Woke up this morning to a bit uncertain weather. Our first excursion today was going to be to the mobility camp. Fluffy set up with a wheelchair lift and we’ve been asked to run an art tour for people who were mobility challenged. We went to pick them up, but the weather was starting to look iffy so out of an abundance of cauti camp decided not to go out. That turned out to be a good decision, though we were not to be able to do this.

Since we were out, we decided to drive around and see some art. We visited our friends at the loop to check in on how much progress they were making and how much the wind had set them back. The piece looks great though they have a lot more to do. 

 

One s.

One of the coolest things we saw was a very nice stained glass museum that had pieces of notable art from Burns past. It was fun to see some of the things we knew… El Popo was on there of course… So fear beast from max and Becky’s late freind Tigre, max and beckys freind Max .. and some other great pieces that I’ve seen over the years

Max started up the music and DJ as we drove around… He is absolutely amazing. Of all the DJs I saw performed this week. He was the most engaging and got writers pumped.

we started to set up t our deep playa swag shw that DK had desogned.. with lots of free fluffy stuff. .    Before long though we started to see dark clouds coming in from the west… We didn’t know what kind of weather it was, but we knew from our first storm. This was nothing we could mess around with. We started to head back to camp.

luckily.. we got back to camp and waited out the mini dust storm. 

Once that past, we tried again.. tis time successfully and went out , delivered swag and handed out cold beer !

people really appreciated the beer and swag.. ..

a bit later, the sky started to darken again.. so we hiightailed it back to camp. We got there just as the first rain hit. 

we all hunkered down to wait out the rain. Rain on the pliers never good because it makes the plants dust into cement, cars and bikes can’t move and anyone who walks around develops “Playa platforms” increasingly thick of cement dirt on their shoes. We ended up holding up for the night. At one point and Gabe and Randy and several others, making quesadillas camper… They started handing them out which was fun… We got to bribe them for better service

Its gonna be a long night !

ntite all, nite sam
_me

 

Last nights rained also shut down the gates of burning man. the rest of our campers and the rest of our gear in the ‘budget truck and ‘not-a-van’ got stuck in the access road when the gate cloased.. they were only three cars away from getting in when things closed… wehich meant they had to spend the night in the line in thier cars. When the gate fianlly opend this morning they were able to go throuhg.. afyter a 20 hour (!) wait to go those last 5 or so miles !!!

They were exhausted. but happy to be here.. we all started in to unloading and helping buil/rebuild the camp after the one-two punch of the duststorm and rain

it was great seeing everyone.. and particularly  great e being together  with our boys..

things were slow to get moving today..we spent most of it setting oup camp.. later in the evening we were able to gou out on bikes to look at stuff

fun day after all !
hopefully things will keep drying ou

nite all, nite sam
-me

 

 

 

FIrst thing this morning we went out to start clean up.. Fluffy had survived the wind.. but was covered with dust.. 

We headed out in to the playa to check out how our freinds at the Loop sculpture had faired.. Loop is another Vermont project.. they are pretty behind on their assembly and had not started on their lights when we checked  in on theyesterday..

the wind messed them up pretty bad.. I later learned that soem of their team had to shetler in place at the art site durign the wdust storm

I

We headed back to camp while checking out the man and the temple

and there was Max !.. He’s here with another camp for the firstpart of the week. He’s helping them with pyro to burn a peice that didnt burn a couple of years back.

 Its soooooooo great to have both boys here !!!!

we puttered around camp for a while  then all got on Fluffy for a quick look around playa… 

uh-oh.. the weather started looking dark again.. now what ? 

Oh-no .. RAIN !.. the worst thing to encounter on the playa.. a little rain causes the surface to turn to mud. it’s impossible to drive or ride bikes.. and the mud cakes up on your shoes and gives you ‘playa platforms’.. bacically cement shoes..

If it rains much more, the whole place becaumes mud.. and thats what happened in 2023. .. hope that doesnt happen again 
(queue the ominous music) 

So the rain started.. we all ran to our shelters.. gabe got stuck in his tent, max in our neighbors camper and us sin ours. 
Many of our campmates juped into the budget truck… and set up a little party (I set up some lights for them)

eventually it got too wet to walk much.. Wiki a, ELizabeth, Gabe nd a few others used their camper to make quesadillas for everone.. Gabe and Wiki deleivered them through the mud. Ypu could get even better deliry service with bribes.. we used chocolate..

 

Ick.. what a mess… Hope tomorrow it clears up so it can dry out.. otherwise we’re suck !

nite all, nite sam
-me

Day started beautifully.. after a good night sleep in the  camper. cabe got out his two junk mandolins and serenaded us a bit as we drove fluffy to get her inspections.. You normally need to go to the DMV (Department of mutant vehicles) for a separate day driving and night driving permit.. but we’ve been fast tracked as a known car with good standing.. so we got to go just once. 

The other certification is with the Fire Arts Safety Team (FAST). thats required for any car or art piece that has fire effects. Our rig is a mediam sized one as they go..I’m always nervous about this inspection because I lead the build on our fire rig.. 

turned out i didnt need to worry. once again we got a clean  bill of health and even some compliments about our setup.. I love hearing that. I even got toe put our permit on the back of the buis.. it s a big deal to me to make this rig safe. 

We drove around for a biut.. and watched as the wind picked up.. first soem dust devils.. then a full on sandstorm…

and then.. sand-pocolipse !!!!

I’ve been coming here 7 times abnd have seen my share of sandstorms.. but nothing like this !   We all grabbed whatever  shelter  we could. we were lucky .. because we had the camper..
We later learend that Max had to shelter out near an art peice eh was helping wiht .. 

the air went from dusty.. to grey.. and eventually to orange and.. at one point blood red. We couldn’t see anything further than about 3 feet outside of our windows.   We heard on BMIR (Burnign man radio) that the winds was close to 50 mph.. which is near hurricane force.. Actually.. the last tiem I was in winds liek that WAS a huricane in houston when I was young

we heard stuff flying around, we heard a hexayurt explode and saw  pieces flying through the sky. 

Even though we had the camper windows and vents closed, dust came in through the window seals .. and filled the air with dust  and coated everything with a fine layer. 

Even our skin  was coated.. there’s a picture in here of dianes legs after she took off her socks… it looks like she’s wearing tights.. but its all dust 

Eventually the winds died down and we were able to head outside to survey the damage. FLuffy was ok… but our campsite was a mess.. our kitchen shad structure was a mangled mess,   the wind actually pent metal tubes and broke metal fittings. there were clothes and tarps all over the place,

Our neigbors at El Pulpo camp also lost their shade area… as we later would learn most shade structures in the entire city were destroyed.. it was a mess

As night fell, Our friends lit up Pulpo and blew soem fire to restore morale 

and that worked !!!!

What an adventure !

nite all, nite sam
-me