Well, it is almost 5 a.m now and I am still up, after spending the wee hours researching RV rentals from Reno to Burning Man' My friend, who was one of the main instigators of the Festival, out in the Black Rock Desert, wants to go, too. I was going to fly into Reno and pick up an RV and she was meeting me from SF. Once I started looking into the prices for the RV rentals which are now in special prices brackets for the Festival, I realized that it would run around 2,000 for fees, admission, flight, hotels, etc. Most of them are already booked. Yikes! 2 of the RV rental places would not rent new RVs for the desert festival and one of them had a "lazy" air conditioning system. Salesman said, they had learned from the past, not to rent new RVs to Burning Man festival goers, as too much damage is done to the new vehicles, sometimes.
One of the places had their RV torched when some idiot fired a gel fire ball under the RV, one evening, and luckily the fire extinguisher worked before the RV gas tanks blew. Now, that would have been a spectacular event for everyone in camp, and probably would have ended in song and dance from viewers and ex-RV occupants alike.
So what to do? Pondering all the ways to get there is part of the fun. I know when I get my mind set on a travel destination, it usually comes to fruition. I think it would be a spectacular way to begin my birthday week celebration, culminating on the 9th. It may be that we will have to find separate ways to head there, and meet up in the Cafe on the Playa, which was founded by her.
She ran the first cafe, for a few years before heading off for her Master's in Psychology. She still gets a free ticket every year. I want to go. How is it going to happen?
Was looking forward to the music and heading to the dance tents at night, to dance the night away. The 40mph winds and The Ancients (mini cyclones) would also lend an air of mystery, something like in my Arabian Nights dreams, of big moon desert glow, eerie shadows and the drums, guitars and voices drifting across the desert to sooth my wild mind.
The music for the road trip was in the planning stages and shall continue to be ripped, since one never knows when a little miracle will happen to get one to the next freeway.The Hawaiian dresses and the Indian silk sari's were about to be washed. Am looking forward to the new bathing suit and debating if I would strip off my clothes, when the water trucks came by, as they do on the playa, squirting swathes of water for those who need a cleansing from the desert sands. A trip to the Army Surplus store for desert boots is also in the plans, since you cannot wear anything that would melt on a 130 degree, desert floor. Forget the flip-flops, the bottom of them will turn to paste and your feet will burn off.
An extreme event like Burning Man requires a lot of planning and also a willingness to let it all loose. A bit of common sense required as the desert is a stern taskmaster and preparation for all eventualities is an impossibility. How well do you sleep in 110 degree weather, no showers, if not in an RV, and you have to pack all your trash and take it with you, when you leave? 10,000 vehicles trying to exit on Monday and Tuesday along a 2 lane highway, which may have a few broken down cars and RVs along its edges? Oh, what fun and adventure.
I have a love/hate relationship with the desert. Hate the heat and love the way my mind slows to 18 ohms per second/beat mimicking the earth's pulse. The sound of the earth rises and the body slows from modern pace to natural flow. I can hear my heart beat pumping away as I walk across the sand. Do some of my most remarkable writing upon awakening, in the early morning glow, as the sun pumps its heat to the receiving crystalline structures beneath me. As the sweat pores out of my body, my skin begins to glow as the impurities release as gallons of water pour in to keep hydrated.
Spending time in some of the world's deserts has always been both a trial and a blessing. There's reasons why great sadhus and mystics go there. The desert strips away all your preconceived futuristic plans for your life and cleans the entire mind out of anything unlike your true self. All that is left in the scorching heat, wafting winds of higher temperatures, which may burn your nostrils, is your self. Like an ocean, the desert purifies you and cleanses anything old, from your system. That is why there is a medical tent at Blackrock with Psychologists as many people, during Burning Man, freak out. Drug induced freaking, sure, a lot, however the real issues are people who begin to let go of everything inside themselves forced upon them by nature, and are left without anything to connect to in their minds.
It is a rich experience. You learn quickly about those who travel with you and about yourself. The desert has that power and she is a wild, extreme, dangerous and beautiful mistress. Few have spent 6 or 7 days in that type of extreme environment. It is not Las Vegas.
So will I be there? I don't know, as it may be I will have to depend on the help of friends or strangers. Well, it is 5:55 am, now in the Northwest, and it's to be a rainy day. Guess it is time to make some Mate, and think about the 4 days I spent in a tent, out in the Patagonian desert, alone, praying for my train to come. If I do not find a way to be there, this year, then I will have to buy a ticket to see John Mayer & Keith Urban, out at The Gorge. Gotta love the earth choices! Vaya con Dios!
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