Burning Man 2010 - The Journey There
How can I possibly remember all of the many things that happened over a week ago? *sigh* I'll give it a whirl.
We met on Saturday evening at Mars & Bhajan's house. We got bikes up on the bus, loaded gear inside, and spread cushions across the top to create a big bed area. There were about 12 people, half of whom I knew. We hung out until about midnight, then everyone piled in and we set out.
The only person I didn't really know was Millie - one of Bhajan's coworkers and friends. She was gorgeous and I had a crush on her the whole trip, but one of Dutch's bike pals (Graham) snatched her up quickly and snuggled her the whole trip. The one single girl. *shrug*
The first momentous event took place a few hours out of Portland. We stopped for a break at a gas station and I was the first one out. I bumped into two hippies who were seeking a ride to Burning Man. I told 'em to talk to Mars, and he came back to the bus in a little while asking if we wanted to carry them along for at least a few hours. We did, so we met Smoke (21, long blond dreads, filthy, outgoing dude) and Feather (17, punk-kid hair). They're from Canada and they've been hitching for a while. We talked and bonded with 'em for the next few hours.
I played some guitar & sang, and the whole bus sang some rousing renditions of Bohemian Rhapsody and Holy Diver. I recited some poetry, too. The hippy girl (Feather, aka Sarah) was quite taken by me - she needed a father figure badly, I think. She's Jed's age.
We stopped for some yogalike stretchery and a dip some hot springs. It was the last chance we'd have for immersion for over a week. There was a family at one of the springs, with suits on, so we moved to a back spring that was shallow and muddy, 'cause only 1 or 2 of us had suits and the rest of us were skinny-dipping. It was nice - seeing Millie crossing the river, nude, was delightful. It also releases a bunch of "weight" to see a cute girl naked. It demystifies her and makes it way easier for me to move past the attraction stuff. The cute girls I've not seen will always have a certain allure, but if I've seen a girl naked I can finally relinquish the curiosity. I got to stunt with Miranda mostly naked a bunch, later in the week, and it was really nice for the same reason. I hung out with Melissa at the Ritz at OCF a few years ago and got the same benefit there. I should just make it mandatory to throw one naked stunt early on.
After the hot springs we did the yoga-stretch stuff and then piled back on the bus, clean and happy. I massaged lots of people, especially feet. Smoke's feet *reeked* - stinky hippy feet are a whole new kind of malodorous experience. I washed 'em with baby wipes after the footrub, and he was ecstatic - he ran around with big bouncy steps, blissed out about how his feet felt. It was awesome.
Unfortunately, the rank smell was bothering folks and we had to leave Smoke and Feather behind to find another ride. As Feather hugged me goodbye she was about to cry. So was I. She gave me a white feather from her hair, which I carefully put on the bus to keep. I hoped I'd see them there, but they were hoping to score free tickets, and I didn't hold out much hope for that. $300+ is a lot to waltz into for free.
At our next stop they were there, though! They'd gotten an immediate ride. I was overjoyed to see 'em.
We rolled into Black Rock City at around 2 or 3 am on Monday morning. I was dozing in the back and I heard someone call out, "Scott, there's your hippies!" I burst out of the bus and hug-tackled 'em.
Feather already had a ticket that someone had gifted her. Smoke was circulating with another hopeful ticketless hippy. I found out later that it took the 2 of them about 6 hours to raise enough handout money to buy *two* tickets and have $60 left over to give away. I worked all summer, planned and scrimped, packed and stressed. Smoke and Feather hitchiked with virtually nothing, and got free tickets. It was a little frustrating but mostly I was thrilled for them.
Those of us on the bus crashed there until mid-morning, then we got up and really entered Burning Man.
We met on Saturday evening at Mars & Bhajan's house. We got bikes up on the bus, loaded gear inside, and spread cushions across the top to create a big bed area. There were about 12 people, half of whom I knew. We hung out until about midnight, then everyone piled in and we set out.
The only person I didn't really know was Millie - one of Bhajan's coworkers and friends. She was gorgeous and I had a crush on her the whole trip, but one of Dutch's bike pals (Graham) snatched her up quickly and snuggled her the whole trip. The one single girl. *shrug*
The first momentous event took place a few hours out of Portland. We stopped for a break at a gas station and I was the first one out. I bumped into two hippies who were seeking a ride to Burning Man. I told 'em to talk to Mars, and he came back to the bus in a little while asking if we wanted to carry them along for at least a few hours. We did, so we met Smoke (21, long blond dreads, filthy, outgoing dude) and Feather (17, punk-kid hair). They're from Canada and they've been hitching for a while. We talked and bonded with 'em for the next few hours.
I played some guitar & sang, and the whole bus sang some rousing renditions of Bohemian Rhapsody and Holy Diver. I recited some poetry, too. The hippy girl (Feather, aka Sarah) was quite taken by me - she needed a father figure badly, I think. She's Jed's age.
We stopped for some yogalike stretchery and a dip some hot springs. It was the last chance we'd have for immersion for over a week. There was a family at one of the springs, with suits on, so we moved to a back spring that was shallow and muddy, 'cause only 1 or 2 of us had suits and the rest of us were skinny-dipping. It was nice - seeing Millie crossing the river, nude, was delightful. It also releases a bunch of "weight" to see a cute girl naked. It demystifies her and makes it way easier for me to move past the attraction stuff. The cute girls I've not seen will always have a certain allure, but if I've seen a girl naked I can finally relinquish the curiosity. I got to stunt with Miranda mostly naked a bunch, later in the week, and it was really nice for the same reason. I hung out with Melissa at the Ritz at OCF a few years ago and got the same benefit there. I should just make it mandatory to throw one naked stunt early on.
After the hot springs we did the yoga-stretch stuff and then piled back on the bus, clean and happy. I massaged lots of people, especially feet. Smoke's feet *reeked* - stinky hippy feet are a whole new kind of malodorous experience. I washed 'em with baby wipes after the footrub, and he was ecstatic - he ran around with big bouncy steps, blissed out about how his feet felt. It was awesome.
Unfortunately, the rank smell was bothering folks and we had to leave Smoke and Feather behind to find another ride. As Feather hugged me goodbye she was about to cry. So was I. She gave me a white feather from her hair, which I carefully put on the bus to keep. I hoped I'd see them there, but they were hoping to score free tickets, and I didn't hold out much hope for that. $300+ is a lot to waltz into for free.
At our next stop they were there, though! They'd gotten an immediate ride. I was overjoyed to see 'em.
We rolled into Black Rock City at around 2 or 3 am on Monday morning. I was dozing in the back and I heard someone call out, "Scott, there's your hippies!" I burst out of the bus and hug-tackled 'em.
Feather already had a ticket that someone had gifted her. Smoke was circulating with another hopeful ticketless hippy. I found out later that it took the 2 of them about 6 hours to raise enough handout money to buy *two* tickets and have $60 left over to give away. I worked all summer, planned and scrimped, packed and stressed. Smoke and Feather hitchiked with virtually nothing, and got free tickets. It was a little frustrating but mostly I was thrilled for them.
Those of us on the bus crashed there until mid-morning, then we got up and really entered Burning Man.
Labels: Bhajan, Burning Man 2010, Feather, Mars, Millie, Smoke
posted by Scott | 2:21 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home