Burning Man 2018

Sep 17, 2018
10 min read

This is the first time I will try to write and share some of my favorite experiences at Burning Man this year. Normally there is too much to write but this year was special to me for several reasons.

We left Phoenix on Friday and stayed the night in Las Vegas. This is where we discovered the sugar kooky video, which was one of the most said things this burn amongst our camp, last year it was "Where do you want it." Saturday morning we met up with the rest of our convoy, including four vehicles and made the trek to Fernley. Here we ate, got our last minute groceries and headed to gate road. We got through gate and to camp within 2 hours. We unpacked the trailer and all fell asleep in the trailer until the sun began to rise.

Sunday was a long hard day of working together to get camp set up, all while it was near white out most of the day. We had two massive shade structures with four tents, an RV, a van and a my Tacoma all placed strategically to block the wind and dust from invading more than it did. We finished mid afternoon and decided to head out on our ridiculously decorated bikes into the dust. This ended up being one of the only relaxing nights we had.

Monday we woke and most of our camp went to get ice in the morning and began to explore Deep Playa. The first day we found a 60ft polar bear made of car hoods, a massive teeter toter thingy, a 600 drone launch area and a house inside of a house that was inside of another house. These art pieces were all very thought provoking and made us all talk about what we thought the artists where trying to get across. When we started heading back to camp we went to Pink Heart for their delicious cucumber water and to get our bodies buffed with a car waxer which actually felt amazing. This was our first crazy night where we danced, rode and danced some more. Running into Phoenix locals and the artist behind Big Willy and MOJP.

Tutu Tuesday started off with everyone in Tutu's for obvious reasons. We ventured to center camp this day and then made our way to a friends camp called Robot Art at the Oasis. Here we made some new necklaces and had wonderful cocktails. We spent most of the day in the neighborhoods surrounding our camp to get to know some new people. Our neighbors had an art car called Disco Roboto and another big robot. The rest of our neighbors filled in. Some Canadians, some from the bay area and a dude with a bad ass 7 ton build. We spent quite a bit of time standing on his truck heckling passers into spankings, underwear, rum shots and other shenanigans. The Canadians brought us some real maple syrup from their homeland which made our french toast morning killer. We also visited Dilated Peoples which was a camp that cleansed your eyes with drops and cucumbers while giving you a massage. It was a wonderful time to relax for a bit through the hectic day. This afternoon was the Burner Buddies black dress party, where we saw lots of friends from last years burn and rocked little black dresses for a couple hours.. Tuesday night, a friend and I headed into deep playa for a bit where we came across the drone show and other boring art on the way to our Temple Guardian shift. My Guardian shift was during a time where the Temple was still being built so I stood perimeter. Although it wasn't open there were still lots of Burners who came up to chat and see how my shift was going. Our shift ended at 3am, which was only a few hours from sunrise so the two of us decided to pull an all nighter. We ended up getting cocktails at a little speakeasy kind of place on Esplanade. We filled up our drinks, hit the bathroom and followed Robot Heart out to deep playa for a sunrise dance party. The sun began to peak over the horizon as we danced and shared champagne and a morning full of good vibes with 1000's of other people as Monolink his set. As the sun was completely rose we headed back into camp where we came across a lady serving Pop Tarts out of a portable oven and coffee out in deep playa and some other random encounters. We got back to camp and napped for about 2 hours.

The rest of Wednesday was spent on the naked pub crawl. This is one of my favorite events from last year and was also one of my favorite from this year as well. We handed out googly eye jewelry for everyones genitals and rode from camp to camp drinking more than we probably should have. The afternoon was kind of a blur but we got back to camp and sobered up enough to ride around before the sunset. This ride consisted of hanging upside down 40 feet off the ground in some make shift carnival ride and climbing a scaffolding to watch the sunset then play miniature golf in moustache mans front yard. We finally got back to camp for a small meal. We went out and danced at a camp with this rolling fire on the ceiling and one of our campmates tearing up the lyra which was absolutely beautiful. We also came across the 3D lounge this night, which consisted of 3D paintings and a fun house tunnel that really took our heads for a spin. Walking through this spinning tunnel we all stopped at one point and held on so tight because it made you feel like you were upside down.

Thursday was another day spent in the neighborhoods, making visits to all of our friends and catching up. This day was pretty dusty again. Kind of needed a slow day at this point because we were running on just a couple hours of sleep a night. We ended up visiting some friends at Camp Aloha for some spam musubi which was amazing and some good drink refills. We then came across some breakfast tacos which I have made about 3 times already in the default world since we have been back. We took a break at Camp Corny to make our spirit animal dance sticks which consists of a stuffed animal on a stick that you dance with. Also stopped at the Mister Sisters to make some Essential Oil spritz spray. This evening we went out and watched the first burn then I headed back for an early night. This night I ended up falling asleep around 10, which was good because I needed at least one full night of sleep.

Friday was a day out on playa exploring more of the huge art pieces such as the car kabob, a house on chicken legs and the giant jelly fish. In the early afternoon we hungout at Burner Buddies for their Gay Card party and genital prints. Always a fun time with this group. As the sunset, we spent time in front of camp heckling with the neighbors and interacting with every person who rode by. As we headed out to watch some art burn we all had a meeting point which no one met at. As I began to ride into the playa by myself I could have shut my eyes and would have had a head on collision with a friend of mine. The two of us kept riding out where we ran into two more campmates on the way to playa. This was the first big burn for an art piece named train wreck. This started with about 20 minutes of the most beautiful fireworks I've seen followed by two full size locomotives in the middle of the desert collide head on with several large explosions that felt like it singed our eye lashes. This was also the first night that the playa had so many people and art cars in every direction that we couldn't decide where we wanted to adventure off too, we split up as a group and two of us ended up just exploring some of the family neighborhood, where we came across Baaahs having a dance party at Comfort and Joy. We also danced at a sound camp with some huge fire poofers and was handed a button to press to activate the poofers which was really cool. We laid underneath some color changing triangles while listening to some relaxing music then rode to watch the fire spinners and danced again at Camp Question Mark. Then followed esplanade around stopping at all sorts of attractions. One which was this little led tube that you stand inside and the people on the outside spin it as fast as they can, which makes some of the wildest visuals. Then to a tesla coil dome that had created floating lightning. This was one of the craziest nights. As we made our way back to camp super late we had just a couple hours til sunrise. Some of us spent this night cuddling in the dust and eventually falling asleep.

Saturday morning we woke up as a camp and cooked about 6 pounds of bacon and served a couple gallons of freshly brewed tea. We sat out on 5 and J, we had the corner again this year and passed it all out. Burners really enjoyed the bacon and fresh tea to get some nutrients and caffeine going through their systems, whether they were starting their days or just coming in from the night before. After we finished cleaning up from the morning I headed out solo for a few hours. I went and spent a couple hours at the temple and read some of the stuff on the walls, I couldn't help but cry and let go of some of the stuff that has been bothering me all year. I eventually sat down and began to write and write and then stapled it to the Temple and was ready to carry on with my day. I Got back to around noon and waited for a buddy to meet me at camp. We headed to foam against the machine, and got there with perfect timing and only waited about 30 minutes to get in. We didn't do it last year because the line was so long but after this year it will always be on my list. While we waited we met Paul Stamets, who is a well known mushroom expert. Basically we walked into a huge dome, where everyone checks all their clothing and proceed to a glass semi truck trailer. Here you walk up the stairs with about 40 people in the middle of a huge naked dance floor and they begin to spray everyone with foam. We washed each others backs and everyone cheered, then they hose you down with cold water. Once you come down the stairs and back onto the dance floor you dance with 100's of naked people and can feel the positive energy in the air as well as get fresh Yerba Mate on tap to get some antioxidants and caffeine into your system. While all this was going on Alex Gray was live painting a huge psychedelic mural. Such a refreshing afternoon. As we got back to camp we all ate and got ready for the man burn. This night is a truly wild night where 70,000 burners surround the man as it is burned to the ground. After all the pyrotechnics we went back and danced with the Walter Tribe for a while before our entire camp began venturing from camp to camp having and interesting but satisfying night. As the night grew long, some of us split off and went back to camp where I scared a friend in his tent before we all crashed for the night.

Sunday is always a sad day. We began to strike camp, breaking down all the shade structures, tables and anything else other than the tents so we could sleep in them one last night. This took several hours but we eventually finished in the early afternoon. I had a temple guardian group picture around 3 this day, so I rode out and ended up running into shack-to-hell-u-ride which is driven by an awesome guy from Telluride that we see every year at our regional burn Saguaro Man. Anyhow after the group picture I began to visit some of my friends camps, both old and new to say good bye, exchange numbers and other means to stay in contact with people I made some great connections with. I returned back to camp and we changed into some warmer gear and headed out into deep playa for the tempe burn. We sat next to a lady handing out empanadas and pizza. It was nice to have a snack before the burn. This is such an emotional night where you can feel the energy of the crowd and it is very powerful. The power of burning something you had brought to burn in the Temple gives you the satisfaction of letting go. All of us campmates just cried and hugged each other. Once we all regrouped near our parked bikes, most of us headed in for the night to get some sleep before we started the long drive back to Phoenix. We woke up Monday, packed the last few things and where in Exodus by 5 and on pavement by 7. We made our way to eat at Jerry's and then off we were back to Phoenix.

This year was a very emotional burn and I focused my intentions on figuring out what the next step I need to take to further and better myself in many aspects of my life. Its been over two weeks and I am still thinking about Burning Man everyday. If anyone reading this has ever thought about going, do it and experience it for yourself. It is a truly amazing social experiment and experience that will make you feel home and free. It also has made me realize that there are so many like minded people who are trying to make a difference and are being part of the change they want to see in the world. Also thank you to Larry Harvey, the founder of Burning Man who passed away this year, who without his idea would have not brought such great people into my life. Most of these people are my best friends and people I can count on for anything at anytime. This is a culture, a world wide movement and participating at Burning Man is something I look forward too for years to come. Lastly, thanks to my campmates, Robot Art, Burner Buddies (both camps I have lots of friends at), to all my friends both old and new and anyone else who I spent time with this year at Burning Man. Much Love to all!

*These pictures were all taken on my point and shoot instead of my big camera due to the dust and me not wanting to get dust inside of it.*