Deep Playa, La Contessa, Hot Springs
Back home, Ty and Geo were just cracking their eyes so I set to down some oatmeal and yogurt then head out to the playa to check out art projects. But of course, a plan never remains a plan for long. The bike needed the back pack attached, last nights dishes needed to be washed, this body of mine needed a serious once over with some soapy water and I could go on. It's always one more thing before you head off.
Geo was going to do some work on La Contessa
who arrived on the playa last night. It had been over at the ranch being
reconstructed, hence Geo's having arrived a few days before us, as he
had his hands in up to his elbows putting that sucker back together from
it's normal storage resting position of not put together. One of our
campmates came for a visit to regale us in the tale of La Contessa's
travels and subsequent arrival. They had come down the road from the
ranch,
taking up both lanes on the two lane road. Unfortunately, this occurred
on the opening night of antelope season which had brought an abundance
of gun totting, half ton truck driving hunters straight past the ranch
where Contessa had been worked on. Thus causing the shoulder of the road
to see more action than just all those jackrabbits contemplating their
potential success or demise on getting to the other side.
Contessa then entered burning man at the gate, delighting all the new arrivals with their first bigger than life, eye bulging sight of galleon magnificence. They then cruised the perimeter fence out in the deep playa, drove down one of the runways at the playa airport and came to rest outside of camp carp.
There were some repairs that still needed to be done, but no one seemed to eager to get to work so Ty and Geo decided to cruise the playa with me. Another 18 small things to do later and we were off. The day was still cold and the wide open space of the playa had us piling on the clothes. The day was very still. No wind anywhere. We went from art project to art project to art project. The day growing hotter, shedding clothes until we reached the perfect ensemble, next to nothing. We perused leisurely. No direction. Whatever caught our eye determined the next destination. Hunger crawled in our bellies and insisted we change agenda's.
We stopped at La Contessa to take a look at the repairs that were
needed.
The ship is a sight to behold. Geo quickly becomes the tour guide for
the many that come and board her. As questions travel between the people
checking her out, geo cant help but answer and soon it becomes a non
stop barrage of new groups with similar questions.
We yanked the brit off the ship to head home for lunch. What
started out as hotdogs, turned into chicken thighs with potatoes. Ty
cooked up the chicken and Geo went to work on the potatoes. I lazily
kicked back, agreeing to do the clean up. It was delicious. I was
seriously contemplating licking my plate but decided against it since
the savory juices were at least 50% playa dust. Dinner done, knocks at
our back doors sent us to the janes and our first look at the suburbs
behind our camp since yesterday. Empty spaces were now filled with
fantastic new camps. Geo stayed behind to shave, although we tried to
deter him from this endeavor. He is such a handsome boy anyway but with
that salt and pepper beard,
it just gives him a rough and rugged look. We tried to come up with
ideas of things he could shave into his growing beard but he soon
decided to leave the flavor saver and clean up the rest.
Time passes, I write, Geo is off to find out when the work will start, Ty puttering around.
Geo walks up and puts a key on my chest.
Now, Geo has a key on his chest
and it was described as a La Contessa key. There are times that La
Contessa holds private parties or trips around the playa and restricts
it's passengers. This key guarantees entry no matter the occasion. I
look on my bare naked chest and he has laid this valued and incredible
key. A gift. I'm speechless. Such a fantastic thing to receive. Such a
privilege to have. He gave one to Ty as well and I pulled out all my
leather to come up with thongs to hang them on our neck by.
We spent the next chunk of time, snacking, smoking, drinking, on this warm, still, late morning hour.
Geo finally got the word to go start work on Contessa, so Ty and
myself, we prepared to trip down the avenues on our bikes and check out
the camps. We headed out on the esplanade, stopping to see what Geo was
up to. Carpentry tools splayed about, him and Greg Jones were tidying up
a corner that insisted on releasing it's hold.
We left them and headed off to the sights and sounds of the
esplanade. Saw much, did much, but of course wound up at the mousetrap
camp. We wandered in to find Haggis hanging out.
Haven't seen the boy in ages, so was quite happy to find out he was
camped right here at the mousetrap camp. Haggis is a ranger at burning
man, but we used to hang out with him in S.F. before he moved his sorry
ass to bum fuck Los Gatos. I wandered around to find teige flying a
kite.
Something I have been wanting to do for years, but have never gotten
around to it. He handed over the controls to me and nothing could have
jacked me more than the spontaneity of this gift.
After this journey into childhood, I pulled that sucker in and went to
hang out on their plush couches.
Haggis had a surprise offer for us. It was on the major down low, but he had access to private land that had a geyser and hot springs. He was off on a trip to provide the guy guarding the gate with beer and dog food. See, these hot springs are on private land. It used to be open to burning man, but someone came along and bought it for 3 mil. Now burning man rented out the water source for the trucks that water down the dusty roads on our avenues. But since it's private land, bm agreed to post a guard at the entrance only allowing in the water trucks. Haggis would cruise out now and again to keep Bill company and supply him with essentials. On this occasion, he wanted to take us to see this unfuckingbelievable place. He extolled it's virtues as off the hook, the likes of which nothing we have ever seen before. The land was a geological mystery and was studied extensively by scientists. It was also an arrowhead heaven. But he didn't do justice to it's insane beauty as we soon found out.
I've been to Trego and Frog. Very cool hot springs near burning man. Both have their high points. So I couldnt imagine that this could be much different.
We agreed to go and headed out to gather his supplys. We wound up in Tokyo, one of the ranger posts back at 9:00 and somewhere. Hanging out, drinking mikes, meeting other rangers, working on playa time. Haggis cleaned up his truck and we piled in. We had to stop at our camp first to pick up our tickets since we would be going off the burning man site and needed them to get back in. We wanted to tell Geo where we were off to and had hoped that he could come with us, but we were crammed into the cab of his truck and they wouldnt have let us out with a passenger in the bed. We couldnt find Geo, so we headed out. Arriving at the exit gate, we found it was going to cost us $20 to leave the site. Not having planned for this, no money in pocket Haggis proceed to work his ranger magic and called squirell girl over to pursuade her to let us go. We were banded with the bands that would allow us back in and a promise from Haggis to provide a righteous foot massage in exchange for her generous nature.
A quick 12 miles down the road found us at the gates to an incredible valley. Off in the distance, you could see a small lake and a road that led down that way. Bill was stationed at the gate and we pulled in and parked. One bonus was Bills two dogs. Friendly scruffy mutts that were a pleasure to play with while Bill and Haggis took care of business. We chatted with Bill for a while and then headed off down to the magic that awaited.
It was more than expected. It was incredible. There were 3 geysers
spewing steaming hot water. The formations of the geysers themselves as
well as the land surrounding them were not even real to the eyes.
We took a short walk around and found ourselves at the pond part
of the hot springs.
And just below the surface was a dock. It was explained that back in the
day when burning man was still allowed to access this hot spring, they
had built this underwater dock and placed on it an art project.
The project has long since disappeared, but the dock remains.
We quickly stripped down and sank our dirty bodys into some of the
most amazing warm water that I have ever encountered.
We swam around, explored, played, found the places where you could stand
and where you were doggy paddeling it. The ground levels varied greatly
as we traveled around this incredible water. Farther out we found that
it was only ankle deep.
We dived in a few times as Haggis tried to time the camera to catch us.
We played. Had to do the floating on water trick.
Reluctantly, we had to go. The sun was getting low and while we
could have stayed there forever, there was still burning man happening.
We headed back and stopped for a chat again with Bill. Then back on the
road where we got a very unique view of the burning man event layout.
It was amazing to see it from this perspective. The one thing that makes
no sense on the playa is your depth perception. It seems like something
is so close and yet could be miles away. This was a testament to that
mind trip.
We got back in and Haggis dropped us at Tokyo where he parked his car. We bid a fond farewell and profuse thank you's and headed back to camp.