We left at 4 pm yesterday with the plan to drive through the night and arrive at the line for the gate an hour or so early.  At 4 am he was too tired and I was starting to melt down.  We decided it was safer to get a hotel and sleep for a few hours.  The van was so uncomfortable that neither one of us could sleep in it.  It took every last ounce of energy I had to not kill the guy who checked us in to the hotel that moved so slow wanted to have a little 4am chat.  So, this late night plan may have saved our lives, but it made us late and  set us up for one of the most annoying experiences of my life (yes, I know, first world problem).  We got to Wadsworth at noon.  This is normally 1.5 hours from the playa.  Traffic stopped.

It’s 5:00pm and we still aren’t to Gerlach (town right before the event).  I’m tired and cranky and struggling being present with anything.  Will we ever get there?  Will I even get there in time for my Lock Out shift tomorrow?  For a while I was doing well with just being present and going with the flow, but I think maybe I was just lying to myself.  I’m frustrated.  It’s bringing up all sorts of hopeless feelings.  I just want to go home.  Why do I want to go to this anyway?  What’s the point of anything?  Easy Man is over and now it’s just way too many funny dressed people trying to get to the desert.

The only entertaining thing is the discovery of the Shirtless Man Early Warning System.   The cars would move for about 10 miles and then stop for an hour or so.  With a solid line of cars and motorhomes, it was difficult to see up ahead when cars might start moving again.  There was a group of shirtless men about 8 cars up that would get out every time we stopped and go off to the side of the road to play frisbee or drag chairs out to sit in.  We couldn’t see when the cars were about to move, but we could see the shirtless men pack up and run get back to their cars.  Thus the Shirtless Man Early Warning System was activated.

We finally got in the gate and dropped my stuff off at my camp at 11:00pm.  The only people in camp are a bunch of high people sitting on a couch out front.  The two people I know are not here.  I’m staying in the girl’s dorm.  My dorm room is too small for me to put all my stuff in.  I’m exhausted and I just don’t want to be here.  Full melt down.  Chey finds me and helps me sort out my stuff and reminds me we have a central shared area where I can put some of my stuff.  Chey may have saved my life.  Instead of going out with the art car and meeting new people, I go to bed.  Maybe I won’t want to die tomorrow.

(c) all rights reserved Kimberly Fiore