Lots of sleep and plenty of water have done the trick. I'm feeling good this morning...ready to head out for new adventures. The Cafe at Center Camp sells coffee, so that's my first stop. Two cups later, and I feel like a million bucks...I'm also hungry.
So I set off on my bike because I know that somewhere, somebody is going to be cooking breakfast. And sure enough, five minutes later, I'm having pancakes for breakfast at the "Pancake Camp". They've got big griddles and large bowls of batter...and they're cooking up pancakes as fast as people can eat them.
Thus fortified, I'm back on my bike and heading to the far end of camp. There are several seminars" today...tantric massage, converting to solar energy, "fisting" (women only, so I have to skip that one).
I should, at this point, mention something about photographs. You've probably noticed that I haven't taken too many "close-ups", not even the folks in my camp. There's some real "sensitivity" here on that issue. In an atmosphere that encourages "being yourself", there's a healthy respect for privacy. And, in the Internet Age, people here don't want any "candid" photos ending up on somebody's website. I understand and respect that...so...I have not taken as many photos as I'd like.
Around 2:00PM or so, it's really hot (really). So, I head back to camp and pull up a chair in the shade to read for awhile. Around 4:00PM, I have a little "snack"...cheddar cheese, hard salami, Ritz crackers and red wine...excellent!
My "snack" has made me sleepy, so I decide that it's a good time for a nap...avoid the afternoon heat and rest up for tonight! As always, I'm "out like a light". When next I open my eyes, it's after 8:00PM...near dark and much cooler out.
I'm hungry, so I fire up the grill and throw on a steak for dinner. That, some chips, and the rest of the red wine from "snack time" make for a pretty good dinner.
Well-fed and well-rested, it's time to venture out into the night. My inability to navigate in the dark (particularly after a few cocktails) is legendary. I can get lost coming back a hundred feet from the bathroom to my camp site. But...here at Burning Man, I have come prepared. Months ago, before I even thought of coming here, I bought something called a "Backtracker", made by Bushnell (famous for their binoculars). It's a simple GPS unit about the size of a hockey puck. You turn it on, wait to lock on to the GS signal, and then push a button to "store" your position (like the location of my camper). When you want to return to your stored location, you just tun on the Backtracker, and an arrow points you in the right location, and a digital display tells you how far away you are...ingenious! Just a few days here, and it's already saved my butt at least a dozen times.
So now I'm wandering the numbered streets again in search of tonight's adventures. There are many...over the course of the next five hours, I stop to play poker, have a "spaghetti taco", hear a poetry reading, watch another foreign horror film, meet a lot of fun new people...and...consume several handmade Margaritas, some red wine, more home-brewed beer and God only knows what else...everyone is very hospitable.
Around 2:00AM, I head back to "Center Camp", out around the Burning Man statue and further out into the desert away from the crowds.
Soon, I'm all alone...and I lay down on my back and look up at the sky. The night is clear and the stars are brilliant...it's beautiful. Then, I'm up and, with the help of the "Backtracker", I'm headed back a mile or so to camp.
Sleep comes fast and easy tonight.
Subsequent to Burning Man, one of my camp mates "Cheese Simon" posted a video on YouTube. He asked a bunch of folks to sing "Don't Stop Me Now" and filmed the results. I'm including a link here to that video...you'll have to copy it and paste it in as "Blogspot" is not cooperating in my attempts to create a real "link" You can see parts of our camp, get a look at some of my fellow camp mates and, perhaps, get a better feel for what things were like.
*Caution, video does contain some mild nudity.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xYAAfr-wCac
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