I chose the right carEveryone knows the desert is cold at night. It’s
like reading that Africa has wild animals – you know they are there but once you
go there and you see them it’s like “hey, Africa has wild animals!” The desert
was the same way for me. I knew it would be cold at night but it didn’t actually
occur to me that “hey, it’s cold in the desert at night in November.” I quickly
found that out Friday night when we (my car pool party of 3) arrived at the
first location. This was my first real modern hippy / Burner kind of
gathering and the elements didn’t actually fully dawn on me that it was
November. The night air was beautiful but extremely cold and I wasn’t
appropriately dressed for the evening. In addition, a large group of redneck
misfits (not the good kind) had squatted on the land that the organizers rented.
Not only did the lead redneck refuse to co-exist with the organizers and early
attendees but they immediately marked they’re territory by jumping on their RV
bikes and dirt buggies and rode around the camp and the organizers and early
attendees kicking up loads of dirt and nearly hitting several people each time.
The desert group simply just shook their heads as they waited for the
sheriff ranger to arrive. The organizers tried in vain to work with the
squatters. When that didn’t work they tried to reason with them by explaining
that they had paid for the land. Nothing worked. Eventually the lead squatter
and mostly the older female squatters got extremely belligerent and started
threatening the organizers and atendees with both physical and equipment harm
and the organizers had no choice but to call the Ranger / Sheriff… which was
truly ironic considering the fact that it’s the hippies that get the police
called on them for want of nothing more than dancing, camping and socializing in
nature. Even I was screamed at for just standing there with the group. After
five hours of useless deliberation and belligerent screaming and RV territory
pissing from the squatters the group moved to a new location. The new
location was absolutely beautiful and the ride there was comical. We drove ten
miles on a road that I thought only existed in National Geographic. I’ll post a
picture next week and save it in this posting as well as in my album of gypsy
adventures. After a four-hour drive into the mountains and than desert,
we drove approximately anther ten miles into the wilderness past dead or dying
bushes and an entire valley of hills, boulders and nothingness. The road was
uneven, bumpy, rocky and just wild for lack of a better word. As my Ford
Explorer jumped up and down and from side to side I saw people in all makes and
models of cars taking the same passage as we did, except a few smaller cars got
stuck. I decided not to drive and let one of my car poolers drive sine he had
been there a few times. The boi can drive and took the bumps at 30 mph and
seemed only to slow down when the “road” was either filled with nothing
but small boulders or when one side of the car was tilted on one side and I
verbally said something like… "Well, I picked the right car for this kind of adventure,” anther way of saying “your making me a tad
nervous.” We were one of a handful to reach the new location first and
it was pitch dark. Within a couple of hours the DJ music stand was up, a roaring
fire had been created and people had set up their weekend tent and RV homes. The
next morning was clear but crisp with a chill until the early afternoon and the
music never stopped. People came and went through the hours to dance, socialize
and generally take in the environment. I met a lot of great people; exchange a
lot of warm hugs and shared some tales. Saturday night was filled with energized
music, a fire staff dancer, fire poi dancer, electric hula hooper, anther
roaring campfire and people of all walks of life. No one knew when, where or who
-- but a much older Native American gentleman quietly sat by the fire chanting
blessings to all those who had attended the evening. Saturday night’s
temperature dropped to 22 degrees and I wimped out on tent sleeping for car
sleeping wearing

• A pair of gym sweats under a pair of big baggy beach pants
• A thermal top under a thick sweater under a Playa jacket
• Thick socks and boots and a scarf
• Under three blankets

…and I was still coldSunday
morning I met more super nice people, more breakfast hugs, met Happy, a happy go
lucky kind of guy who just went around camp giving everyone hugs and wishing
everyone happy thoughts. Took a sip of some very strong coffee made with even
stronger alcohol flavoring. More people had arrived early Saturday evening so
Sunday morning was filled with more dancers, hoopers and campfire acquaintances.
I was having a great time but a few things said and done had me thinking
too much about the future and my medial complications. I met an amazing women
and we had a long talk about it and gently offered advice and suggestions. It
turned out she’s a student healer and we promised to keep in contact with each
other so that she could work with me unlocking a few doors I haven’t been able
to unlock myself. It was truly an amazing conversation and never would I have
had such a conversation with someone I know let alone someone I had just met.
Once we both said everything that needed to be said we exchanged contact
information. As soon as that was completed one of my car mates discovered the
day’s amazing sun display. I turned around to see what he was talking
about and looked up to where he was pointing to see that a perfect rainbow of
three or four colors surrounded the sun. The sun hung low in the sky and was
enormous surrounded by a just as enormous rainbow circle with gentle rays of
light stretching beyond the colorful ring. My car partner who had been attending
the gatherings for about six months said it was the first time he had ever seen
one; that put deeper thoughts and questions in my mind since I had just finished
an intense conversation. As the day progressed everyone shared stories
about the weekend and some of them I’m truly sorry I missed witnessing. A few
groups had hiked up to a nearby cave that was apparently big enough for a couple
of people to walk into. Inside they said it was filled with small crystals. One
confident hiker reached into a hole of hibernating rattlesnakes and pulled out a
rather large crystal. You just have to wonder if he was a bit off. It seems to
me that the crystal was being protected by the rattlesnakes. On the other hand,
none of the rattlesnakes bit him so who knows. Maybe the crystal was meant for
him. I also met a traveling nomad who told me tales of his previous
travels and upcoming ones. He told me that at first it is difficult to just
quite your job and travel but as the scariness wears off he said he can’t image
ever returning to an office again. In this technological world, we exchanged
emails and profile names since we had talked for a while around the campfire –
we even got ‘close’ but I’m still getting over my ex and so nothing happened
beyond talk.I know I’m an idiot for missing him because my ex is not
what I want. I want someone to be my friend, my lover AND my partner and
two out of three is simply not enough and I won’t settle. I think this gathering
really helped me to see and accept that. The gathering helped me to see more of
myself; it helped me to see what I genuinely want from myself and for myself. To
accept anything less would be wrong. So I survived my first outdoor
gathering in a genuine desert setting and I survived – what’s next?

Gear
For Technomads