At my first Burning Man, I had no idea then just how much this weekend would change my life. I was living in San Francisco in a tiny studio with my friend, Dave. He came home one day with a flyer for this crazy gathering in the desert in Nevada and 10 minutes later we were both ready to be there. Since neither of us owned a car at the time, we called the Burning Man ride share and found a one way ride in a Saab with some guy we didn't know. We figured that lots of people would be going back to SF and we would hitch hike back. Dave and I packed small backpacks, one small tent, about $50 worth of food, 20 gallons of water, a small bag of extra-curricular activities and off we went.

When we arrived it was huge, hot and the Man was the coolest thing I had ever seen. The whole weekend was a blur. We wandered around from camp to camp. It seemed like there were only three or four hundred people, it doesn't seem like that many people now but they filled the playa with art, sounds, and craziness.

That year a woman came and built six or so 10 foot wooden figures. She constructed them with steel apitures and brought a truckful of flexible tree branches which she used to form these beautiful dancing people. She then put all the extra bits of branches in center camp and helped anyone who wanted build little works of art to light on fire. I made my first burning art there which was a 12 inch Burning Man that guarded our tent for two days and we light him on fire the last night. Her sculptures were set up three on each side of the Man and set on fire just before the Man. They were incredible on fire. It was easier to concentrate on the smaller pieces then because there were less people, less art and a little more space. ( Does anyone know this women's name?)

One of the best times I ever had was working the gate that year with Dave. First, someone gave us a ride out to "the little silver trailer in the middle of nowhere" where we were to work for the next six hours. He was a local with an incredible air conditioned 92' Suburban. At the time it felt like being on the Concord up on the moon. This guy gave us a few high speed turns that felt like nothing I had ever felt before because of how the Playa kind of grabs on to the wheel as you turn, your tires sinking into it four inches, feeling a little like you are glued to the earth but could fly off forever if you let go. He eventually dropped us off at "the little silver trailer in the middle of nowhere" and we had really really memorable experience.

There we are, out there, just the two of us and this camper. People would drive up, Dave and I would become completely animated and silly, I would do a little tumbling and we would welcome them to Burning Man. We collected their tickets or money or whatever, gave them a flag for their car, directions to central camp, list of the day's events, then wait for the next car. This was so much fun we really felt a part of it all. We were ambassadors, ticket takers, performers and doing it all, there in the middle of the playa, over and over again for each new arrival. We collected several hundred dollars, ate a yummy lunch, and met dozens of cool people. I recommend to everyone to volunteer for a little work at least once at Burning Man. It was an experience I shall never forget and is an important part of what Burning Man is all about.

After it was all over, we swore we would return next year with more stuff, more friends, more Art and more sun screen. We cleaned up our little bit of playa, packed up our bags, gave away four gallons of unused water, walked out to the exit of camp, stuck out or thumbs and hitched hiked back home.