Splinter Goes to a New Home

While at Burning Man, Peter meets Mike and Cork from Redding.  Mike owns a similar camper van and loves it, so Cork offers to buy Splinter from Peter.  As Peter has been coveting an RV with slides, he agrees and the deal is made.  We meet them at the Nut Tree Airport to complete the transaction on a day the temps are hovering around 105 degrees.  While the Redding guys are fine with the heat, us coastal dwellers suffer.

Mike, Cork, and Peter with Splinter

It's a Friday afternoon and already traffic has piled up coming out of the Bay Area, so we decide to take I-5 south to avoid the weekend crowd.

Downtown Sacramento

Golden Hills of California

As we travel south we are treated with deepening shadows on the hills and monsoon clouds coming in.

Deepening Shadows

Monsoon Clouds

The sunset turns spectacular over Pacheco Pass.

Starting up Pacheco Pass

Almost to the Summit

By the time we pass Casa de las Fruitas and head towards Hollister, the sunset is in full swing.

Sunset over Fields

Bye, bye Splinter!
We had a great time with you and hope Cork will enjoy you as much as we did.

Now the hunt is on for our next RV.

Burning Man 2011 = Burn keyword

There's a good reason Burning Man is aptly named.  It's *not* a poster event for the lowest carbon footprint. Yes - the Man certainly gets burnt to the ground as part of the cerimonies, but then again so do many other things as well. In fact, just about everything that burns gets burned - acetylene, gasoline, propane, wood, fireworks, etc.

Burning Art Cars

Many of these cars spew flames and explosions, especially at night. Here's some particularly good ones:

The Steam Punk Octopus in action:




Trojan Horse Burn

The larger burns generally follow along in several stages:

Fire Dancers

Fireworks

Followed by explosions

which ignite the structure

until it's entirely engulfed in flames.

The crowds love it... and shout for more.

Transfixed audience

The Man Burn

Of course, the main event is the burning of the Man itself.

Pre-burn fire dancers

Spectacular fireworks show

The Man ignites

and burns.

That's it folks - time to pack up and go home.

Leaving the next morning...

Shane's hitching a ride, Doug looks a little worst for wear

See you again next year!

Burning Man 2011 - Art for Art's Sake

Performance Art

Man - that tuba's smoking!

Fucko's doesn't have ice cream bars, only saltine crackers

Mesmerizing pole dancer

Balloon rides

Didgeridoo breast vibrator

He walks among us

Human sized jellies follow a ship art car at night

Art Installations
Small

Monster Balloon

It's all about taking...

the right perspectives

Medium
Large

The face has joysticks to change facial expressions - eyes, nose, mouth, etc

Larger
The Trojan Horse

Day

Night

THE TEMPLE

The road to the Temple

Almost to the Temple

Waiting to enter

Inside

Ceiling

Sounds of the Temple ...




The Temple at Night
THE MAN



The Man close up and personal
The finished Man

The Man at night