I had nothing else to do but wait for the clouds to fully disperse and for the playa to dry out. So I relaxed in my chair next to the trappings of "Little Iceland" that we had brought: including our large Icelandic flag hanging inside the truck, the many bottles of Icelandic glacier water acquired at Whole Foods, and the cooler full of Icelandic and other Scandinavian types of booze. At least I had plenty to eat and drink with me. Hopefully Red had found the same back at camp in my absence.
Peeking out at the sky, and wishing for cloudless blue to reappear, I found myself singing an Icelandic children's song I had learned online:
Sól sól skín á migwhich roughly translates as
ský ský burt með þig
gott er í sólinni að gleðja sig
sól sól skín á mig.
Sun, sun shine on me
Cloud, cloud away with thee
Good it is in the sun to cheer oneself up,
Sun, sun shine on me
How long would it take until I could drive the truck? No one knew for certain, of course, and my lack of experience with this situation had me completely at sea. Perhaps I would be stuck there until the next day. But at least I was inside the city, unlike the folks stuck outside the gate on the entrance road.
I had assumed that I needed to find Tommy to get the keys back, but soon discovered that Tommy had left the keys on the front seat of the truck. Thus it occurred to me that the best course of action would be to wait out the mud until it dried, and then drive the truck back myself.
While in my chair, I soon began to be thankful for the entire turn of events. Being removed from camp that way, and being by myself with all our stuff, somehow allowed me a second-chance at entering camp and setting up. I began to re-evaluate my initial plan to set up a monkey with the tarp and pvc I had bought, and to use the truck simply as storage. I thought: "why not use the truck itself as a room?"
I couldn't help but feel that this little adventure was a gift---my first intense strange experience at this year's Burn.
While contemplating all this in forced leisure and laziness, I soon received a few visitors at my lodging, both of them from Airport, which is the name of the official camp that surrounds the airport itself, full of the folks who run and maintain the facility.
The first was a burly guy who introduced himself and told me he was in charge of the radio-controlled aircraft there. He had walked over to tell me, in a somewhat scolding tone, that I was not allowed to drive at that point, since all the the traffic in the city was shut down by official order. I tried to ask about when the traffic would be allowed to move again within the city. He told me straight out that I would know it was OK to drive once the traffic at the entrance gate started moving (one couldn't see this traffic from the airport, but the BRC radio would announce it).
Would they allow traffic within the city before that? I asked him. He brushed off my question and told me that I should read the Burning Man Survival Guide. Of course I had read that, long ago, and I tried to joke that "my copy had been in the truck," but that only made him more brusque, and he scolded me back like I was a virgin needed to be schooled.
Nevertheless, despite his attitude, he invited me to camp at Airport with the rest of the folks there. I told him "my girlfriend is back at my other camp," but he kept repeating his invitation. It seemed they needed more folks out here, and the fact that I had a big new gas generator and spare gasoline sitting on the bed of the truck next to where he was standing might have helped juice the idea.
As he left I asked him if he knew "Scottish Tommy," and he said no. It seemed I was on my own for now.
My second visitor was a thinner and more congenial fellow, who billed himself as Blaze and told me he was the "Mayor of Airport." He had a relaxed feeling of being in charge, so I believed him of course. He essentially repeated the same information as the first fellow (as well as the same invitation to camp), but in a much nicer manner.
I explained to him that it was not my trailer at all, and that I had lent someone my truck. He was sympathetic to my plight. After about another half hour he returned and told me that he had received the official announcement.
He told me, however, that once the traffic started moving that I would need to move the truck and trailer right away, since its current location smack in front of the gate to the airfield was completely unacceptable. For now, however, I had to stay put. He explained that "no one was allowed to move" and that all plane flights in and out of the city were cancelled.
"We've been turning away everyone," he said, somewhat proudly. "Even helicopters and private jets," he said, implying that there were very wealthy people quite angry that they were not allowed to land.
After our pleasant interaction, he returned about half an hour later to announce that he had just heard on the radio the official confirmation that traffic within the city was allowed to move again. On the one hand I rejoiced, but this also meant I needed to move the trailer immediately.
I explained to him that I had never moved such a thing, and I had only rented such a large truck for the first time. He was sympathetic to this as well and told me he would help me. He said we could park the truck on the other side of camp, and that he would do it for me if I wished. I gratefully accepted his offer and gave him the keys.
With my help, he circled the truck around and guided the trailer to a spot next to the nearby latrines, in a such a way as to obscure them from the road for visual effect. I sensed he was somewhat disgusted by the situation regarding Tommy's trailer, in particular the lack of certain items needed to secure it decently. As such he put the trailer in such a manner so that the side door was right next to the latrine doors, so that somewhat might go inside the trailer by mistake, he said, somewhat wryly.
As he handed me back the keys, I expressed my deep thanks for his help and told him that I had actually had quite a bit of fun through this entire adventure.
"It usually takes me the entire week to get to this level," I told him.
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