Now I sit in my tent, afraid to touch the floor because I’m currently clean and am loving the feeling of freshly moisturized skin. I’m not going on any adventures tonight, just going to recoup in my tent after the last couple days of chaos so that I can create my own chaos for the next week.

I woke up after a couple hours in my tent and went to our meeting point at the church of respect only to find out the rest of the group arrived in the night, didn’t get the message about where I was and set up behind the theme camp. All that work!! But it was ok because 6 of us marched on the playa with the structure held between us intact while I did the army chant thing (something about wearing camo I suppose) things went really quickly after that and we had all the tents built, good shade and good company.

Then the wind picked up and things started falling apart as usual, mama nature loves to remind us of her presence so we don’t take her for granted. The ‘laws’ of typical social custom may not apply but the laws if nature still do, especially here. We got more guy lines up, more pegs in place, some duct tape in appropriate locations (like the bar that seperated in the spot currently above my head!) it made me sad to kill the lounge we had chilled in most of the day but the tarp there is what made the rest of structure unstable when the wind started to rip through. The rain was nice though, that’s 3 times I’ve experienced a sprinkle of rain in the desert, so refreshing and amazing, it’s a friggen’ desert, the kind where not even bugs can survive in. I think the harsh environment is what makes it what it is though, it wouldn’t be so crazy awesome because slackers would come if it were easy. The intense environment is part of what makes it such an intense experience.

Anyways, blablabla, so far lots of good talks with strangers, lots of hard work and bruises, broken nails, dirt, missing time and water. By missing time I mean the part where you just mean to go to the porta potties and end up taking an hour because you got into an intense coversation about the miracle of existance with a neighbour and a girl from Brooklyn. I had intended to be writing this and being clean and ready for bed around 8pm and it is now 3 hours later, oops! It’s going to be a weird experience having a watch here I think, it makes the time loss nearly tangible and not just a theory.

If I hear one more clown horn though I might scream.

So here I sit, writing with my thumbs from the safety of my car. Not quite where I hoped to be but give it 12 hours and all will be settled.

I arrived on site at about 6:30, with about a 7 hour expected wait for my playa family to arrive. My hopes and dreams included getting a good spot, check, getting the shade up and my tent set up, FAIL. What takes 20 minutes for 3 people in a normal environment doesn’t work so well when it’s just me and a dust storm. I managed to get most of it put together despite the wind, the roof was done, the tarp on, just needed a couple bodies to raise it. Got the bodies I needed and once we passed the point of no-return, the wind got worse so we ended up with the legs askew and I pegged it down to hold it as best I could but it’s far from safe enough to trust putting my tent under it and will need some love once the rest start to show up in a few hours. Fortunately the wind seems to have died down a bit and hopefully it will stay that way until we can get things in order.

Managed to get everything I needed in Reno. Couldn’t find lamp oil in any if the 7 shops I checked but an SOS to two of my crew on thier way in proved fruitful. After the second degree burns on my hands a couple months back, there is no way I’ll mess with unfamiliar fuel on a tool that’s attached to my body. I came prepared but ended up with a leak that got the fuel all over my sleeping bag so I only have enough fuel on me for a couple rounds and I wanted to be open to more lit time than that. Conveniently, one of my neighbours works for the fire department, a good neighbour to have :)

The playa is already covered in lights and structures and people running about having fun, those are the earlier arrivals who are already set up but I’m just too exhausted. I’m tempted to sleep in the car since I don’t want to be too set up in my tent knowing I’ll have to move everything tomorrow anyway but I’ll probably just sleep on the floor of it so I can stretch out, leaving the boots on so I’m ready to go when people get here.

Oh and it looks like the fire cannons are back this year :) this place is nutty, but a lot of work, which is probably why it’s so nutty! I don’t have a stove or anything so I’m jamming raspberries in my mouth with my dusty hands, ahh the playa!

Sitting in the lobby of a hotel in Reno waiting for Paul and Marie to get out of the pool. Yup, took a wrong turn and went 20 miles in the wrong direction so they got here ahead of me. Went to get ice while I was waiting. Why yes, that WAS me walking down the freeway in Reno with a bag of ice on my head. Apparently it was entertaining for the locals who were honking and grinning.

Our last day in Portland was a ton of fun, we went to Last Thursday which is a little like Lilac festival used to be before it turned into a corporate sponsored gong show. The spots are free to the vendors as well so literally anyone can come and sell their wares. It was a jumble of really good art, locally made goods and the occassional booth of made-in-china trinkets. We were fortunate enough to get a spot near a truck with a Dj spinning so the traffic eventually picked up and Kira managed to earn some cash towards her trip by selling bustles, hoods and vests while we danced around modeling the wares. We took a tour of all the booths and found some good finds that would have cost way more back home.

We got back to the house to find it full of visitors after the fair, but mellow with live music and dancing in the living room. We were tired from being in the hot sun all day but Andrew dragged us outside to see his new poi tricks which ended up motivating all of us to light up our fire tools so we had two poi spinners, a hooper and me with my fire fingers all warming up for fire conclave on playa. No-one was hurt except the lawn that accidentally caught on fire.

We took off in the morning for however far we decided to go that day along with a pile of the others who were there, pretty sure Maitia and the others who actually live there were looking forward to some calm after the storm. Thank you, thank you, thank you!

The drive was long and beautiful as expected and meeting up in Eugene at the first gas station on the right didn’t work out so well, kinda like trying to do that on the Deerfoot, not possible. We then chose to meet up before the turn-off but I found them on the road later anyway. We had sandwiches and carried on to Susanville which ended up being a bit of a pain to drive because by now it was dark and the trees were close so I was paranoid about deer which I did spot on the sides along the way. We found a sketchy motel and spent the night there and watched Fight Club and Sponge Bob.

We have heard some news from home about friends being turned back (it was supposed to be their wedding on playa Tuesday :( and another who had broken down, a reminder of how difficult it is to get here. I managed to score an early entry pass so I’m hoping to be able to help get the tower up at church of respect (which happens to be an evolved version of the structure we had at our first burn in 2001) and secure a good spot for Camp Honeymoon.

My current status is in Reno, nearly ready for tomorrow with only a couple items left to pick up and we’re hoping to meet up with playa buddies on the strip tonight before the mass arrival on playa at midnight tomorrow.

Writing from a backyard in NE Portland, Oregon, wearing my People’s Republic of Portland t-shirt, listening to dove’s cooing, Bob Dillon, and an oboe, harmonica and guitar jam with Simon and Mark as they bounce on yoga balls in the living room..

I spent last Friday, Saturday and Sunday packing, sorting, sewing, creating, errand running, house and car cleaning and generally panicking about not getting everything done that I wanted to. Monday I woke up with only a few things left to jam into the car and hit the road with my newly created playlists.

I drove throught the mountains (after April’s driving adventure on the Croatian coastline, it was a breeze!) and managed to find the turn off to Marie’s parents cherry farm and after getting a little lost in all the orchards and acreages, found the house and the vacation part of my time off started.

The land her parents live on is absolutely stunning, green and fruit trees everywhere and sitting on a bench under the cherry tree at night, you can see the milky way through the branches. Her father is an amazing chef and stuffed us full of amazing food and we went to bed with giant wolf spiders and stocked up on sleep for the road ahead.

In the morning we hit the highway to the border crossing which was painless, the thought of re-tetrissing the contents of the Jetta after a search was not pleasant. From there we decided to stop at the first gas station on the right at predetermined intervals to meet up along the way which worked the first couple times and then we lost eachother. With only one cell phone between 2 cars finding eachother again proved difficult but we found a new spot to meet eventually and it was way better than the old one. It was a tiny one road town beside a lake where we sat and ate cosmic cookies and went wading in the water, a perfect little oasis of green. From there, the drive only got more beautiful as we managed to stick together throughout the rest of our Oregonian journey to Portland.

We landed at Kira’s place at this amazing house full of travellers and artists and music and food and stories. There are 7 people living here and various friends and sweeties with more arriving everyday, everyone taking care not to leave a mess so it’s a fun kind of chaos as opposed to the crazy kind. Paul and Marie are camped in the backyard and I’m tucked into a corner in the basement in my cot and I’ve been having fantastic sleeps. The bathroom even has one of those awesome clawfoot tubs with perfect water pressure.

When I got here my long awaited dreads were here from Kapow Adornments and I’ve been having fun figuring out how to wear them and messing with people. I’ve been stopped at the organic market by people who assume I work there and elsewhere by people to compliment them. Greatest costume item ever!

Our time in Portland has been really chill and awesome. Wandering about hunting down coffee, stocking up on food and wine at the market Kira works at, sleeping in, eating well. We went to an open mike yesterday in an old church on Alberta street, where all the performers were really good. Mark played a great set with his guitar and harmonica and there were these two college boys who did a very unique performance that’s hard to describe involving a jimbao drum, guitar, sampler and lots of stomping. I recorded some of it that I’ll try and post when I get home. Not sure of the name either, purpalicous love or purple lizard love…

Right now Maitia’s father has arrived bearing crab cakes and we’re getting ready for last Thursday which is a market set up the last Thursday of every month where you don’t have to pay to set up and Kira’s going to sell some of her wares, she’s made arm warmers and hoods and super cute bustles. Afterwards there are rumours of a gathering with fire spinning that I’m hoping to get some practise at.