To Lucidity and back

Lucidity was Big Bessie’s first festival. With me at least; who knows how many festivals this thing’s been to? More than me, I can tell you that for sure. We load her up and set sail. I drop Gatita off at a friend’s house and head to Santa Barbara. Kate in front commandeering. Sarah and Blayne sleeping on my RV bed and its raining and gross out. As we get closer the rain starts dripping onto my lap from the windshield. Sarah tries to bust out my caulk gun and caulk the crack mid-driving. And apparently caulk doesn’t stick to wet plastic…who knew. Duct tape, though, duct works. Yes, it really does fix everything, and then some.  They taped a towel to the windshield and that’s how we drove the rest of the way. Not bad, interesting look for the big V.

We get there in one piece and I get a phone call. I finally found myself a job! Not a great one, not even a permanent, one, but it’s a job! And it will pay for festival season…or at least the gas. My friend Joel that I've known for a years from San Diego, works at ProFlowers and they were hiring seasonal customer service help. The timing couldn’t be more perfect. I start the exact day I come back from my trip #1 and the last day I would be working would be the day I leave for Joshua Tree/Lightning in a Bottle. Perfect time! Again with the coincident!

Lucidity was an incredible time. Small and quaint festival. Even though they said it was 4000 people, it felt like 2000.  Saw lots of people I haven’t seen in a while. Enjoyed mind-exploring opportunities, danced, walked and mingled. Experienced every kind of weather. What with torrential downpours, followed by hail, then sun, then a rainbow, then some more rain, then a DOUBLE rainbow!! Oh ya…it was Fing magical! And cold, really cold, then hot, then perfect. And they say California doesn’t have weather.

Having big bertha has made me so spoiled. I will never again have a tent at a festival. Sleeping in there when I want and having some place to call my home, quiet time and all of my clothes to select from is definitely a luxury. Aaaaaannddd there’s a bathroom! We arrive in the mud and park where we get stuck. Sort of sticking my butt in the way, but its all good. After about 8 strapping young men come running to try to rescue me, we all decide its fruitless, and this is where I lay, we decide to have a drink and fuck the bad parking job. I mean, I’m already here aren’t I? The silver beacon of adventure.

From Lucidity I was on my own. Driving up to Oakland to do some trim work for a friend, but also see Oakland and San Francisco. The drive took me about 7 hrs. Going 55 the majority of the time, listening to my ipad on the loudest it can go because there’s no stereo….yet. I made it! And now I’m in the lap of luxury, with a bed, and a shower and stuff. That’s right, I’m moving up in the world. I had an incredible time being a tourista for a few days too! Golden Gate Bridge, the Mission, the Fisherman’s Wharf, a Japanese spa house, Height and Ashbury on 420 and an STS9 concert to boot! It was truly an amazing chain of events that lead me there that it couldn’t possibly have been an accident.

Sunday afternoon, I leave to go back to San Diego to start my new fancy job training on Monday. I fill up and realize that that gas gage didn’t move. Soooo, the gas gage doesn’t work anymore. Nice. I decide to guesstimate, that from San Diego to Santa Barbara it took us 4 hrs, and that’s about when I got on E and got stuck in the mud. So that’s how I made the rest of the journey; counting hours. Sunday also turned out to be a hot one, really hot. I start driving and my engine block starts blowing hot air on my foot….the whole 10 hrs I’m in the thing. Normally when its cold, this is a welcoming effect, but when its 95 degrees out, its not quite as pleasant.  I have a burn scar on my ankle to prove it. Not only is it smoldering outside and in. I must have stepped in some poison ivy at Lucidity and itched my knee/calve area with boots, because my legs have some crazy red, itchy bumps all over them, the sweat making them burn and now its crawling up my thigh. Yuck. To anyone worried for my safety about people mugging me, or kidnapping me or something, there is no way a rapist/murder would even want to touch me that day. I was a hot, sweaty mess. Drunk, Mexican bums at a Victorville truck stop, looked at me squeamishly and quickly looked away avoiding eye contact with me. Ladies, take note.

The drive through desert and Bakersfield was not only hotter, but hillier. I must have been a sight, because I was down to boxers and a wife beater, windows wide open and hot air blowing at my foot, some crazy forest rash on my legs, a curtain flying out my passenger window that I can’t reach to pull back in and all in an ugly silver RV that goes about 35 up hills. Have you ever had speeding cars and trucks coming up behind you, and have to swerve around to avoid hitting you? Scary #3. And every 4 hours, I have to fill my gas tank. You think it would be a piece of cake, but no, not in Big Bessy. The gas tank is not secured very well and you actually have to reach in there, grab the tank, sit it on the plastic part then fill the tank. Oh and it blows smoke and gas fumes in our face first. Goooood tiiiiimes!!!