Twisted Fate: Unexpected meetings on I-80

I returned to Black Rock City on the playa this year for a Burning Man reunion with the inhabitants of Burnstream Court. Every year these delightful folks allow their Airstream trailers to get covered with fine, white bentonitic clay, blown up from the Black Rock Desert playa, in order to enjoy each others' company and the excitement and art of another burn. Burnstream Court is a theme camp of Airstream trailers that was started by Arc (Ray Koltys) at Burning Man 2002 and has grown bigger every year. Kelly is the charming, hard-working lady who organizes the camp every year and keeps up the website.
This is a great group of friends from around the country that I look forward to seeing every year. My 1977 Airstream Argosy motorhome fits right into the neighborhood.


There's never enough time to see all my friends that come to Burning Man each year. I hooked up with Bill Kositzky, the accomplished Reno photographer who has had a number of Burning Man photos published, and has taken some stunning photos of Reno's fire performance group, Controlled Burn. We had a chance to take some photos and compare cameras. Then I tracked down Kim and Tina from UNR and caught up with changes in the IT department at my old job, and just generally enjoyed hanging out. Saturday night they burned the man for the second time this year, and then they burned the oil derrick. I managed to find Collin and Juliana at home in their trailer on the other side of Black Rock City, and shared dinner and champagne at sundown on Sunday. Sunday night's temple burn was particularly moving, and I ran into a old musician buddy while searching for my bicycle afterwards, amongst thousands of others, with my GPS.

There was so much to do and so much to see that I didn't spend as much time as I wanted with the folks at Burnstream Court. Sooner than we wanted Burning Man was over, and we all went our separate ways back to the default world.

On Tuesday morning I was heading back to a gold-drilling project outside of Lovelock, Nevada. A tire on my Argosy exploded on eastbound I-80, but I made it to an exit ramp and started to put on the spare.

I'd never had to change a tire on the Argosy before, so this was when I learned I didn't have adequate tools for the job. I called AAA for help, and they said someone could come to my aid in about four hours. I needed to get to work, so I needed help sooner than that! I began to improvise with what I had, and was wishing really hard for a hydraulic floor jack, when a blue vehicle pulling a familiar Airstream Globetrotter pulled up.

It was Arc! And his lovely wife Mary. They were on their way from Reno back to Chicago, had seen my vehicle in distress, and had turned around to come and help. In the spirit of the playa, Arc always thinks of others first. He immediately sized up the situation, dug into his tools, and came out with a floor jack. Just the thing! Improvise a few more tools and we'd have this fixed in no time! He and I were busily engaged in the project while Mary offered suggestions, when suddenly, behind us, there was the awful, heartbreaking sound of slowly grinding steel against aluminum! We turned to look, and could not at first accept what was happening. An eighteen-wheeler was coming to a stop, the back of Ray and Mary's beautifully restored Airstream Globetrotter ground up in his rear wheels!

No good deed goes unpunished. I was heartbroken that this had happened to my friends, but this is when I learned the quality of their character. I knew Ray had spent hours in the Chicago rain restoring the aluminum on the back of his trailer, and this had to be upsetting. And yes, he wasn't happy. But he was totally in control of the situation, and he had his personal values in order. And again, with Ray, it is others first. He was truly concerned about the driver of the truck, who it turned out was also an Airstream enthusiast, and who was devastated that his truck had damaged such a valuable old trailer. While settling insurance issues Ray actually managed to make a new friend. Because that's the kind of guy he is. Mary seemed to have the same ability as Ray for calm equanimity in a crisis, and despite the outrageousness of the accident and severity of the damage, hostility and recriminations were simply not part of the exchange. Ray did not even want to call the police, hoping the insurance company would simply do the right thing, and not wanting to cause a mark on the driver's record. Because that's the kind of guy he is. This is where I stepped in and called the Highway Patrol anyway, because I had, in the past, lost out in an insurance situation for lack of a proper police report. Ray acquiesced, and the motorcycle cop that showed up and took the report was very cool, professional, and sympathetic to all involved. (I overheard him telling the driver how to get his record cleared with driving school online.) Soon the police and truck were gone, and only two mangled Airstreams remained at the exit.

But Ray had thought ahead, and called for reinforcements. Chris, another of the elders of Burnstream Court, was still in Reno, planning his trip back to Texas. Chris soon arrived with plenty of tools and two Zebracorns in his pickup. He quickly assessed the damage - a torn off bumper, twisted frame, busted window, hanging metal, and so on. Chris doesn't see problems, only solutions. He plugged my drill into his generator, and proceeded to get the job done and get Ray's trailer back on the road. Because that's the kind of guy Chris is. Ray and I worked on getting the bumper tied up away from the pavement, and in the middle of all this the AAA guy showed up hours early and quickly finished changing my blown out tire. In no time, Ray's Globetrotter and my Argosy were battle-scarred but roadworthy again. Hugs all around, we wished Chris a safe journey home, and Ray, Mary and I again turned east on Interstate 80.


We parted ways at the Fernley exit, and headed once more for our own piece of ground in the default world. All the best to Ray, Mary, Chris, Kelly, Dan, Monte, Anne, Aja, Tim, Kurt, Paul, Stan, Jim - too many to mention! Thanks for making Burning Man 2007 a great time! Have a good year, and I'll see you on the playa in 51 weeks.

Back at work, finding more gold in the hills of Nevada. This is the fun part...