passed through this area and nearby and many never made it past. The desert here is in a valley surrounded by two mountain ranges and the land is perfectly flat for many miles. This flat land lies on what used to be a large lake that has since evaporated leaving behind a completely lifeless beige salt bed known as the "playa." Lifeless, that is, until man intrudes to prepare for, and execute what may very well be the wildest party in the history of mankind. This is the ultimate escape.

Before attending this party a lot must be done in preparation. After all, we embarked not only on a mission to party, but to survive in some very harsh conditions. In order to survive, one must bring shelter, shade structures, a lot of water, and food to last a week. Sunscreen is critical for the whiter among us (Actually the disappointing thing is that the event is overwhelmingly white - a little diversity would make it even better in my opinion). There is no traditional shower or bath to be had, but one should bring some soap and water for cleaning too. A Camelback is good for bringing water with you. The city is very large and the entire place is enclosed in a space that is five miles from end to end so a bicycle is an extremely good thing that most people have. At night a flashlight is needed and a headlamp is even better. The playa can get very dusty, especially when cars drive in and kick the dust up. When the wind kicks in, there are often whiteout conditions, so a dust mask and goggles are important to have as well. Garbage bags are crucial to protect the cars from dusty objects being brought home. Also, all garbage must be taken out since there are no garbage cans anywhere. What goes in, must come out and one of the mottos is “Leave No Trace.” Needless to say, Reno and Gerlach love the "burners" that come and buy the towns out of supplies. The fact that people have to do so much in order to attend the event is very important because it makes sure that all people that attend are thoroughly dedicated to reveling in the most awesome vibe since the posers and high maintenance people cannot and will not put forth the required effort.

A ticket to the event is very expensive, and depending on when you buy it (the earlier the cheaper), the price ranges from $165 to $350 per person so somebody somewhere is making a pretty penny (the Bureau of Land Management rents out the playa for $2.7 Million so they are making a buck too). When our RV entered the playa we were guided to the ticket people. The woman who checked our tickets promptly searched the RV high and low for stowaways. Having none, she let us through to the greeting station where we were greeted by a man of about 48 named “Naked Bruce.” Bruce was indeed very naked except for a hat and possibly shoes. He gave us the rundown on what to expect, what to do and what not to do. There were four “virgins” on our RV including myself and we rang the virgin bell to make our presence known. Once past Bruce, we had now entered Black Rock City (BRC). The city would eventually reach a population of about 35,000 making it the fifth largest city in Nevada for the week (If we include four of the Vegas suburbs as part of Vegas).

BRC had a circular layout (much like Amsterdam) that stretched from 2:00 on the circle to 10:00 and as a matter of fact, the radial lines comprising the roads of BRC were named for the appropriate position on a clock and these radial lines occurred at ever half hour on the clock. This year the concentric circles comprising the cross streets to the radial streets were named for the planets except for the inner most circle, which was the road known as the “Esplanade.” The next circle out was Mercury, then Venus, Earth, all the way to Pluto with the last street being Sedna, named for the latest large Kuiper Belt object found out in the neighborhood of Pluto that is about ½ the size of Pluto (and making Pluto’s status as a planet something to dispute). After some driving around, we decided to make camp at Saturn and about 5:15. We had two RVs and many more people coming later in the week so we claimed a large plot of land for ourselves.

After we got set up, it was time to get out there and see what all the fuss was about and I was definitely in a rush to do this because after all this preparation, the fun has to begin. I first rode on my bike to 6:00 and the Esplanade to locate Center Camp. The Esplanade was where the most action would occur. In Center Camp, you can find the only two places in all of BRC where money has some relevance (though one should not forget how much they spent for preparing this venture!). In Center Camp itself they have a small bar where one can buy water or coffee drinks, but no food. Next to Center Camp is Camp Arctica where one can buy bags or blocks of ice for two dollars each. This is an important thing because the food that needs to last the week must be kept cold and BRC wants to discourage people from leaving BRC just to pick up supplies. If one really needs to leave and come back they have to pay a $20 fee or take a bus for $5. If they did not do this, then too many cars would drive all over BRC making the roads dangerous and the cars would kick up a lot of dust making for more whiteouts conditions. I never felt a reason to leave and I do not know anyone that left and came back to BRC. Why is it that money has no other relevance within BRC?? Read on potential burner.

Let us not forget that this event is named for the burning of a man. So, I now had to go from Center Camp to “The Man” which was about a half mile down a continuation of the 6:00 road. The man was a structure on top of a scaffolding dome about a hundred feet high with the figure of a man and blue neon lights along his body located at the dead center of all the concentric circles. For all practical purposes, The Man was the North Pole from this day forward and he would be my method for orienting myself wherever I was. So, who is this man and why do we burn him? In 1986 an artist in San Francisco decided to set up a large structure in the image of a man and he would set him on fire on a beach nearby to make quite a spectacle. The event was so appreciated that it became an annual event, but locals were none too happy, so the event was moved out to the Black Rock desert where the fire and all the craziness would be so remote from civilization.

I then rode my bike back toward the Esplanade to see what else was going on. Along the entire length of the Esplanade and in all the way to Earth, BRC is comprised of hundreds of theme camps. There are so many of these and so many variations that it is hard to go through all of them, but many of them are domes made for chilled out relaxation spaces (especially nice during dust storms). Among these were the Winking Lotus that had many pillows, cool people, and a lovely lady serving tea. There was also the Hookah Dome where there was a similar vibe, but many hookah pipes lying around where one could smoke the “Shisha,” which is a Middle Eastern delight made of molasses and flavored tobacco. Even, I who never smoked a cigarette could enjoy the Shisha with its lovely taste and aroma. Throughout the Hookahdome there were many interesting people of all walks of life and many interesting women to talk to. Many of these women were topless and all of them were friendly. If one were to sit long enough in the dome, an interesting conversation often without many words, but eye contact would very likely lead to a very erotic massage that brightens your spirits! Then there was the camp called “And then there’s only love” hosted by porn star Jennifer Steele. In her dome was a chill/orgy room where one could really get it on and satisfy many fantasies. At the edges of BRC (that is 2:00 and 10:00), the sound camps went absolutely fucking off! The music was trance, house or psychedelic trance and it was all pounding and amazingly appropriate for the wildness that would ensue. The list of camps there this past year can be found at: http://www.burningman.com/themecamps_installations/themecamps/04_camp_vill_1.html

So, this being my first day, I decided to save my energies now that I became acclimated, so I went back to my RV to get a little sleep at around 2am. Besides, at the beginning, BRC has an average age of about 40 and there are fewer hotties running around. On the way back, I encountered many art cars. These were special vehicles that had to be registered at the BRC DMV (Department of Mutant Vehicles) well in advance. To qualify for registration, the vehicle must be permanently altered in an artistic way. Many of these vehicles had fluorescent paint or very bright and colorful lights attached to them along with other wild designs that might make it look like a tank or any kind of creative contraption one could imagine. They certainly did not resemble an ordinary car in any way. There was the buggy that was about twenty feet tall and covered in fluorescence. There were the double decker buses that were totally decked out and filled with a sound system that would rival almost any nightclub. These buses would go out and pick up random passers by and blast the music and create a crazy party atmosphere throughout the entire city. There were just so many of these wild cars roaming the city and they were a total delight. One would need to see photographs to get a ten percent feel for what these cars were all about – the full feel requires your presence in BRC. So, here are some images:

http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi?q_keyword=&q_year=&q_category=art_cars&q_photog=&go.x=11&go.y=16

I only slept about five hours due to the heat in the morning. We continued to build our camp since there was much more to do and more people to come to BRC and to our camp in particular. After building our camp, I rode out as far as I can within the perimeter of BRC. The remotest parts of BRC well past The Man and outside the inhabited portion of BRC (Now we are between 10:00 and 2:00, but there are no street names here) had many art structures dotting the landscape. The most magnificent of these was the Temple. The Temple was a truly amazing structure. An artist named David Best created it and it was made entirely out of wood using wooden pieces discarded by a company that makes models of dinosaurs often sold in museums. The result is that each wooden board has intricate designs cut out of it. The wooden boards were assembled to make an enormous structure with a tower that looked to be one hundred fifty feet high and to the left and right there were bridges and a pathway to the edge of the temple, which when complete was almost a half mile from end to end. Needless to say, the structure was breathtaking. The burning man website will certainly have pictures of it in due time. The temple was a place of remembrance. People would leave notes or pictures of lost loved ones throughout the Temple. On the very last day of BRC’s existence on this year, all of this artwork would burn including the amazing Temple along with people’s notes and pictures. It would represent coming full circle and the more spiritual people of the crowd would feel as if a positive nonsecular prayer had been offered to their loved one. The fact that this intricately designed Temple would be burned to the ground reminded me of the intricate sand designs created by Tibetan Buddhist monks that when finished would be swept away as if they never existed after putting in many hours of work. I think that the burners have a similar philosophy that leads them to burn their great creations after so much work.

After checking out this artwork, I had an urge to go to the edge of the fenced off portion of the Black Rock Desert since I often appreciate remoteness. Once there, I met an interesting lady named Jennifer that also appreciated such remoteness and we chatted for about an hour. I also wondered about how it must be easy to sneak into such a remote and huge area. I eventually learned that this was not so easy. While sitting at the edge talking to Jennifer, a van driving along the perimeter had attempted to break in, but one of the BRC security guys totally busted them by driving up the perimeter in the opposite direction shutting down their attempt. I then thought that what one needs to do is to get one person to go in with all of the supplies and pay for a ticket while the rest of the camp would wait until a dark hour with a nasty dust storm to ride their bikes to the edge of the enclosed area and make a break for it. This fails for two reasons, the security there has night vision goggles and they also have set up radar to detect any movement. They even have heat sensors that will detect the entire path that a warm body had taken outside the perimeter. Yes, the organizers want their fucking money! Later on I would meet a man of about 55 going by the name of “Spoon” (Many frequent burners use only nicknames at BRC) who had helped to set up BRC in the past years. I asked him about infiltrating BRC illegally and that is why I know so much about radar and night vision goggles etc, but he also told me something fun about it. At night they have a number of ex-army Special Forces guys (Rangers) that patrol the perimeter. One of these guys is about six feet nine inches tall and he dresses up in a costume just like The Predator (as in the same one that the Governator fought in the movies) equipped with the crazy dreads and the armor. When an unsuspecting crasher approaches the perimeter, an extremely bright light would be shined in his face and then the Predator would announce and make his presence known scaring the ever-living shit out of the crasher. Usually the crasher would then quickly oblige himself to the Predator and pay the admission while reminding himself never to try that again! Naturally, I was intrigued, so in the future I may want to try to crash the party and meet the Predator just to see if I can beat him, but that is just my natural competitive instinct and I think the Predator can appreciate that! I will have a ticket on me just in case I do get caught since infiltrating is a federal crime (remember this is BLM land which means it is federal). One security measure they did not take, but seriously considered was a special gun that would emit a sound so revolting to humans that the vibrations can induce vomiting and semi-paralysis, but it was decided that that might be going too far. So, they are dead serious about making everyone pay. Even if you try to parachute in from a plane, they will find you and make you pay!

When I returned to camp there was still more work to do, so I did it with the others. Afterwards, since I had little sleep the night before and with all the work, I again felt tired and needed rest, so I slept early again at around 2am. The next day, I again awoke early due to the heat. I realized that this would hamper my efforts for the late night partying I had been accustomed to in Los Angeles and wanted to project into BRC, so it became readily apparent that drugs were needed. I did not bring any with me into BRC, but I did actually locate mushrooms for Tuesday night. I only took a small amount because I had not done shrooms in ten years (except one time two years before) and I thought that they might be too intense given all the wild eye candy, costumes, lights, art cars, theme camps, and sound camps. Well, the one stem I took turned out to give me a really intense trip that was indeed a little much given all the extreme stimulation around me. I also suffered from significant discomfort since the desert got really cold at night and I was only in short sleeves. The shrooms, of course, amplified my discomfort, so I was forced to return to my RV without my tripping friend since she was full of energy and too wild for my more serene feeling of the moment. I warmed up there and finally felt much better, but I realized that I had missed a golden opportunity to see this wild place while I was so loaded. So, this meant that the next day I would do the same damn thing, but with a larger group at my camp (which had grown considerably by Wednesday) and with me better equipped for the cold weather at night. This time, the trip was wonderful, the people cool, and we avoided the large crowds that can make me a little uneasy with shrooms. We certainly took in all the lights, costumes, and art cars around us and this time all the sensory overload was absolutely wonderful. At one point, our group made it out to The Man. Inside the dome that the man rested on was some other artwork. The most interesting of these was a piece that was simply a narrow strip of very intense bright lights. Initially this seemed like nothing special. That is, until you shook your head fast from left to right so that the light would spread out to make a trail and you would see an image of the sphinx, then the image would be of the earth, or Stonehenge with the image changing every thirty seconds or so - and this was not the shrooms talking. This was the intent of the artist and it was awesome – particularly with the shrooms! While at The Man, our group decided to sit inside the dome facing out (imagine a window you might see on Macy’s on 34th Street in NYC where they have displays – we were the displays in this part of the exterior of the dome). Two older men eventually approached us. They almost seemed like authority figures, which was very strange for a place that represented free expression and anarchy to the max (except fore the admission price!). Were they actually going to tell us to get out of the display section? Could this be possible? No. One of the men introduced the other as “The Emperor” – remember the nicknames that burners often take. The first man explained that The Emperor was one of the people that had the original idea to actually burn a man in effigy, but that over the many years The Emperor had never made it to a Burning Man festival in BRC. Well, this left us stunned. In particular, the members of our group who had experienced Burning Man as much as eight times before wondered how it was possible that The Emperor had never made it to BRC. One member of our group made the obvious statement, “Surely someone must have told you about this and tried to motivate you to go, right?!?!?!?!?!?!?” The Emperor never spoke, but his friend said that The Emperor had a big schedule and a lot of work to do in San Francisco every year. Well, that same member of our group, who has no shortage of humorous wit (He is a writer for the Sitcom “Everybody Loves Raymond.”) said, “Ohhhhh, so you are being oppressed by HIM!” as he points out of the dome toward The Man, to which the two older men chuckled. Then without skipping a beat, our friend then said, “I have a feeling you are going to get your revenge!!!” (When we burn The Man of course). The two men laughed and told us to have a great time and they went into the dome.

The next day, I felt fine and just goofed around while checking out all the theme camps and riding my bike for miles and miles along the playa. Shrooms are fine, but I really prefer Ecstasy for a party with a large number of people because I can really dance until the sun comes up and I enjoy the large crowds even more under this influence. I hate the day after doing this (since I had done this plenty of times in the past), so I very rarely do this these days, but Burning Man is different. There is no holding back. I think people should quit all drugs except for at Burning Man! That way the experience is that much more intense. On this night, a Thursday, I went out to all of the sound camps and danced to the pounding music as I checked out the art cars and the women. The women had gotten progressively hotter as the week went by since some of the younger women came into BRC. It was a delight to see many of them topless, but at night it was too cold for that, but the sound camps were still overwhelmingly fun and I met a fun lady for the evening at one of them. We went off to catch the sunrise at one of the camps on the edge at 10:00 and then I went to help set up her tent since she had just arrived and made for a very pleasant morning. I got home at around 9am in desperate need of sleep and recuperation.

When I got home, one member of our camp was just getting up. He and his fiancée were going to get married that day at the festival. It was a really good idea. In the ultimate place for radical free expression, what better place is there to express their love for one another? I knew that I was going to be in big pain this day because of the hardcore partying I had been through, but those are the breaks. I can at least be grateful that I did not have to attend a very formal wedding in an orthodox church where I would have to give a long speech with a nasty ecstasy hangover! No, this wedding was a little different. The groom was dressed in shorts, sandals, and an open sport coat with his chest showing and a top hat. The bride had traditional headwear, but she was wearing sexy boots, ultra short and tight shorts, and a very small bra. She looked really cute. The bridesmaids were naked except for g-strings and tape over their nipples. The rest of us walked in a procession from our camp at Saturn and 5:15 to an area of the playa near The Man where the wedding would be held. Some stragglers and curious onlookers were picked up along the way and the wedding began. Who performed the services? Well, as it happens, that same humorous guy who works for “Raymond” is actually a justice of the peace and can legally perform marriages. He was dressed as a catholic minister (although the groom is Jewish and the bride Korean) and he started the service off by pulling out a flask of whisky and taking a sip which would make fun of his Irish heritage since their ministers are known for their drinking. He gave a great service full of humor, wit, and a seriousness that would respect the love and vows being made. Everybody loved the scene. Afterwards we went back to camp to eat a little and relax.

The trouble was that I was still feeling like raw sewage from the heavy night before. So, a few of my closer friends that were at the camp and I went to a theme camp called “The Deep End.” By now it was 5:30pm on Friday. The Deep End had a lot of really awesome DJs and it was fun to listen to their killer music during the day and dance my ass off shirtless while catching a nice tan. The really nice thing about this camp was that it seemed like the most beautiful women all congregated around this camp. The scene was loaded with so many hotties, many of them topless just dancing the day away. The bar offered free drinks (As always things are free in a gift economy!) One scantily dressed Persian girl who was about 5’9” with a beautifully chiseled face, tan skin, a perfectly tight tummy, and ice blue eyes really caught my attention, but she was not the only one. The DJ known as the Scumfrog performed there for a bit and the place absolutely exploded. I think the name he chose as a DJ is a little dumb, but his music absolutely rocks. One can catch him all over the country, in clubs in LA, at the Winter Music Conference in Miami at the end of March, or wherever. This was his first burn, and he said he is coming every year from now on since the scene there is so perfect and amazing. Now that the beautiful women and the really great DJs had arrived, the energy was really multiplying exponentially. I could not wait to see more!! I danced my ass off at The Deep End. In fact, by the time we left to go make dinner, I felt great and my hangover seemed like a thing of the past, although it would still be there if it were not for where I was since those hangovers last a long time usually. We went out and partied until the sun came up again on Friday with all the usual wildness and craziness around me, except that I was sober this time so that I could recuperate more for the Burning of The Man on Saturday. It was really cold again, and the cold was useful to form symbiotic relationships with various women on couches in the middle of the playa at sound camps so we could keep each other warm. This place is awesome I tell you! I came home at 8am this time and slept until 12:30pm or so.

This next day was Saturday, the day that we burn The Man. I mostly took it easy, but I did drive my bike around for many miles as I usually did during the days. I probably rode well over a hundred miles for the week. I ate well, but had small meals, so I actually finished the trip with a six-pack on my abs. I kind of liked that aspect of it! So there were unhealthy drugs and all, but I came back looking better with a tan and a tighter physique. There was a great discomfort growing for the three people in my RV. The reason is that the day The Man burns, the entire BRC absolutely positively EXPLODES! This is the night of nights. This is the party that is not to be missed. You can miss almost all of the other fantastic parties that blow away all other parties you have ever been to as long as you do NOT want to miss this one. However, we had already planned on leaving right after the burn since one of the members in our RV had to be back to work on Tuesday and we had to return the RV on Sunday since the rental place was closed on Labor day. This created a great conflict in all of us. We really wanted to stay for the party to end partying, but since we had zero contact with the outside world (The wireless internet at Center Camp failed to work that week) we found no way to extend our trip and at the last minute we would have to leave at the least desirable time. I really wanted to stay and let my friends go while I find a ride with someone else, but either way I would have to help them pack since I could not ditch them like that. Well, packing took many hours and I ended up packing from 1am to 430am after the burn, and by then I had missed so much of the post burn festivities that it took the wind out of me and I left. I also did not know where I would sleep that cold night since the other members of the camp were out partying very hard, so it just did not work out. That being said, I can still discuss The Burn itself, which I did not miss.

The energy and the vibe were most definitely in the air on the day of The Burn. At around 930pm my group walked from our camp to The Man. By then almost the entire population of BRC, numbering about 35,000, had congregated around The Man and all of the camps fell silent. All the wild art cars were surrounding The Man in a circle, with some lucky members in the art cars being given a very high vantage point. The Man stood perched on his dome looking down on us. The carnival atmosphere was all around us and there was a feeling that today was actually New Years. For many of us, this day may as well be New Years. Some people do say Happy New Year because this event causes a rebirth for so many people who work really hard all year round so that they may have escapes like this. Suddenly there was a powerful flash of fireworks emanating from The Man. The ceremony had begun. The fireworks continuously blasted off from The Man and His dome. Eventually, the dome caught fire and the fire eventually made it to the top where The Man finally ignited. When The Man ignited the crowd let out a powerful roar. There was also a humorous side to this amazing spectacle. There were some protestors in the crowd brandishing large signs, as protestors often do, saying “SAVE THE MAN” or “Black Rock = Salem, Fight This Injustice!” It was a great scene. The flames continued to roar up The Man and they eventually made it to his head and his extremities. He was doomed. The crowd got wilder and crazier. The energy of the crowd could light New York City for a week. The Man continued to burn and finally, the dome could not support him, and he fell straight down into the heart of the fire until he burned to ashes. This set off the crowd to the absolute peak of their wild energies and the feeling became primal and tribal. People all moved in close to the flame. This seemed like the most dangerous part of the whole affair. Not because of the flames per se, but because the rush of so many people could possibly create a deadly stampede – it is a good thing that I did not consider mushrooms for this day since the over stimulation would have completely overwhelmed me. However, one need not worry too much about a stampede since the vibe of all the people is so positive that with all the pushing and shoving that naturally come with such a crush if people, everyone just goes with the flow and peace reigns supreme as the energies come out of all of us. I made it to the center right next to the fire. There was no gate around the fire. You could run right into it if you wanted to. Someone rolled on top of a steel cable spool right into the fire and jumped off in the nick of time to make for a daring spectacle. There were firemen around the fire, but they seemed to enjoy The Burn as much as we were since they felt so much of our positive energy. Once right next to the very hot fire, the crowd moved in a crushing circle around it. Some people got naked and ran around the perimeter of the fire from close range. Someone took a fifteen-foot picture of the devil with the face of George W Bush and threw him into the fire (obviously, this place is a conservative’s nightmare and living hell since they would know nothing about and in particular hate a good time). Did I say the energy was intense? I could continue going on and on about The Burn, but what is the point? There is nothing I can say to express the power of the moment. This means that one will have to go if they want to experience the energy and the spectacle that is Burning Man.

The second The Man fell, that was Happy New Year. The emotions were too overwhelming to describe. You just had to be there. A funny thing happened once The Man fell though. The Man is what oriented everyone the whole time we were there. He was the North Pole after all. Now that he had fallen, other landmarks were needed. With all of the well lit art cars surrounding The Man, it was hard to tell where BRC was and where the art cars were. It was very confusing. Eventually I got my bearings when I discovered that BRC was the lights really far away and all of the nearby light, whether on the other side of The Man or not were the art cars. So I made it back to my bikes and contacted my friends I would be driving back with that night by walkie talkie (Cell phones of course do not work in this remote area, so this is a good alternative that many people use). I found them and they encouraged me to run out on the playa for the next couple hours since they had seen it before and could not make me leave so soon after The Burn. However, we did have to leave, and after leaving some other friends who were indeed shrooming during this intense time (Although the peak was well after The Burn) I had to go back to the RV and begin the dreaded task of packing our things. I cannot possibly relate to someone who has never been there how difficult it was to ignore the best part in the history of the world so that I would have to pack up an RV and leave the damn party!! What an awful thing I tell you! My friends were frustrated by this too and vowed to plan better so that the best part of the party would not be missed again. I use the word ‘again,’ because I am definitely going back - especially because I missed the best part of this whole event. I must return. The party that I heard going on while I was packing was amazing. All the art cars were on patrol. The large buses loaded with hardcore partiers and many hot women with pounding amazing music were rolling all over the playa. The sound camps from two miles away could be heard loud and clear blasting the best music I have heard in such a long time. This was so tough on me. I really wanted to drop my last E pill and jump out there, but as I said before, this could not happen. Alas, we spent the next few hours packing while the rest of the known world in BRC was partying to the max with the kind of fun I can still only imagine since I have not yet fully experienced it. This is all the more reason to return next year and every year thereafter.

We left at 4:45 am and made it to Interstate 80 at around 8 am. I was completely exhausted, but I had to take over driving from my even more tired friend. I made it down to Walker Lake a hundred or so miles from there before I had to give back the driving duties to my friend. Then he drove another hundred miles. Then I took over from Tonopah, to Las Vegas where we returned the RV. Following that, we had to unpack and then pack the cars we left in Las Vegas. We got something to eat in a relatively nice Chinese restaurant although we were completely disheveled and we had not had a real shower for a weak and we were covered from head to toe in playa dust. We just didn’t care about our appearance. We just came from Burning Man, so we had every excuse required in our book. Nobody was going to stop us from getting a kick ass meal the likes of which we had never seen for the last week. The drive from Vegas should only take four hours on a slow day, but it took us eight. We were so exhausted while driving that we had to make many stops. At one stop, we slept for two hours at an In-n-Out restaurant. It was truly awful driving under such conditions. Driving fucked up would have been much safer, but we wanted our beds and a shower desperately and we were determined. We made it home at 4am after almost 24 hours on the road. We showered and then crashed really hard.

What did I miss on that Sunday after The Man burned? I am not entirely sure. This is one of those things that I will have to come back to experience, although every year is different. All of the many large pieces of art out in the central part of the playa in from BRC were lit on fire. The intricate and beautiful Temple I described earlier was burned to the ground, but the mood is supposedly different on this day. This is the day that everyone must prepare for the fact that the festivities are over, so there is a restful, somber, and serene feeling throughout BRC. At night, the artwork is all burned down. Some people who want to stretch things as long as possible almost worship the flames as they tend to them while the flames are on their deathbed. When the last fires go out, people leave the dead artwork behind and they prepare for the temporary death of BRC. The street signs are taken down. The camps are broken down. The crush of people leaving at the same time the next day makes for an intense traffic jam. By one account, it took six hours for a guy to go from his camp on the playa to the pavement a short distance away. In that respect it was good to leave early, but Sunday night would have been better since it is on Monday when most people leave. Things would have been fine then. If everything went right, then the burners would have left no trace. The city will be reborn again next year, so any people feeling sad now should take comfort in that.

I hope that all of this can at least help to describe what the indescribable is like. I also wonder if people can review all that I wrote and recall the initial inadequate description I gave and see why I gave it:

“…it is like a one thousand ring circus that has the feel of Mad Max and Thunderdome, Dr Seuss, Alice in Wonderland and a touch of the non-gambling aspects of the wildest parts of Las Vegas all rolled into one.”

-LL

You paint with words quite colorfully.

I always thought I was not much of a writer since I am more of an "other side of the brain" kind of guy being a mathemetician.

I also forgot to mention in the post about a couple of our neighborts camping next to us who were scientists for the Deparmtent of Energy. They hijacked a 50L container of liquid Nitrogen and used this with water, sugar, fruit puree, and lemon juice to make the absolute most kick ass sorbet in front of our eyes. To have this treat in the middle of the desert was awesome!!!