Burning Man 2000 journal: Perhaps a brief intro is in order, since I seem to be receiving an inordinate amount of visitors straight to this page, linking in from the Burning Man website itself. I'm morgaN and this is my journal from my trip out to Burning Man in 2000. This was my second year. I intended to drive out in my new-old van, but it was in the shop, so I flew out instead; nothing was going to stop me from getting there. The journal starts out during my cross country flight (I live in Virginia, B-Man is in Nevada) and details events up to my return home two weeks later. Anyway, I think the journal really speaks pretty well for itself. Be sure to check out my ongoing personal journal which I constantly maintain online. You're more than welcome to email me for any reason. Enjoy :) Tuesday, 8-29 @ 3:20pm [EST] So far so good. I'm in Cincinnati now; just got in. I had thought Chicago was to be my layover, and several people commented on how great the Chicago airport is. Oh well, I'm sure I'll manage, sitting in this airport for the next 4 hours instead of the other. My dad (probably at Dulles now, getting ready to fly to Kosovo) said that he really thinks I've saved some money by not driving my van (it's present incapacitation not-withstanding). Flying is interesting too, though. And we go at about ten times the speed I'd be driving. There was a new feature on the plane which I liked: video screens opened from the ceiling about every three rows which displayed information about the flight, such as ground speed, wind speeds, expected arrival time (which updates accordingly), present time and time zone info, and a visual map displaying location and course. Simple concept, but very welcome. I read about a page in my book (Illuminatus) and then fell asleep. I woke up for the last half hour to watch the land roll by below; very impressive sight. Now, it's back to reading and eavesdropping. Tuesday, 8-29 @ 7:09pm I guess my reading got in the way of my eavesdropping, but it was certainly a fine way to pass the time. I'm on the plane now (flight 2211) that'll take me to Reno. I seem to be somewhat isolated from the other passengers. I'm in the second furthest back seat, with no one occupying any of the four rows ahead of me. I think the flight attendant back here finds my lone presence a little awkward; she suggested I could move to another seat, if I wished. She sighted that I'm right between the engines. I think that perhaps I'll move up a bit once we're airborne, but I want to experience takeoff between the engines... I just noticed that I stored my bag in a "crew use only" compartment. The compartment had been open, though, and so I didn't see the restriction on it's hatch. I did find the presence of emergency equipment filling most of it kind of odd... Starting out across the runway, now. The engine hum is kind of neat here, I get to hear all the little shifts in it's odd harmony. Man, I really want to play with the air masks and life vests! Now wait, I'm confused. How long is this flight? My itinerary says we leave at 7pm and get in at about 10:30pm. I could interpret that as three and a half hours. But it won't actually be 10:30 on the west coast for six and a half hours! But I thought they said it would only take one and a half hours! Bah, whatever. Hopefully they'll bring down those info screens again. C'mon! Take off! Gah, I'm energized! :) Yah, we're off! I love how fast planes can get off the ground reach pretty amazing heights; what power! Tuesday, 8-29 @ 7:57pm Dude, we are so high! Airplanes rock!! Well, the flight can't be too short, they're playing a movie, "Where the Money Is". I'd never heard of it before, but they showed a preview and it's got potential (and Paul Newman!!). Tuesday, 8-29 @ 8:44pm [EST-1] I'm in Texas! A youngish airport employee girl is teasing an adultish guy sitting next to me by waving a Playboy around and threatening to show it to him. Eek, been called! Tuesday, 8-29 @ 8:56pm Back onboard again. Well, this has been a rather brief visit of Houston. I rescued my food and tent poles from the crew's overhead and secured them in a "proper" compartment without being spotted. Oh yeah, I never got around to writing about my Credit Union account complications. I recently noticed while checking my account balance online, that the checking portion registered -$69. This seemed bad. Apparently my debit/check card deducts from checking not savings, which I guess I should've deduced before. Anyway, I tried transferring money over from savings, but it told me I'd made too many transfers already this month. The big concern came when realizing that my plane tickets were charged to that account (I don't use credit cards). My mom called the bank and asked 'em what to do. On their suggestion, we went to an ATM and, whaddayaknow, I could transfer it there. Okay, not the best story... Oh, but then my dad used the ATM (second time in his life; my mom directing him was really funny!) and took out a lot of money and gave me like 200 bucks! Yeah, I knew there was an exciting bit somewhere in there... So, it seems they're going to play the same movie again. Somehow this time the preview sucked but was way better than the movie, even though the movie wasn't that bad; I don't really know how to explain, nor do I want to try. Whoosh, rocketing off the runway again. Wow, Houston at night is beautiful from the air! Tuesday, 8-29 @ 10:39pm Delta recycles cans, yah! Tuesday, 8-29 @ 10:40pm [EST-3] I made it! I'm in Reno! Ahh, the city where you're greeted by slot machines and neon lights as soon as you step off the plane. After trekking down many corridors containing nothing but gambling machines and ads for casinos, I reached the baggage retrieval / everything else area and got my big bag back. Cool, no trouble so far. Now I just need to figure out how I'm getting to the desert... Oh yeah, a cool little coincidence: I departed from gate B4 at BWI and arrived at gate B4 in RNO. Wednesday, 8-30 @ 7:57am I'm in the desert!!! We got in about two and a half hours ago, but Stig wanted to drive to every point on the playa to look for some friend, which, of course, he did not find. Let's step back a bit. It wasn't hard finding other Burners at the airport, due to their types of baggage (tents, sleeping bags, etc.) and their tendency to meet eyes for much longer than "normal" strangers, presumably also trying to detect the Burner. Those I ran into weren't actually that out of place looking, though; perhaps because they were wearing clothes and not paint. And so, I met Andy. He's a nice Canadian geek, who wanted to find a network jack as soon as we reached Black Rock City. He was waiting for his friend Stig to show up with his big van. It was about a three hour wait. Andy called Stig's cell phone and confirmed that I could ride with them. Andy talked of and worked on - at length - a nifty little program he's writing. We also talked some about traveling and small towns and such. Finally Stig arrived; Stig Hackvan. His van is indeed huge. We headed to K-Mart (the same one I shopped at last year) and I got water and cooking fuel. They got lots off stuff. I had to sit in the back, amongst the stuff and Stig's mounds of crap, but hey, it was worth the ride. Eventually Stig started to rather irritate me. He doesn't listen and he interrupts often. Regardless of how many times I explained that I cam last year, and how many anecdotes I told of my experiences then, he still thinks I've never been before. Andy (who's never been before) tried to tell him that I had, but gave up shortly, apparentely accustomed to these tendencies. Ahh, but we finally made it to Black Rock City, just as the sun was starting to turn the sky navy blue and the horizon to green. After lengthy driving around as mentioned, we finally stopped for good. My gear was extracted and I set up my new tent with ease. Now I think I might walk a bit and then I need to finally get some sleep. Wednesday, 8-30 @ 8:07pm Gah! Too many people have shown up and raised structures since I went out walking! I couldn't find my tent in what must only be a 60 by 60 foot area. Grrr... I've gone venturing several times today, with short (2 hour, approx.) naps to compensate for not really sleeping last night. A lot of places are still in the process of setting things up. I've seen a couple signs of Discordians being present, but no real "serious" camps. The weather has been amazing! A little past mid-day I checked the thermometer in my tent and it was about 90 degrees. So long as it doesn't get hotter than that, I'm happy. The sun went down about half an hour ago (which is so unbelievably beautiful out here!) and it's still really comfortable out; at 74 degrees (!) plus a little chilly wind. For the most part, the wind has been great; just varying degrees of breeze. There was a very impressive dust storm at one point earlier, though. I was in the middle of the playa and couldn't see more than 20 feet in a any direction. I just sat down and got coated in white. My hair is quickly returning to the wonderful "grunge mop" of last year's Burn. I found the Church of Mez; they're almost exactly across from us, on the Playa. I got to say hi briefly to Rob, but they were all really busy erecting everything. I met some people in a nearby comfortable tent, the Evening Lounge, and we talked for a while. They said I should visit their camp, Pre-Dawn, which happens to be very nearby my tent. Now I'm going to top off my water pack, find a porta-potty, and then track them down. Thursday, 8-31 @ 2:56pm I'm so hot! I'm in my tent and it's like 97 degrees! Ahhh!.... I'm staying very hydrated, though, and I've been eating. Damn my legs are sore from all the walking I've been doing! I must bring a bike next year. So, last night was interesting. First off, I went to the Pre-Dawn place (after extensively searching for them), but they were having some sort of group meeting. I wandered across the Playa to the Mezbian's camp. [YYYY] remembered supplying me for my acid trip last year and asked if I wanted to do it again. Of course I did! At his request, I hunted down a paper towel and returned with it. He took me somewhere secluded and tore a corner of the paper off. He took out a little vial and dripped a few drops of liquid onto the paper while talking about liquid LSD being the same as blotter, but the mystique of liquid give it something extra. I stuck it in my mouth at 11pm and thanked him, and he told me to come back later and let him know how I was going. I wandered around the local area briefly and then walked over to a spot with soft ground to dirt-wash my hands. I sat down and played with the dirt for a moment. Then some guy approached and asked me how I was doing. I said I was great and we started talking. He had assumed I was tripping very hard when he saw me playing in the dirt. I told him, heh, not yet... We walked and talked for about half an hour. I knew the trip would be coming on soon and managed to part ways with him to head back to the Mezbian's Comfort Zone. I sat around in there for a while as my world gently distanced itself a bit from my surroundings. I said hi to Rob when I saw him and mentioned that I could feel it coming on. A couple guys on E came in and we started talking. I didn't contribute a lot and just sort of followed their conversation. The trip wasn't turning out that intense, feeling more like just being drunk. Some stoner wearing a Ween shirt who looked like a goat joined us. Eventually, around 3am, one of the E guys asked if we wanted to smoke up. Since my trip wasn't going how I wanted I was certainly up for it, as were the other two. He took out a little pipe and packed. After he and goat guy did their thing I got the pipe and took one very good toke. As soon as I had passed the pipe to the other E guy, I completely lost vision. I coughed briefly but hard. I suddenly disconnected from my senses for about half a minute. Then everything came pretty much back into focus, but it wasn't the same. Pot never hits me so hard so fast; it was kicking the acid into gear, as I'd hoped. Each of us sitting there was in our own box on a social grid I could now see. Their words made even less sense and seemed even less important. The music really started talking to me. The Mezbians had hung a projector in the middle of the tent which swayed under the wind's influence. It was showing random pictures from a very large collection taken over time by the Mezbians. It suddenly became part of a story. I don't know what the story was about, but it persisted in the music and pictures and all my other input. The two TVs in the corners showing close up footage of eyes and mounts and such was also very weird. I suddenly had a sense of everything and everyone in the tent. I was aware of and could "feel" and "see" every outer physical aspect of the couches and pillows and people and tent and everything. It was really cool. It all had a sort of glowing green tracing [contour] to it. Finally, goat guy and then the E guys departed; just as well since I no longer had a clue what they were talking about. Then it got really intense! Already I was concerned about the soreness of my legs and the growing cold. Those became even more difficult to cope with now. I curled up under a really small blanket between the back of one couch and the base of a backless couch and tried to deal. The music was very powerful and pervasive. Everything was overwhelming, the sound of the wind, it's effect on the tent and projector above me, the strung up lights, the pain in my legs... Oh yeah, and it was like my whole body was asleep; any part of me that touched anything experienced a burning, tingling sensation that wasn't easy to handle. I could make myself hallucinate, I discovered. This helped keep me distracted. I saw a whole array of strange images, constantly changing, forming mutable tessellations and geometric figures on the ceiling of the tent. I could see similar but more three dimensional things when I closed my eyes. Then suddenly everyone was having sex and this was not a hallucination. A bunch of Mezbians were having an orgy on the couch I was behind and the one cornering that. This went on for a long time. My senses began to calm down a little bit. The closest thing I can compare the bulk of that time to would be at the peak of a big nitrous hit that's held in, at the point just before everything goes black. At some points there was also a sense like the transdimensional-rocket insanity sometimes encountered with Salvia, though I'm not sure if I could sense other people and entities there. I wandered off to use the bathroom and when I got back everything was different. I didn't get it and stood confused in the doorway for a while, until Lena said to me "you went to use the bathroom and when you cam back everything was different?" She understood, she'd dropped acid earlier that night herself. Actually, I figured out, some of the couches had moved and turned into beds. Lena smiled at my confusion and told me to join her and her guy (gah, what was his name?? [His name is dans. - 9.27.2000]). I climbed in next to her. She told me to snuggle and pressed her ass up against me and held my hand. I could hardly tell through the numbness in my body. At some point, as I was in a vague, curious state, the two of them started getting each other off. She lay facing me, with her eyes closed and her lips slightly parted. She was so beautiful. Finally, we all got to sleep, as the sky began to lighten. Thursday, 8-31 @ 5:31pm Dude, storm out of nowhere! Winds are crazy and trying to crush me in my tent. It's also started raining a little. It's amazing! I can't see more than 20 feet through this dust and I'm glad I've got the dust mask that Rob gave me last night. Thursday, 8-31 @ 8:25pm I really wish Hugh were here. Friday, 9-1 @ 2:01am I'm in the midst of thirty-thousand people, and I'm so lonely. Friday, 9-1 @ 3:36pm Mmm, doing better now. I was really worn out and exhausted last night. Every time I think about cooking I'm either on the other side of the playa or it's too damn windy. I'm glad I've got as much snackable food as I have. I caught some battles at the Thunder Dome; what a show! Wednesday, 9-6 @ 11:48am Wow, where to begin? Five days since I last wrote in this thing! I have good reason, though; I was away from my tent virtually the entire time. Wednesday and particularly Thursday were weird for me. I just hadn't adjusted back into the BM mindset yet and was a little overwhelmed. After that, though, I got much better and had the most amazing time! Let's see if I can remember things properly... Friday evening I returned to the Church of Mez comfort zone and chilled. Lena got me some great food from the truck (a wonderful chef, who's name escapes me just now, has joined the Mezbians [The chef's name is Tiberio. It seems he's been around for a while, but this was his first time at Burning Man. - 9.27.2000]) and we sat together and talked for a while. She's so wonderful and so nice to me! :) She mentioned that being with the Mezbians can actually be kind of creepy, which seems a little odd to hear from her. I learned she has a few kids, the oldest of whom is going into junior high now. I'll bet she's a great mother. Later on, I was sitting with a few different [folks] who were trying to decide what drugs to take. They were reading PIHKAL and contemplating 2CT7. Ultimately, though, they all decided on shrooms. I joined them [...] and [XXXX] doled out the goods. I took some Pepto and then ate the two dry fungi. The others made a tea with theirs. Within about half an hour, my head got really swimmy and I sat down. The walls inside the truck were wood grain and watching them melt was really cool. Eventually I went back to Comfort and watched the floor breathe for a while. It began to mellow out and I took a hit from a pot pipe being passed around. Zoom, I was gone! I cycled between so many realities so quickly for about two hours or so... I kept looking up and seeing Mez sitting right next to me. He seemed vaguely amused by me and would smile back. Then I would find myself rolling hard against the carpet and reminding myself that regardless of how interesting it felt now to rake my knuckles across the rough grit on the floor, I ought to not do it. Also that night it rained a whole lot and Comfort filled up with strays. A gas heater was set up that heated little more than the space it occupied. Generators all over the playa were failing. The mezbians cheered every time one of the several strands of lights running down from their scaffolding tower was brought back to life. People walked about outside with inches of mud caked to the bottoms of their shoes. The porta-potties, too, had several inches of mud built up on the floor. Oh yeah, and the guy who was camped next to us last year (the younger one) was there too. His head kept looking like that of a hawk, but it was him and we sort of said hi. When I was finally back in just the one apparent universe, I took another hit from another pipe and settled back with the other stoners until I fell asleep. [I just boarded the plane from Reno to Salt Lake City] Saturday. The day of the burn. I wandered around the playa, socialized, and smiled a lot. It was a really nice day; maybe a tiny bit chilly. I wandered back by Comfort and one of the Hotties was there calling for hungry strays. I eagerly joined her and we went back to the Hotties RV and had really good spagh etti. They started getting all dressed up and I returned to Comfort. I decided I wanted to be sober for the burn but I might want to try some ecstasy afterwards. I asked around a bit, but it seemed [XXXX] had the supply and had already headed out on an art car. Oh well, no big deal It got dark and I headed out. I found a nice spot to stand where I could easily see the Man, beautifully illuminated. I was next to the vehicle that continuously played two Monkeys songs ["We're the Monkeys" and "Last Train to Clarksville" - 9.10.2000] and nothing else. The Man raised his arms and cheers erupted from the crowd. I joined in the hooting, something I normally don't do, and it was so incredibly fun! The right arm started to droop a bit and then seemed to wave at us before settling almost at it's intended height (I imagine holding that pose must be tiring for him). [the plane just took off] Fireworks shot out of his left arm. A short moment later, fireworks and sparks flew from every part of him and his chest burst into flames. The head hardly burned at all, but both arms quickly collapsed to his sides and started falling apart. He started to shimmy forward and back and suddenly collapsed in upon himself in a huge surge of fire. I was spectacular! Fire dancers emerged but I could hardly see them. The crowd began to disperse and I became cold again and also slowly wandered away. Oh yeah, before heading out for the burn I met this nice girl from Texas who was looking for some E. There was also this cool old guy whom I talked with for a while. He does video stuff and went to a film school thing with David Lynch (!) and was a big hippie in the 60's. He told me about some projects he wanted to work on. He wants to get a grant (he says he knows people) and use it to help people in critical situations in exchange for documenting how it changes their lives. Very cool guy, I wish I'd gotten to speak with him more. Now, I'm pretty sure this was after the burn: There was someone in comfort selling E and talking with me and the Texas girl. We didn't want to spend money out there. The person totally understood and said they were asking for the same price it had cost them, since it's not cheap. They did, it turned out, bring acid to share for free. I happily stuck my tongue out and received two or three drops. I found a blanket and a comfy couch and settle in to rest my legs for a bit. I was shortly joined by the Hug Patrol, Ami and Mike L (like Michael, with a pause), who were rolling (E) hard. Mike was a really fun guy, very playful and very nice. Amy... :)     Ami was beautiful and really sweet. I had a really happy vibe going and might as well have been on E the way this trip was flowing. The three of us got cozy on the couch for a little while and then planned a bathroom excursion. We linked arms, grabbed Mike's jug of water, and headed out. They started hugging virtually everyone they saw and get me into it as well. I became Deputy morgaN of the Hug Patrol! Ahh, what fun it was! Back in Comfort we formed a cuddle-puddle on a sort-of-bed. Oh, another friend of theirs, Z (who looks just like Tom Cruise!), was also there and rolling, but he was all lost in thought. We lay there and gave hugs to anyone who came by as well as plenty to each other. A couple raver kids joined us some of the time. I'm really beginning to get the whole raver kid thing and I really like it! Mike L did some glowstick dancing which left the most amazing trails... We cuddled there, trying to fathom the absurdity of our situation: "We're in the desert. We have front row seats to the middle of nowhere. Having the time of our lives. All these people are here to have fun. We're in an oasis in the middle of fucking nowhere having the time of our lives with front row seats. Oh my got :) " and so forth... I learned to greater appreciate fuzzy (particularly blue) things, candy necklaces, pacifiers, glow sticks, the smell of Vicks and Tiger Balm (on dust masks), continuos hugging, and much more. Raver kids are really onto something wonderful. [We're descending to SLC] I volunteered to join Mike and friends with his camp idea for next year: Teddy Delights (and the Hug Patrol). We're going to make a giant ball pit, but instead of hollow plastic balls we are going to fill it with soft, fuzzy teddy bears! Awww, yeah! [We just landed] [Forward an hour, it's now 3:43pm] Eventually, after a wonderful night, Mike and Aim-E needed to crash and went back to Mike's camp. I lay there for a very long time, smiling and getting the occasional hug or kiss. Trying to sleep while on acid seems to be very difficult. Oh, but before they left, Ami said her and I should spend the next day together and there were many more great hugs; she was a big reason for my full night of smiling. [My flight out of Reno was from, of course, gate B4. My seat was 15C. My seat to Atlanta will be 15C. This is a little weird...] Sunday I woke up to a lot of activity around Mez Labs as they got to work striking their whole setup. I slowly rose and snacked on stuff laid out around the comfort tent. When I finally qualified as conscious I helped out a bit, disassembling and gathering and packing various big toys. I talked to Lena (actually, this may have been the night before). She told me she might not be returning next year, at least not with the Church of Mez. :(     I really hope that she keeps coming. She said, approximately: "thanks for lying with us... while we had sex... that really enhanced it for me..." and held her fist to her heart. Wow! Okay... I didn't mind... We hugged goodbye and she returned to her tent. Lena's so great and I'll really miss her. Back to Sunday. Ami showed back up! Yah! We wandered around together, discussing the desert being broken and such things. She's a really interesting person and I'd say qualifies for Infinite Monkeyhood as well (I'll explain that some other time...). She deals drugs back home (L.A.) but doesn't use them; though she used E several times at BM (including her first time). She used to use drugs a lot but hadn't in a year or so and doesn't plan to when she returns home. [just boarded the plane to Atlanta, 4:25pm] She had a job at a craft shop with a very cool boss. She took some time off not long ago to visit people in Seattle and when she returned, the shop wasn't there any more! They moved location, got a different phone number, and never got in touch with her. Oh yeah, and she's 18 and hasn't gotten her drivers license yet. What; she's 18? Almost 19? Hah! Finally someone my own age! (not that it matters...) We went back to her camp, at 4:20 & Sex Drive, and talked with her neighbors, who she apparently had mentioned me to (!). While she was cleaning up her camp site she found a pill... It would seem the guy who had sold them E the other night, and was himself frying at the time, dropped it. Sweet! We decided we'd have to find some for me, too, and roll together. She was really excited about taking me on my first roll and kept saying how proud Mike L (who'd left that morning, unfortunately) would be, since he'd taken her on her first. We went to my camp briefly. I packed most of my stuff. We exchanged e-mail addresses and she gave me a picture of herself from graduation. I keep taking it out of my handbag and looking at it and smiling hard :) We went [....] to ask around for E for me, but my stupid social anxiety got in the way. We spent some more time at her camp talking with each other and with her very nice neighbors who had all heard mention of Captain morgaN (I'd been wearing my Soviet Captain's coat when I met Amy). We then made our way to the cafe in Center Camp and staked out a couch. Oh, and we shared a yummy warm chai. Amy spotted a woman who wasn't smiling and ran over to see if she needed a hug. The woman was just waiting for someone and had zoned out. When the guy she was waiting for showed up, he came over and shook Ami's hand, depositing a pretty little pill. He said it was plenty strong and that her and I ought to split it. Excellent! (as I say...) Triumphant, we returned To her camp to share the good news. We joined a couple (I'm so bad with names) in their tent. They grabbed a mirror and emptied their capsule onto it. Ami expertly chopped and crushed the lumps with some apparentely well practiced tricks. She split the powder into four lines, one per nostril, and the couple snorted 'em up through a dollar bill. She did the same thing with our little capsule and we too insufflated the coarse, burning (figuratively) powder. Not exactly pleasant. We lay in a heap under blankets for about half an hour, to let any nausea pass. Alas, nothing much seemed to be happening to me except some waves of warmth (which could be attributed to our puppy-pile). We set out to find a fire, with borrowed jackets and acquired blankets (Amy and I had been walking around a lot side-by-side, sharing a colorful but hardly windproof blanket that one of her wonderful neighbors had given her). [We're in the air now, 5:12pm] The four of us sat together in front of a bonfire, very much enjoying it's (and our) warmth. A seriously hyper guy got Aim-E and the woman to join him in making playa angels. I would've done so as well, but I was wearing a borrowed coat. [Oh Eris, they're playing Bib Momma's House...*groan*] When the fire began to feel too small for the number of people around it, we migrated to the next one. We met a really nice guy there who joined our heap. He told us about meeting his soulmate out there and how it had been predicted in a recent Tarot reading. Then he offered me some acid :) Hearing I'd tripped the night before, he dripped four drops of liquid on my tongue. I'm afraid it, too, didn't really have much of an effect, presumably due to a short term tolerance I must've built up somehow.... Oh well, it didn't really matter, I was having a great time just being with Amy and seeing her happy. She laughed a lot more the previous night, and I missed that, but I think she may have been a bit overwhelmed as she'd now also taken the E she'd found at her camp (since she doesn't use drugs in her normal life...). Mez came along at some point and I said goodbye to him. I wish I'd gotten to say bye to Rob and all the others, but I was having too good a time with Ami. Amy and I then went back to the cafe and found a nice fuzzy blue area to cuddle. There was a drum circle right near us and every time they stopped playing she'd jump up and hug them all. She hugged lots of people! :) A French family, apparently very cold, joined us for a while. After they left we stretched out and wedged ourselves between two big huge long cushion things. Another guy joined us who has been attending Burning Man for many years and remains perpetually amazed at the beauty it fosters. At some point I lightly kissed Ami's forehead and lay back down. A woman with a green face and an outfit like a singing telegram or a bellhop stood over us and sang lots of really strange and amazing songs that she had written herself. She was really into her performance and we were all truly amazed and enthralled (especially the guy who'd joined us). At some point I lightly kissed Ami's cheek and lay back down. I snuggled up to her and rubbed her back some and we held hands and we fell asleep and I haven't stopped smiling since. I'm going to take a break from writing now, food is approaching. It's now 6:00pm. Twenty pages of journal entry is plenty... Wednesday, 9-27 @ 10:15pm [EST] Alright, so I've been terribly lazy about finishing this and making it public; whatever. Anyway, I'll try and run through some of the final events leading up to my return home. AmEe and I woke up in the cafe on Monday morning. We wandered back to her camp to see if we could find me a ride and figure out her schedule. The Church of Mez compound was pretty much gone. I met Hagey, one of her neighbors (I think I may have met him briefly the night before, as well). He lives in Reno and has a big RV which he purchased a few years ago just for Burning Man. He'd painted "Free Ride to Reno" on the front of it and I was to be his first passenger. He took a couple pictures of me and Ami (and I really need to call him, to try and get duplicates of them) next to the RV. I didn't want to have to leave her, but time was moving on. We said goodbye and I climbed in. (We still email each other and I miss her terribly.) Hagey drove around the Playa slowly and came across a couple other people who also needed to get to Reno. He noted their location and moved on to my campsite. I packed up my stuff and took down my tent and loaded it all in, then we went around collecting the others. There ended up being two girls and two other guys. One of the girls was really bouncy and cheery and sort of slutty. Hagey really liked her. One of the guys was this total stoner drifter who I can't help feeling sorry for; totally wasted fellow. Hagey really disliked him. The other two were very cool nice people who seemed to connect with me and feel a little odd about the other three; but we all got along. The ride out to the road took several hours, sitting in a line of vehicles most of the time. I went around back and climbed the ladder and rode on the roof. It was such a beautiful day! Occasionally Hagey or the slutty girl would come and join me. We had cantaloupe and juice drinks and we waved at all the people around us. We got back down and inside upon hitting an actual road. Hagey decided that he actually really wanted to go to the hotsprings. Oh joy.. So we road for maybe an hour along terrible dirt roads to the springs. He and the slut and the wasted guy all went in while we sat about in the RV wishing we were on the way to Reno. Much time passed... Finally, they returned and we got back underway. Shortly out from there, Hagey asked if we wanted to smoke some hash. No one declined. The wasted guy immediately sprang up from apparent coma and pulled out his very slick glass pipe he'd traded some pot for. I'd never done hash (a marijuana preparation) before. It looked like brown sugar that had been formed like an incense cone. The wasted guy quickly packed the pipe and got it going. Smoking it was actually pretty smooth. The effects kicked in relatively quick and I only took one or two tokes. Me and "other guy" laughed for a little while and sort of floated, like in water, in our seats. Then we all got quiet and looked at the desert scenery roll by, endlessly. It was one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen. We were surrounded in all directions by this awesome natural majesty. It also felt for a while like we were on safari, bouncing along in an open air jeep with the wind and the wonder. I took another hit or two from the pipe during hours it took to get in to Reno, as the sun slowly set. It was so amazing... When we reached Reno I decided to stay at the Circus Circus, even though Hagey had offered that we could crash at his place. At some point, or maybe it was gradual, he sort of started to creep us - me and the "other two" - out. He was a really nice guy, but we didn't really want to stay at his house. So, with a slight but definite lingering high, I gathered up my stuff and went into the lobby. The guy I checked in with was familiar with Burning Man and somewhat envious. This was my first personal hotel check in; I think I played it pretty sober :) The next couple days I kept getting bored sitting in my room and I'd wander downstairs and around the casinos, greeting the other obvious Burner guests and conversing with the nice woman who worked at the pastry bar. I got five great stuffed animals in various crane/claw games, costing me about $20 all together, in the end. Erin - that was the wasted guy - had wanted to get a room with me. No way. I didn't want to spend all of my time in my room, but I wanted to keep my distance from anyone who would be even remotely likely to lead me to any sort of trauma. I've got far more than enough trauma left over from last years trip home I wasn't going to let anything bad happen this time. Anyway, I got my own room. But at some point while wandering around Reno, he spotted me. We walked around together for a while and talked. I had a hard time understanding him; I'm curious what he overdid to fry his speech centers, or if that's natural. He tried to get some money from me so he could buy liquor and was very persistent, but I successfully refused to help him out with that. He's very clearly not the responsible type. Eventually I managed to part company with him without revealing my room number. He can be nice enough, but I really just wanted to get away from him. Oh well. On Wednesday I went to the airport before noon, even though my flight wasn't until late that evening. I talked to the Delta clerk and got on a standby list for a flight that would be leaving rather shortly. Delta's been pretty awesome to me throughout. I made my way back to gate B4, where'd I'd arrived in Reno eight days earlier. The flight was practically empty, so there was no problem getting a seat. First I flew to Salt Lake City, where I easily got my flight moved up again. Then it was on to Atlanta. There were no earlier flights to BWI from Atlanta than the one I was booked on, which wasn't set to leave for another seven hours or so. I asked if there were any flights to Dulles, which is much closer to where I live anyway (about a ten minute drive, rather than an hour or two). It turned out one was set to leave in about half an hour and it would be no problem to move me to it, but they wouldn't be able to move my bags in time. They said that BWI would hold them for several days for me, though. So, I thought this was great; no waiting and no long drive for my mom to pick me up. The Atlanta airport is huge!! It took me the full half hour just to get to the gate that the clerk told me my flight boarding at. And when I got there.. the very last gate in the terminal... the whole area was deserted. I backtracked to the nearest clerk who told me I was in completely the wrong place. I was right where I was told to be, but I was told completely the wrong thing.. The gate I was supposed to be at was actually almost entirely at the other end of the airport, beyond the point I'd originally walked from! So I walked really quickly, my left knee ready to fall off, all the way back. Ugh! Anyway, they hadn't left and I got on and we still ended up waiting a while before getting onto the runway. I talked with the guy in the seat behind me, Emerson L Jordan. He gave me some of the bag full of cinnamon pastries that he'd stolen from one of the airport shops as it was closing. He also gave me his business card, for ACN. Perhaps you should avoid doing business with this criminal. (I've decided against also listing his phone number..) He spent the rest of the flight hitting on one of the attendants and telling me I should date an attendant so I can get free flights... Anyway, not much more to the story. I got in to Dulles, called my mom, waited outside in the amazing night weather, and got picked up and taken home. My mom talked with Delta on the phone the next day to see if there were any way for them to send my bags over to Dulles, from BWI. They couldn't do it directly, but were perfectly happy to fly them back to Atlanta and then from there in to Dulles. The were available that evening. Yah Delta!! And now I'm home and back in front of my computers and looking for a job and not hugging any strangers. But I'm still immensely happy. Burning Man and all the people it attracts have lifted my spirits and I haven't let them fall. I tell people stories, I look at Amy's photo and all the papers and stickers and toys I brought home, I dream, I plan for next year... :) The end.