Tuesday, August 28th, 2012
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We rounded a corner in the RV and all of a sudden the land opened up. Ahead, clouds of dust hovered over a sandy expanse of desert. Tiny cars moved like ants in the distance. We pulled over briefly to photograph the Fertility sign before continuing off the road and onto the Playa.

The hard lake bed was marred with ridges and bumps from the thousands of cars that had passed before us. On either side of the throughway were blue, red and white flags as well as signs reminding us not to hide passengers, fireworks and open containers of alcohol. On and on we drove. At times the dust was so thick that S was forced to slow to a crawl in case we came up behind another vehicle. Every once and a while we caught sight of pairs of port-a-potties standing desolate against a post-apocalyptic horizon.

Finally stalling in traffic, we watched from dusty windows as other anxious Burners dashed between cars and storage units. Everyone had donned handkerchiefs, bandanas, goggles, hats and respirators- looking properly dressed for the end of the world.

The events that followed are a blur. I remember waiting for at least 45 minutes as the car in front of us inched towards Will Call. When we reached the front of the line S jumped out of the RV with his mask and respirator to pick up the tickets. Ten minutes later he was back with a huge grin on his face and tickets in hand. We continued on towards the security checkpoint where a man and a woman entered the RV to perfunctorily confirm the number of people in the vehicle and make sure there were no weapons onboard. Then, we were in. Unfortunately it was too stormy for J and I to get the customary Burning Man “welcome initiation.”

We spent the rest of the afternoon into the evening relaxing in the RV and setting up camp. The wind raged on until 5 pm and then suddenly died out, setting the stage for a beautiful night on the Playa. We cruised around on our bikes and got a sense of the immensity of Burning Man and the lay of the streets. No words can do it justice. After several hours J and I simply rode in silence as we gazed in wonder at the sights.

After dinner- salad and hamburgers (yes, we were ridiculous for the first few days)- we proceeded to get completely trashed. Marching off into the night with the full gamut of protective clothing and gadgetry I distinctly remember thinking to myself- this is fucking crazy. Otherwise, events from there on out are a blur. I know we dropped off a bottle of rum at a friends camp (Bubbles and Bass) and then proceeded around the left side to 10:00 and Esplanade toward Opulent Temple. The crowd was larger than any dubstep concert (excluding Skrillex at Bonnaroo) I have ever attended. The 360 degree panorama of lasers and lights will be the one thing I never forget from that first night.