Deep Playa, La Contessa, Hot Springs
Arriving at the front gate found us in no line at all. Thoughts of hours wait and sitting on a road so close to our home away from home had us both dreading the entry. But we were directed straight to Mr. Playa Covered Man. A friendly dude named whiskey who in fact hadn't had a sip in 18 years. The night was warm and he was appropriately dressed in next to nothing. The threads he did wear were righteous playa duds. . Some of these people have been here for weeks before us and their well adjusted happiness was a beacon. A desire to be in their state of mind and body as soon as possible. A preview of what you will be in a very short while. The excitement and impatience rises up in your throat.
His job is to search our vehicles to make sure we don't have stowaways. Arms reaching in through the tupperware and tarps searching for a beating heart. After taking our tickets and a pleasant conversation that had us holding up the short line that was forming behind us, we were sent on our way.
The side of the road from the first gate to the second is lined with signs about 30 feet apart from each other. Each sign is part of a story. To read this story, you must travel slow enough. A clever ploy on their part to keep you at the 5 mile an hour mark. An attempt to keep the dust down from the many wheels that churn the normally hardened playa into the fly away dust that creates the infamous white outs. The story, forgotten minutes after it's read, is usually a slightly cryptic tale. Talk of life and growth and experiences and anything else that these creative folks can come up with to entertain the pre burned mind.
It's quite a distance till you reach the greeters. The Greeters, perpetually happy people, decked out in some of the finest outfits, dusted to perfection, stationed to greet all who arrive. Virgins are ushered out of cars to ring the bell and are celebrated with shouts and cheers from everyone around. Once properly greeted, your given your maps and pamphlets and wished a good burn.
A few feet away you hit the road in. It splits in two, the
left towards the 10:00 side of the playa, the right to the 2:00 side.
We turned
to the right and found ourselves at the farthest out road, Hysteria. The avenues
were mostly empty at this edge of the world but smatterings of camps started to
show up as we drew closer to our destination, Gxoui's rv at 2:30 and something.
We didn't know where yet. Just 2:30 and something was where Borg 2 was placed.
(BORG2 information click here)
Weather Report: gusty north west winds kicking up the dust causing scattered white outs in various locations around the playa.
The 70 degree warmth had us with windows wide. Never mind the
huge dusting we received for our reckless abandon. It was warm, my shirt was
off, I was being inadvertently dusted. We were two very happy motherfuckers!
(can I get an amen?!) We drove around in the dark of night trying to spot a
single rv amongst the many rv's. Ran up happily to the one we thought was
Gxoui's and was met by a group of friendly strangers. Back in the car we
joyfully cruised about, stopping and meeting many powered by the question 'know
where Gxoui's camped?' Fate finally took us to a showered and naked, squeaky
clean Gxoui. The man is a tree. Did I mention that. He's a gigantic oak, a
towering specimen of a man. Ya gotta love his gentle nature against his powerful
stature. We caught up on details, Patrick and Rory at 7:00 and hooked up with
the post office, Paul with hammock camp parked across the street, Jenny wont be
in until Wednesday and Chad wasn't coming, healing a broken collar bone.
(tangled with a car while on his bike) With promises of a possible return to
camp, we headed out to find Geo. (Geoffrey)
A leisurely drive to 4:00 and Amnesia. Arms and tongues
hanging out the window. Every sight is a welcome vision, every darkened figure a
potential friend. We stumbled upon our camp and Geo's car. We ran out to check
out our new digz.
Seems the boy had been hard at work, our shade structure was masterfully
erected, the kitchen set up.
We checked his car and he was snoozing in the back. We couldn't have that, so we
snagged him out of his cush digz after about a half hour nap to head over to
8:45 and the esplanade to check out the life size mousetrap
and
the Disgusting Spectacle,
our buds who have been on the playa for at least a week setting up. We crammed
into my still fully packed car, girl on boy on girl and proceeded on a jaunty 5
mile an hour tour taking the esplanade as our route du jour. The short cut no
doubt, but we were bombarded with shouts to not drive on the esplanade. Steering
toward the playa turned out to be an obstacle course of human dimensions that
sent us weaving in an out of the esplanade boundaries. The white out continued
but stopped no one it seemed from digging the warm shirtless night and the rush
of constant new arrivals. The mousetrap, bigger than ever out here on the playa,
was easy to spot. It's front row seat on the esplanade was exactly where it was
made to be, although it's current home in hunters point s.f. at the barn makes
for smashing parties all year round. Tracy and Don's Disgusting Spectacle was
also on prime esplanade real estate conveniently located right next to the mouse
trap. Seemed no one was home so we checked out some of the camps set up nearby.
Marks camp (mousetrap honcho) was right in front at 8:45 and it was an awesome
playa welcome to wander in and see all our favorites, David Apocalypse,
Don, Teige,
Mark, Cheryl
,
Tracy,
and on and on.... It was a tight fit at this here spot, so reconnaissance to
potentially move to this side of the playa would have to be considered at the
run over camp at 8:30 and Bipolar. Wanting to get back to our camp and start
drinking, we packed up our thirsty butts and headed back to the 4:00 side of the
world. Another 5 mph cruise in white out conditions, we eventually took Amnesia
to avoid the do gooders steering us on then off the esplanade.
Once home, we did some fancy rearranging, backed my car into
it's home for the night and unload. To dark, to windy and to excited to set shit
up, we got our chairs and started tipping the elbow.
The
next few hours were a blur of constant laughter. this being the first official
time that the 3 of us were in each others company where we weren't being
distracted by outside entertainment. This night proved our compatibility and
similar sense of humor. We also found out that the 3 of us are Libras.
Extraneous information at the time, but it plays out at a later date. Me and Ty
had our first drunken piss on the playa, well documented by Geo and his aim
deficient photo taking.
Timelessness is the order of the day and guesses at 3 am were tossed about as we
ignored the clock and listened to our tired bodies order up a dose of sleep. The
high of arrival and the drunk of the night had my head zooming past any hope of
sleep. Laying with my back door open, listening to the wind whip the tarps,
faraway sounds of parties, the realization over and over that yes, I am actually
here, on the playa, dirty, dusty, drunk and happy. Sleep snuck in at some point
for the next memory was daylight and total stillness. The only time the playa
exercises quiet. The early morning dawn. I only wish I popped up with the
excitement at this new day. But I could only appreciate the time for a moment as
I rolled over back to sleep.