
I parked right under the post that held the 4 signs explaining the parking times, hours and limitations. And I read it and re-read it and re-read it again. And still I somehow didn’t get it. But they got me and I got a ticket.
I so hate parking tickets and haven’t got one in years.
Yuck.
Burning Man sold out last year for the first time in its history. So this year they sold tickets through a lottery system, which I actually signed up for many months ago. But I didn’t get so lucky at which point I figured it wasn’t meant to be and I’d give a try next year and pretty much put Burning Man in the back of my mind.

But I still didn’t have a ticket.
Months ago I went on-line to see what it would cost to buy it through scalpers. The prices were astronomical. Well fortunately the prices had come down, but there were still plenty of risks and such with getting a ticket that way. So I decided to go at it the “right” way and get it through the Burning Man web-site. There were a lot of people wanting tickets and not many to be had.
But I was dogged and got lucky and got one for face value.
Hurray!!!!
Now to get ready.

I have heard about Burning Man for as long as I can remember and I have thought of going on many, many occasions. And in retrospect, I really wish I had, but hindsight, as they say gives you 20/20 vision.
As soon as I started getting serious about my adventure, I started asking friends and acquaintances who had been, what I should expect or rather what gear should I bring, what do I really not want to forget, what do I need, etc. etc.
What I found out and I pretty much expected this to be the case that talking to people about Burning Man like the story of the Elephant and the Five Blind Men, everyone has their own very unique take on the experience.
My good friend Rusty is a hard core Burning Man participant and has been going off to the Playa forever. So I've been picking his brain quite a bit.
With your ticket you get a Survival Guide
I managed to find one book on the people of Burning Man, and then when I met up with Rusty, he brought a little library.
So I borrowed a couple and have been studying with due diligence.

One thing you hear about from everyone is the dust.
So even though I've been carting several bikes all over the country. I had to find a beater bike that wouldn't mind getting destroyed by the infamous Playa dirt.
Off I went to find my Burner bike
I found a little hole in the wall deep in the San Fernando Valley with a few jalopies.
This one fit the bill pretty nicely.
Already got a basket and the drop in the middle will make it easy to get on and off when I've got my bike blender strapped on the back.
Next step, to decorate the heck out of it and light it up.
More Stuff...Seriously?
You would think that I would be able to go through our storage and piece together enough equipment and supplies without having to get more stuff. And for the most part that has been true, however....
After a couple of years of almost getting a Utilikilt, and then not, I bit the bullet and ordered one.
Same goes for the roll up solar panel, Tank Girlesque goggles, a pair of black and white stripey MC Hammer style pants as well as some pretty glowy Electroluminescent wire aka EL wire.
And the list goes on....
Getting Ready to Burn
At the regional burn I went to in Georgia I watched in delight and a bit of envy as people played and danced with fire. I wanted to do that.
Skye too, wanted to play with fire. So to add to our list of curious hobbies we started taking Fire Staff classes over in Hollywood at Fire Groove
The great thing about the staff is without a huge amount of instruction and practice, you can look like you know what you're doing and do some cool moves with fire and not worry about too much about catching yourself on fire, which isn't the case with juggling torches, which yes I also have and plan to light up at some point. But I'll need to do quite a bit more practice on that one.
In the mean time, I have some wonderful glow in the dark/LED clubs that are beautiful at night and a tad safer.
Burn baby burn