@dujac Said the burning man festival used to be held at baker beach (nude) in san
francisco
the police drove them out in the early 1990's
so, it was moved to the 400 square mile, flat, dry lake bed called the black
rock desert... north of reno, nevada
the 1st year i attended in the desert i arrived at 3 am
there was a gate through the barbed wire fence on the side of the road
and the gatekeeper took our tickets and pointed to venus (bright star) in the
east away from the road and said
drive toward that star until you see the lights of the burning man camp
there's no road, it's a huge salt flat... so, i started off slow, it was pitch black
then after a few minutes i saw car lights coming up from behind
about a half mile back and gaining
so, i sped up to 80 mph and the car was still coming up fast
i don't want to eat his salty dust... so, now i'm going 110 mph
and he can't take the lead
then i start thinkin' , s***... i'm out in the desert, what if i hit a hole or
somethin'
so, i'm watching the surface like a hawk and see something that looks
like a fog bank in the distance... or is that a sand dune?
i backed down and let the guy pass me up... he doesn't even slow down
and hit's the dune going at least 80 mph, launching 20 feet or more off of the
ground
i couldn't even see where he landed and had to drive around the dune to get
to him
the big four door lincoln rental car had its air bags deployed
but was shiny side up and no one hurt, the horn was stuck on and blowing
loudly
i helped the french guy (driver) disconnect the battery to quiet the horn
he and his girl friends squeezed in with me and mine and just left the lincoln
behind
i pulled into the camp a few minutes later, my blood laced with adrenalin
that was just the start
Its kinda amazing how that sort of gathering can change you, an experience privvy to the participants only, and nobody outside would understand nor would you want them to.