This is a first for me. Living in the last bit of civilization before Gerlach, Nevada and BURNING MAN! How could I have forgotten that I should be ready? Due to Covid, Burning Man hasn’t been held the last two years. This weekend would be my first experience as a local.
Burning Man is a one week extravaganza in which people I do not understand fly, drive, crawl, bus, or bike all the way to the PLAYA to camp in the desert sun for one week. I must remind you, it is still very, very hot here. Desert hot. 100 degree + hot. The Playa offers no relief from the heat. The Playa is an ancient sea bed. Dry as a bone. Everything necessary must be trucked in and trucked out, including 2.5 gallons of water for each person, per day.
VST and I were once RVing and noticing vehicles covered in whitish-grey moon-dust. I mean covered. We didn’t understand what it was all about until someone explained that they were “Burners”, the name given to anyone who goes to Burning Man.
After a day with littles, I’d stopped by Subway to get Friday night Dinner-Lunch-Dinner in the form of a 12″ Cali-Fresh Turkey on Whole Wheat. This is now my favorite sandwich after a long day at work.
I had to wait for a very long time due to call in orders. Each order included five foot longs. This takes a minute to put together, so the sandwich artists and I started to talk.
“Well, they’re here, you know.”
Hmmmmm. Just exactly was this “They” referred to by the sandwich artist?
Seeing my confused expression, he continued.
“The “Burners”, Dude. They’re all over town. Buying out Walmart right now. You need to go over there and check it out.”
These “Burners” come from around the globe. Every part of our area is impacted. The airports are bustling. Transportation. RV rental stores. Everyone waits all year for the “Burners” because they drop lots of cash as they go on their merry way. In fact, the Subway was almost out of oil and vinegar for the sandwiches. That is only one very tiny example.
Although I haven’t been grocery shopping, I heard the shelves are bare. No more dairy, fruits, or vegetables. This wave of strangers wipe out the town twice every year, with their arrival and the following weekend with their departure. Our town is the last and first civilized spot they come to on their journey. We get hit the hardest. A city of around 60,000 people just stopping by.
These partiers profess love, kindness, and total respect for the environment, but each year, they leave behind thousands of pounds of trash, including at least 5,000 bikes. No error there. 5,000 discarded bicycles on public lands. It takes weeks to cart away the bicycles. They are often given away for free. I thinking of driving up to Gerlach next weekend to grab one.
With curiosity in a frenzy, I had to drive to Walmart to check it out. The parking lot was a sea of RV’s. But, there was something else very strange. Strategically placed at the end of the parking lot were 7 or 8 huge industrial sized dumpsters. These were all brimming with discarded packaging and garbage bags. Oh, I see. Totally environmentally friendly anywhere buy our little town, now left with the duty of discarding their trash at our small transfer station. It all makes perfect sense. Just leave the trash at the wide, dusty spot in the road off the interstate. No one will ever know the difference. Except the residents that actually live there.
The towns people here are amused with the antics of the burners. Even more so with the money they spend. The roach coaches were in full swing, as the number of restaurants are limited right now. Walmart was “burned” again this year. Now, we wait until they leave. Then things can return to normal.
One of the more bizarre stories is the legend of the woman that went into Walmart covered in body paint of the American flag. That’s all. Just paint. I hear she was asked to leave almost immediately, but not until a few hundred shoppers had time to look in amazement at the stars and stripes. Only at Walmart, for sure. Almost never in my little town, also for sure.
If you are interested in a front row seat, Google “Live Feed Burning Man”. It is a pretty good overhead shot of the playa and a video of how things are going. Tens of thousands of festival goers locked in a fence in the desert for one week. No one goes in or out once the gates shut. Only “Burning Man Rules”. Nothing can go wrong, right?
Stay tuned for any late breaking local details.
More tomorrow.