Burning Man

PHOTOS ARE NOW BEING UPLOADED. THIS WILL TAKE SEVERAL DAYS DUE TO SLOW UPLOADING SPEED HERE AT OUR HOUSE. THERE WILL BE APPROXIMATELY 80 PHOTOS SO KEEP CHECKING BACK FOR MORE. THANKS FOR YOUR PATIENCE. "Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind....To truly understand this event, one must participate." (quote from http://www.burningman.com/)
The event takes place about 125 miles north of Reno, Nevada. We took I-80 east to Nevada Hwy 447, passing through a couple of very small towns. We turn off the road onto the "playa," the 400 square mile expanse known as the Black Rock Desert. Photo.
Upon reaching the entrance, still miles from Black Rock City (the name of the area where Burning Man takes place), we are enthusiastically welcomed and immediately get the sense we belonged here. Being first timers, we are known as "virgins" and we loudly ring the "virgin bell." Photo. A partially naked young man asks us to disrobe and make "dirt angels" on the dusty ground, but we decline (others do it). We are hugged and sent on our way into tremendous billows of dust made by numerous vehicles before us towards Black Rock City barely visible on the horizon, still several miles away.
We are here to survive. We have read the Burning Man Survival Guide, and have brought an additional 42 gallons of water in jugs in addition to the 30 gallon fresh water tank in our RV. We have brought multiple tubes of sunscreen and large brimmed hats to protect us from the hard desert sun. We have brought enough food for a week, stuffing our refrigerator, freezer, and storage shelves to the maximum. We have our RV as shelter. We have dust masks and goggles to protect against the dust storms sweeping across the playa. We are here with friends and friends to be met who have been here before and will help us to survive.
We are here to participate in developing a community based upon radical self expression and self reliance.
Many are here to create. We arrive believing we are only spectators. There are very few, if any spectators here, and we soon learn the broader meaning of the word "create."
Burning Man is an experience like no other. It is a tremendous feeling of freedom. It is finding experiences of kindness and unexpected joy and happiness. This ranges from stripping off your clothes to run after the water truck for a fresh shower while the driver wets the road to keep the dust down, to finding a 100 ft high slide in the middle of nowhere, far from Black Rock City, to a stranger who unselfishly walks up to us and hands us a bag of ice just because we are the last in a line of at least a hundred. He wants nothing in return
We are here, and when we depart, we will leave "no trace," a motto we will hear throughout our stay.
We finally arrive at our "home," our campsite we will share with 14 other men. Peter has designed an elaborate canopy to drape from our RV to his and Ed's RV. An additional canvas structure complete with drapes, tables, and flag will enclose the rear of our site. We will be open only to the street we are on - called Kinship. We spend the next several hours helping to create these shelters and two others. These shelters will help us by providing shade and some protection from the dust. Photos.
At night, several of us walked out onto the playa. We are breathless at the expanse of art work and "mutant vehicles," both of which are both far into the distance and close by. We see the "Burning Man" structure, a magnificent creation which will be burned at the end of the celebration. Photo. We turn around and look back towards the city and see an amazing spectrum of light: laser beams shooting into the night sky, cleverly designed, multi-colored vehicles, fire balls being shot out 50 feet into the air, and light of all colors emanating from the campsites of the 50,000 people here. It is amazing when one considers that this place is completely off the electrical grid!
Returning to our camp, we are both covered from head to toe in playa dust, a dust with the consistency of chalk dust, or talcum powder. Richard had designed a water conservation system. We have brought with us several small plastic containers approximately 12x16x6. One contains water for hand washing. Another is to rinse our feet before entering the RV. Another is to use with a wash cloth to wet our bodies while standing in the shower. We then scrub ourselves with foaming soap (makes loads of suds), and shampoo our hair before turning on the shower and rinsing for no more than one minute. No water is provided here so we must use it sparingly. A bonus shower is when the water truck comes by. We hurriedly strip and run after the truck, as do numerous other participants. Let me say that when you are this dirty and dusty, you will do most anything to get clean before going to bed! Photos of running after the water truck.
Despite our attempts to avoid it, the dust has entered every space of the RVs interior. The exterior of the RV and our Toyota truck are covered in dust. Photos of our dusty vehicles.
The next day, we ride our bicycles out into the desert and find a young woman playing drums, a bird nest made entirely out of plumping pipe, and emotionally moving art work consisting of boots of Iraqi War soldiers "marching" across the desert floor with photos of the dead soldiers, an art piece of locusts crawling out of their cocoons and onto the playa and many more. Photos. Then, a sailing ship appears moving quickly through the wind. Photo. There are hundreds of cars, and trucks modified with great creativity to look like ships, dragons, fish, cats, jet planes, tape decks, houses, many shooting out fire and carrying dozens of revelers. Photos of a sampling of what are termed "mutant vehicles." To operate a motorized vehicle, one must be registered with the DMV - Department of Mutant Vehicles. Only bicycles and walking is allowed unless you have a "mutant vehicle."
Black Rock City is huge. So big it is the fourth largest city in Nevada during that week. A bicycle is pretty much necessary to travel around. We brought our mountain bikes and went to a campsite called "Pimp Your Bike," where the campers there gave out free items to decorate bikes. We came across a 26 year old man dressed in army uniform and helmet riding a bike. Attached to the handlebars was the engine for a weed wacker. Attached to the weed wacker engine was a blender. He grabbed the tequila out of his pack and proceeded to make bystanders, including us, frozen margueritas! Photos. Another time, we came across a campsite titled "Pie Time." Three "Bettys" were serving home made pies. Four place settings, china and silverware, and a menu listing 5 different pies. Problem is, you had to role the dice to determine your pie. One of the selections was "placentia pie." We later found our it was made of honey and cheese. We both had peach pie...it was delicious! Photos. At night we rode a mutant vehicle and then had to walk back to our bikes. Along the way, at midnight, we found a man with a cart, stove, and table with chairs making chocolate chip pancakes on the playa in the dark of night. They were unbelievably delicious. Biking the roads was difficult at times. By weeks end the roads were more like the moguls one would experience at a ski resort. In addition, most people had bikes, drove them in every direction on both left and right side of the road, intermingling with mutant vehicles. It reminded us of photos from third world countries where everyone rode bicycles.
Over the next several days, we rode our bikes around Black Rock City and saw many, many interesting sites so numerous to mention them all. One place we went to was a spa. We sat in comfortable soft chairs, had cold cucumbers place over our eyes, and a very cold mask placed over that. Then a head and shoulder massage. It felt terrific, considering the heat and dust on the playa. Photos. Later, we stopped at a bar named Musical Misfits. We met some people there, and toured their camp. One of the men found out we lived at Lake Nacimiento and proceeded to tell us how he used to come to the lake as a child in the 1970's where he learned out to water ski. The community created here is definitely not capitalism. No one sells anything at Burning Man. We did not spend even a penny here. It is entirely a gifting economy. Entire camps exist solely to, among other things, give away pie (photos), snow cones, pasta, pizza (photo), ice cream sundaes, root beer floats, pancakes, crepes (photos), wine, margaritas, sandwiches, yoga lessons, workshops of every kind, and entertainment as fine as any you would find in Las Vegas. All free! It does cost to enter ($150-350), but that pays the federal government for the use of the land, the porta-poddies and some infrastructure.
Additional photos to the right are: Steve jumping through a ring of fire; Group picture of our camp mates; Re-birthing of a camp mate. You can see him sliding down the birth canal. When he came out at the end, he had no clothes; Evolution art piece with a camp mate as the "man"; Neighbor woman in shiny pink; Four painted, naked men waiting for the start of a street parade; A tower built completely of pallets; Richard being dusted by one of the women in the French Maid Brigade; Man placing a pizza in a wood fired oven at his campsite; Richard delivering mail; Camp mate Pete in his robot costume; Many photos of mutant vehicles.
We also visited the Temple, a beautiful structure built by volunteers. It is shaped like a Lotus, three stories tall where anyone can post a message of any kind. Many of the notes were written to or about deceased friends, relatives, or even pets. The prose had quite an emotional impact on everyone. For many, it was a way to say good-bye. We both wrote notes to our parents, and also remembrances of our pet dalmatians, Ember and Ripley. The temple was purposely set on fire the final night.
The term "leave no trace" was strictly adhered to. Only clean water was allowed to touch the playa. Numerous volunteers will spend weeks, cleaning up any trace of our existence here, including the burned remains of the "Burning Man" and Temple. Photo of the Burning Man being burned.
We have considered going to Burning Man for at least 10 years. Finally, our friends Pete and Ed convinced us to attend and we are eternally grateful to them for showing us the way. In the past, we have heard comments from some people dismissing Burning Man as "a bunch of naked people running around on drugs." At this point I would like to quote portions from another blog about Burning Man from an eight year participant.
"The truth, though, is that Burning Man is an ideal place for self reflection and self transformation, whether substance aided or not....Friends of mine have changed their names, their professions, and their entire lives at Burning Man. And not because they were stoned or tripping, but because Black Rock City....has a tendency to expand horizons, reveal possibilities, and question the assumptions most of us make about how we're supposed to live our lives. The freedom (at Burning Man) is more then just freedom from conventional economic life, though, yes there are some naked people running around on drugs, because the culture of Black Rock City is a very, very liberal one. (It is not free of law enforcement...) Of course, how people choose to exercise that freedom is up to them. For every NPRAOD, I'd guess there are people wishing they had the courage to do so, one person playing the violin on a sofa bed in the middle of the desert, two people cooking pumpkin ravioli, and another person writing the name of her beloved on the wooden walls of the Temple." For more of that blogger's description of Burning Man, go to www.huffingtonpost.com/jay-michaelson/the-truth-about-burning-m_b_279464.html (the space between m and b and 2 are: _ ) One final note from me (Steve), if you are reading this and do not see the photos, please be patient as it takes some time to upload the photos.