2007 STORY
photos by Heather White
We had some crazy days before we left Brooklyn - construction was still being completed as the stuff was loaded in the truck. The truck pack went beautifully, and there was enough room for all the machine parts AND all the camp crap - tents and bags and more junk than you can imagine. It all fit. Of course, we loaded the truck in the rain. That should have been a sign- the weather was not going to cooperate with us. The trip from Brooklyn to the playa was adventure enough. One crew left Brooklyn in the box truck, towing the trailer, followed by the van. The trailer threatened to break in half in Ohio, and had to be loaded onto a second trailer, for hot trailer on trailer action. Which cost a day. But they perservered, and arrived out on playa Friday morning- slept for a bit, and then off to the races. The second crew (myself and Daniel) flew out to Las Vegas to pick up the RV (for mama and the baby), drove it up to Reno, got on another flight to Seattle, to Spokane. We picked up the Diamond T in Moscow Idaho, and towed it on down 95 on a borrowed trailer behind my brother's pickup truck. The trip was smooth, and we met some interesting folks, and all was good until we got to Winemucca. And then decided on the dirt road to Gerlach, rather than the big circuituitous freeway route. It was 50 miles of dirt road before the second tire blew on the pickup truck- no more spares. So let's drive the Diamond T- it's only another 30 miles. Good idea. About 10 miles down the road, the fuel delivery system went south. Two competing problems- vapor lock, and a clogged intake tube from all the rust shaken loose in the tank. Oh boy. We would suck and blow gasoline through the lines until the truck would run, go another mile, repeat, all afternoon. No water to rinse the gas out of our mouths, just the beating sun, rocks, dirt, sticker bushes. We got to the playa with Daniel laying on the running board, blowing in the gas tank whenever it would stall, some 7 hours later. Got to the perimeter fence, where the burning man agent gave us an inch of water in the bottom of a cup. thank you. A full cup would have been too much. Limped along, repeating the suck/blow/swear procedure on past the airport until we reached the gate, where it totally stalled. An hour later, we were through the gate, where it stalled again. Finally got some gas flowing and made it to camp. Had a beer to dilute the gasoline in our blood, and then we were off to Gerlach in Slater's rental van to try and find some tires for the pickup. Jose at the station found us a pair of tires that would work, and we crawled back out the dirt road in the rental van to rescue the truck. Which we did- and good thing we got both tires fixed, because we popped another tire on the truck. Our mad tire changing skills came through- by the time we reached the playa, we'd changed every tire on the truck. Oh baby. What a relief it was to have all the rigs at camp. Dust storms, sun, and work The NY crew arrived early the next morning (Friday). Right off, it was backbreaking work under a burning sun, with dirt blowing every which way - pure misery. We unloaded the truck into piles, and set about bolting the machine together. It all went smoothly, considering that the had never been fully assembled before. You couldn't ask for a more inhospitable environment for a trial setup! But everything fit together, the parts made sense, the assembly was regular and reasonable. There were a few holes to drill, and things to figure out, but it all came together. By Saturday we had the base frame assembled, by Sunday we had the masts and catwalk up and stabilized, by Monday we had a mostly assembled ship, missing the fire effects, but with the horses and sound system installed and working enough for a test ride.
A big thank you to the Saturday night 'feed the artists' dinner at the Ashram Galactica- what a fabulous dinner, what a fabulous crew. Thank you all so much, we really appreciated it, and really needed the break. |
