When I woke up my back was better. I got out early and rode my bike for about an hour. Black Rock City is built on a semicircle based on clock hours. The streets in alphabetical order are the horizontal curves, the Esplanades closest to the Man, then A to K on the curve. The perpendicular lines were labeled for clock hours. BRC goes from 2 to 10. 10-2 is the playa where the Man, the Temple, and incredible art projects are, no one camps in this area. It’s just a huge desert plain that has art all over. I’m guessing if you had an art car or were on an electric bike (though these bikes do not like the dust), you could see everything. Otherwise, no way, it’s huge. And so so cool. Every time we’ve gone out, something new has sprouted.
Sunday, when I rode I figured out some of these labeling and street sings (yes! street signs are at every intersection). We’re based at Fulcrum and 9:00. I rode down Fulcrum to 5:00 and then up to Delphi and back to 9th and down to Fulcrum. Amazing, I never got past 5:00 the whole time I was there.
We had breakfast in our personal shelter since we had all brought our own things rather than use the camps food or kitchen for this meal at least. After all the dust on Friday and Saturday, it’s just not an appealing place to try to cook. Then the 4 of us went out for 3 hours riding all over the playa. At night, everything is lit up by LED lights. During the day, you can see the actual piece and sometimes talk with the artist or the builder, since it’s often a team effort.
This was a fantastic ride, though my back got pretty cranky after the bumpity bump of riding over the sand, sometimes hard-packed and easy, often soft hillocks that were a bear. Not infrequently, I just got off and walked. This is why I came, to see the art and it’s just awe-inspiring. So much creativity, to show it for one week! And many will actually be burned. Truly this place takes impermanence seriously.
I was then out of it again for the day. The mid-day is so hot that it wipes me out. Scott did projects, Kellie hung with me, Rick helped the camp some more and also got in a nap. We then did the dinner that, again, Kellie had cooked at home and brought out frozen. First, scouring as best we could, then setting up. It was a treat to talk to people during the set up/cooking and hear names, how often people had been here, chatting. Nice. We cleaned up and the other three went out to explore and I stayed back to rest up. Rick came back by 11ish and Scott and Kellie by 12midnight. Scott could easily stay out all night, but is waiting until later in the week.
