those science fiction movies that have scenes of the distant, post-apocalyptic future.. you know, where everybody is dirty, there are tribal dances going on, any lighting is neon and multicolored. people are driving weird barren vehicles and constantly drinking.
that’s what the playa is like at night.
we arrived at the site around 3am on monday morning. we had been part of a caravan along the entire 100+ miles from reno to gerlach. the lake bed was so weird. grey, hard, with wicked cracks and dust everywhere. at the entrance gate we were identified as virgins (newcomers) and asked to worship “eurotrash” the guy greeting us before we entered. we were soon our our way to our campsite. i knew the coordinants, but it was already 4am by the time we made it in all the way. we found the camp sign and parked. we slept for about two hours that night, in the front seats of our rented minivan. i was nearly too excited to sleep.
in the morning we found mark, one of the core camp guys, and everything just fell into place.
everything about the site is foreign. the weather, the terrain, and sites and smells, and the sounds. the funny thing is, most everybody we met was from san francisco.