The Murrays do Burning Man 2008: September 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tuesday 9/2 - we leave for Tahoe and home

Today we leave Carson City for South Lake Tahoe and a five-day Wally Byam Caravan Club International (WBCCI) rally sponsored by our NorCal chapter. This is a delightful and adventuresome group of Airstream owners and we much enjoy the club and traveling, but it is not the 20’s-something crowd at Burning Man. We have some recompressing to do. (See www.cammurray2008.blogspot.com and www.cammurray.blogspot.com if you would like to see what a major WBCCI caravan is like.)

After a quick stop at Bodines for their fabulous $3 breakfast special and some shopping at Costco and Trader Joes (sorry Reverend Billy), we are on our way, cringing occasionally when we see dust rising from the desert, or catch a whiff of the Playa embedded in the seat cushions.

If anybody asks, we had a good burn.

Monday, September 1, 2008

Carson City - Labor Day 9/1

The park is not fancy but is nice, and the day is beautiful. It is Labor Day and the neighboring Costco is closed. It is Labor Day and the Bodines Casino across the street is open (of course). The Casino gets our business, which consists of our first hot breakfast of the trip and access to incredibly spacious and clean toilet stalls.

The park has WiFi so I’m at the blog, trying to remember what happened during Burning Man. Many burners have this problem, but mine is chiefly because the only WiFi in BRC was at Central Camp and there was no electricity, and my laptop battery was nearly dead. On the good side lack of use kept the computer free of Playa dust - very important as it is really Marcia's computer.

Background...

What is Burning Man?

The first was on Baker Beach in San Francisco in 1986 with maybe 20 people present. It apparently arose rather spontaneously and included the burning of a small wooden man, with no consistent interpretation of what this meant. But everybody had a good time and it grew over the years and is now held annually in the Black Rock Desert of Nevada.

Over about a month the 3848’ elevation Black Rock dry lake is transformed into a village for 50,000. At the conclusion the area is returned as nearly as possible to its original state, and life goes on. The physical and mental environment is designed to encourage radical self-expression with few (other than legal) restraints. Commercialism is not allowed – only ice, hot coffee or tea, and cold drinks (excluding water) can be purchased.

We present our credentials...

I attended Burning Man five years ago with my brother John. We returned in this year (2008) with Carmen (John’s spouse) and Marcia (my spouse, nicknamed Moonbeam by one of our WBCCI friends), and John’s son Freeman. The four of us are in our sixties and live in the Oakland and Sacramento areas of California. Freeman is in his mid-thirties. He has attended Burning Man at least eight or nine times, and during several of those years built a major theme camp. Freeman lives and works where ever he pleases, which currently is in India.

This blog is primarily from Cam’s perspective, one of those guys that generally stands at the edge of a group watching others have all the fun. Freeman is our link to Burning Man. The photos were taken mostly by Cam, Carmen and Freeman.

What is Burning Man really about?

Dunno, but I think for most people it comes down to having a good time free from the social restraints of regular life. For a more reverential interpretation and much more detail, immerse yourself in the official Burning Man website at www.burningman.org. They too don't entirely know - they just don’t admit it.

This year because of drought the Playa was in poor condition with fine silt easily lifted by breezes into the eyes, nose, mouth and lungs. Sometimes bikes had to be walked because the surface was just too loose.

The temperature wasn’t too bad, generally in the mid-to-high nineties, with a cooling breeze. Dust devils chased about and would occasionally cross through the camp but disappear in a minute or so. Unfortunately on Saturday the gusts increased and the devils combined. White-out conditions forced us to hunker down from mid-morning to after eight that night.

Were you the only old people there?

Old?! Please.

As a guess the sixty-and-over crowd constitute less than 5%, but they might be as naked as anyone. People in their twenties and thirties made up most of the rest. Probably somewhat more men than women.

Did I feel ageism? Not really, everybody was very nice and friendly. No or little judging in either direction.

2008 theme: The American Dream

But this was no Tournament of Roses parade.

Other blogs by the same author:

Road to Burning Man 2008
Roseville to Oakland in 78 days...2007

A Californian in Florida 2010-11

Professional photos from Burning Man 2008:

Scott London photos

The Murrays do Burning Man 2008

Tuesday, September 2, 2008

Tuesday 9/2 - we leave for Tahoe and home

Monday, September 1, 2008

Carson City - Labor Day 9/1

Background...

Blog Archive

Other blogs of our travels