Prologue: Call me Tapestry... This was my 8th trip to Burning Man... but my 9th trip to the playa.
Earlier that year, I made an additional cross-country trip to the Black Rock Desert for Fourth of Juplaya,
a non-official camping event held over the 4th of July weekend.
There were no ticket sales, so there's no telling how many people showed up. I figured a couple hundred.
That was also where I got my Black Rock Ranger training out of the way for the year.
 
 
That trip gave me a new appreciation for the Black Rock Desert. I got to see how it looked without thousands and thousands
of people kicking up the dust, without traffic, noise and booming music all over the place. I watched the Sun set over purple mountains,
embraced the silence of the desert, and watched a sky so clear I could see the Milky Way before it was completely dark.
It was easy to see how people could fall in love with the place.
 
 
I did not pack enough water with me, and almost ran out before I got out of the desert. I promised myself
I wouldn't let that happen again. After returning home from Juplaya, Burning Man announced
that tickets for that year's event had sold out! It was the first time in the history of the event tickets ran out.
A short buying frenzy ensued. Tickets began showing up on Ebay for hundreds of dollars
over face value. DJs who had been scheduled to perform at Burning Man
had to scramble to find tickets (for their girlfriends). Fifty thousand people were headed for the playa.
 
Satori, my faithful steed, had well over a quarter million miles under her belt, but after the problems I had with the Cavalier in 2010 I had to take a chance. She had a brand new alternator and two new tires, and the week before I left home I had her checked out and all the fluids topped off. I figured the old girl had at least one more journey left in her. 
The theme for Burning Man that year was Rites of Passage. A rite of passage is a life-changing event
that marks a person's progress from one stage to the next. I knew I'd centrainly been through plenty of changes in my life.
It remained to be see what further changes would come my way...
 
Prologue Aug. 24  Aug. 25 Aug. 26 Aug. 27 Aug. 28 
 Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday Monday
Sept.6 Sept. 7 Sept. 8  Sept. 9 & Epilogue
Original content (c)opyright 2011 by Tim Frayser
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