BM Monday August 30, 2010

It doesn't take long to suss out your neighborhood...to our right and growing behind us was East Coast Overdose, a group of professional guys from Manhattan who set up an awning with stools and a bar full of alcohol bottles to draw in the babes.  They seemed to be highly effective in doing so and always had a crowd of twenty somethings gathered to drink and chat and drink.  The head honcho, a lawyer, told us he would make us whatever we wanted whenever we wanted it.

To our left was a group of friends with their kids in funky trailers, motor homes, old Volvos and trucks.  We could not see them as they were in a roundup formation facing away from us.  Friendly but focused inwardly.

Across the street was the problem.  Sunday night we had noticed the ominous, giant motor home.  It, too, was part of a group of recreational vehicles but in a squareup due to their size, but these were the same slick-looking brand, high-end, "We use all the amenities and more" kind of rented motor homes.   The first time boyo went over to ask them about THE GENERATOR, the owner assured him he was only topping up the batteries for a couple of hours.  Okay, we can live with that.

The second most observed phenomenon at Burning Man after the neighborhood is THE WEATHER.  Usually the weather is the first topic, but not the first day. This Monday was windy and cool.  After participating in a session of life drawing at the AEZ (Alternative Energy Zone) theme camp, we rode our bikes out onto the playa to check out some art.  As it got windier, we headed to Center Camp to escape dust.  However, it looked like rain, and we battled against the wind and dust to reach home before it began to sprinkle.  The clouds just seemed to open up and dump out the water.  It has never rained like that before...really, really wet. Gradually the rain clouds moved on, and it began to clear and dry.  In the east we saw a rainbow form, then a second rainbow.

The playa is amazing at soaking up the water.  By dark we were able to head out on foot in our Leopard coats and LCD lights to try to catch Dr. Megavolt as we had heard him interviewed on 94.5 BMIR, the local Black Rock City radio station.  Walk, walk, walk.  He didn't show, but we saw a lot of other night life.