As dawn begins to lighten the sky, a light sculpture with shapes stands out against the playa with mountains in the background.

I was awakened by first light, so I decided it was a good time to visit the man. I figured I would take pictures along the way of interesting things. This arrangement of things with lights was the first one that caught my eyes.

I saw this? these? in other places on other days, so it must have been a vehicle...

 

The most noticable thing on the playa by far was the man. I walked over there. The base of the man was supported by a geodesic dome with a few things inside it. By far the most interesting was this gizmo.

 

I followed the instructions and set the switches appropriately. Then I made up a wish for world peace.

After launching a wish for world peace, I went outside to watch the sun come up on a new day.

Click above to watch that sunrise. There was a lot more art that grabbed my eyes last year and the year before. This time I just wasn't inspired by the first few things I saw to gather pictures. Instead I went back to see what had developed on the Group W campsite while I was out.

Greg had been there since the beginning, but this was the first time I took a picture of his bumper.

I guess he is the political W at Group W. Later, I think it was still Wednesday, I was talking to a Republican who said he was going to vote for W because the military needs another war every decade or so to keep from getting soft. I guess he thought we all thought like that. I hope he figured out he shocked a couple of people. Anyhow, I didn't talk to that guy again.

 

Aaaanders was up early to. He was puttering around the Group W bar, but he took a moment to pose for this picture. Aaaanders is the creative force behind Group W, and he seems to know enough people in the Burning Man system to get us a good campsite year after year. If you're ever in Black Rock City stop by and get the guy to put a tattoo on you. It'll look good for a couple of days and the fade, leaving a reverse tattoo in your skin if you spend much time in the sun. I've had those reverse tattoos last for weeks, which is usually fine.

By the following evening this campsite had christmas lights to add to its festiveness and a shower to add to its functionality. When Larry started going to Burning Man as part of Ish he local to Silicon Valley, but since then he's gone back to Washington State. It was nice to get caught up on how things are going for him.