My Epic Journey Home - Part Five

My hero ferried me all the way to Gigsville and helped me track down my camp. The sense of relief and happiness that swelled in my heart as I saw my friend's familiar faces almost had me fainting. Fishy waited patiently while my gear was unloaded, then wished me well as she took off for her own camp. I collapsed at my camp's bar and told them all the story of my journey. They were outraged and out for blood. They wanted to know where this guy was camping. As briefly satisfying as that might have been I refused to tell them and let them know all the guy needed was some sleep and a sandwich. I planned to stop by the medics next day and ask them to look in on him when he arrived. Then they all asked the million dollar question.: How are you going to get home to Virginia?

I hadn't even though that far ahead yet. On the way into the Burn I had called my mother and boyfriend to update them on what was happening. I love my family. No one panicked, they just asked if I was okay, then told me to have fun and that we would be in touch and figure it all out after the burn. Worse case scenario I knew I could at least get back to Reno where I had hotel reservations for after the burn. My camp mates also all reassured me not to worry. Enjoy the week and at the end of it we would figure out how to get me somewhere safe. I love those guys. These are people who I only ever see at the burn. They are a group of bike riding anarchists out of LA that really know how to have a good time and are extremely loyal to those they consider part of their group. At my first burn in 2008 I had been taken in and adopted by these people simply because they knew my best friend. I have been camping with them every burn since. This year was our first year moving in with Gigsville and I could already tell we were right at home.

I got my small tent set up in our communal shade structure, lashed on my water bottle, grabbed a cup for booze, and headed right to our bar to relax and spend my first night in BRC having a good low key time. I needed to unwind after the stress of the last 5 days. My mates served up drinks, laughs, great music, and camaraderie. I relaxed into my seat and watched the crazy antics, the dancing, the pranks. In the distance I could see the velodrome my camp had built for bike races. For those of you going "huh?" a velodrome is an arena for track cycling featuring steeply banked sides so that it basically looks like a large wooden bowl. You climb up, perch precariously on the side, get situated on your bike, and then take off down into the bowl and race around and around until you fall down. At least that's how we did it.

The burn this year was very different for me from previous years. It almost felt like this was my real virgin year. I felt like I had had such an easy time my first two years. This third year was the struggle and travail that I had always expected in the past. I savored everything around me so much more. I felt like I had worked so hard for it that it made it all so much more precious. It also was very different for me because of my health. I knew right from the start that I was going to be spending the majority of my time resting in camp. I had carefully selected a few important things to me during the week that I wanted to attend, but other than that made no plans or demands upon myself. But first, I had to get my bike.

Up next: Part Six, in which I spend four hours finding my bike, ditch cool costumes for the comfy clothes I knew I'd end up living in, and have an allergic reaction to pickled eggs.