Yup, the tent is thrashed. The rain fly ripped out of the straps where I sewed it. I reset the fallen poles to find that the front door has been ripped out and the walls pulled up from the floor panel. Fuck! Totaled. Homeless again.

Back at the Komisary, the hot air hangs to the tune of Suzie's folk singing. Excellent atmosphere for pain of minor defeat.

For 2 days now, the sky has been brown with smoke from a distant brush fire. Smells a little sweet like sage. The sunsets continue to become more and more stunning. Maybe the smoke will seed the clouds and bring rain to harden the playa floor.

The whole camp is going out to Frog Pond again tonight. This time, we'll go after dinner. That will save us from the potential mess on the floor of the bus. Yes, last time the unexpected bumps sent the leftover beef stew flying — all over the floor and all over Hazmat's back.

I'm losing the concept of weekends again. I'm just starting to regain the concept of personal time. Seems everything is done in groups so you never have to think about what to do next. Sorta like the military or something.

SUICIDAL BUNNIES! SUICIDAL BUNNIES! SUICIDAL BUNNIES!
An impromptu performance broke out with random musicians. The audience dubbed the band "Suicidal Bunnies" based on the T-shirt stencil Ada made today.

	Three lead singers of Suicidal Bunnies
The famous SB hand signal with the wiggling ears.
Ada models her "Suicidal Bunnies" T-shirt designs, based on the Kamikaze Jackrabbits in these here parts.
Tex plays the guitar.

Sunday July 29
We're in Egypt. Everything you need is either at your fingertips or hella far away. I decided to go to Reno today. My tent went over the rainbow with Dorothy, and so did my sleeping pad. That means a trip to a sporting goods. Benita and I have been talking about touching up our city-slicker punk-rock hair color so we need a beauty supply for bleach and Manic-Panic. This is our day off, so it's off to the city for us. I also need some health food stuff.

I put out a call for riders, and Matty answered. She's a circus performer from Arizona, who interrupted a visit to California to come out and do the DPW for a while. We left about 1:30 in the afternoon.

The adventure begins when we stop to take this marvy shot the of Pyramid Lake. I pulled over onto the gravel — that disguised the dune beneath! Stuck!

Matty suggested we jam the floor mats under the wheels to get some traction. As we were making some headway, a guy in a 70's Impala stops to "help" us. He gave simple instructions: ease it back, then throw it in first and punch it. Sinking and sliding deeper into the ditch!

That's when the Native American in the dually drives up with another friend in a dually towing yet another truck. Between them, they conjured up a nylon rope and a fire hose strap and pulled the Volvo out of the trench. I was kinda scared at this point because I've heard of people getting up to $300 to pull cars out of the soft perimeter of the playa. Our Samaritan finished with "So, drinks are on you down at the tavern, right? — Just kidding!" Don't try this at home.

We arrived in Reno about 4 PM — which is just in time to watch many stores lock up on a Sunday. But we found our way to the cluster of malls on South Virginia and got much of what we needed at the national chain stores. I got new dome tent for under $60 and some swim goggles for the dust storms. No chance of finding an open beauty supply; the punk color will have to wait.

Monday the 30th of July
With no daylight to set up the new tent, I crawled into the back room of the office trailer and crashed for the night. Instead of waking to a hot tent, I awoke to the breakfast bell and gray skies outside. After breakfast, the work teams are chosen




I went out for a half day on the playa again; more cleanup, but under a partly cloudy sky today. Windy as heck — windy as 1999!


Wonderful MOOP! (Matter Out Of Place) I spent a half hour walking a 50 x 50 space like a plow. I collected about 40 rusty nuts. That'll make a fine MOOP necklace. I'm still the only one working nekkid — filling in my tan lines in time for the event. After lunch back at the ranch, a few of us performed a military housecleaning assault. Here we see volunteers vacuuming during a dust storm.


With so many new folks, Monday night wasn't as tame as an ordinary work night. There were about 20 people gathered around the fire as Maid Marian composed the latest issue of Jack Rabbit Speaks.

Tuesday 31 of July
Yes! coming closer to technical reality in Hooterville. I've finally got 2-way email, and the journal is almost up. After doing the breakfast dishes (only 1 hour of work this time),

Ranch House (a dust-free environment)

I spent the first half of the day getting the ethernet cable to reach the back of my 'puter in its new position — on a desk. All I had to do was to trace the cable across the dirt lot into the other building where the extra yardage was coiled up next to the door. I pulled it through and now it reaches. But I'm still suspicious of the durability of a cat-5 which has been stripped and spliced with the wires twisted and left bare. Yes, when the bare wires touch it kinda messes up the connexion. I guess the alkali dust should corrode the bare wires so they don't short out.

Otherwise, I spent the day catching up with this journal and moving my event supplies into a new tent. Oh, and I also took some time before dinner to condition and comb out my hair — taking a break from the satin twists for a few days.

Holy techno-utopia! I've discovered an Internet connection here on the farm. So I can now post the journal without the extra 30 minute drive to Gerlach. Let's see if this works.