![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
DMB: Jacksonville, FL
Jul. 15th, 2014 09:32 pmWell, okay, I'm not in Jacksonville, FL watching Dave Matthews Band. I'm in Jonesboro, AR watching DMB...who are in Jacksonville, FL. Via live streaming Yahoo! Screen! I LOVE LIVING IN THE FUTURE!
Wakarusa 2014 Brain Dump!
Jun. 12th, 2014 01:51 pmWakarusa 2014
Wednesday June 4
Left home in time to meet Augie at 1400 in Texarkana. Ate at Cracker Barrel & Ganon went with Augie. Then took route back through Little Rock to hit I-40, & on to Clarksville. Several stops along the way. Conway we got ice, dry ice (I burned my fingers on some, like an idiot), camping groceries, & a charger for Bryan’s Gameboy Advance SP. Little old school gaming during the music, y’know. On to Clarksville, checked into hotel about 2130...and Bryan thought to check his CPAP compatibility with the battery he already had. It was a no! After lots of brainstorming, went to Wal-Mart. Bought a lawnmower battery & a DC-AC converter that came with alligator clips for direct connection to automobile battery! Tested it out at the hotel--it worked! We felt very smart & self-congratulatory. :) Showers, then off to sleep for our last night in civilization.
( On to the rest of the adventure! )
Wednesday June 4
Left home in time to meet Augie at 1400 in Texarkana. Ate at Cracker Barrel & Ganon went with Augie. Then took route back through Little Rock to hit I-40, & on to Clarksville. Several stops along the way. Conway we got ice, dry ice (I burned my fingers on some, like an idiot), camping groceries, & a charger for Bryan’s Gameboy Advance SP. Little old school gaming during the music, y’know. On to Clarksville, checked into hotel about 2130...and Bryan thought to check his CPAP compatibility with the battery he already had. It was a no! After lots of brainstorming, went to Wal-Mart. Bought a lawnmower battery & a DC-AC converter that came with alligator clips for direct connection to automobile battery! Tested it out at the hotel--it worked! We felt very smart & self-congratulatory. :) Showers, then off to sleep for our last night in civilization.
( On to the rest of the adventure! )
So we went to Wakarusa 2013. TL;DR version: it rained a lot, I really hate mud, the music was awesome as usual, & I think next time I want to stay in a hotel. Also: photos.
FIRST! Some definitions for your reading enjoyment:
FestyKid: This is a young person, usually not yet 21. I'm pretty sure they've never held a real job. Their parents probably bought their ticket. They were completely unprepared to camp comfortably under normal circumstances, much less the hellacious weather circumstances we got. They did a lot of drugs, and most gave me the impression they were not there for the music so much as the party atmosphere (& the ability to openly use drugs without legal repercussion); they probably had no idea who Widespread Panic & Umphrey's McGee were, and were mainly spotted at the EDM sets like Baauer & anything else playing at the Satellite Stage. Not all young people at Waka were FestyKids.
Wook (short for wookie): This is a shady type person at a festival. Unkempt & filthy, but that's pretty much the rest of us this year, too. These are the people who come rummaging through the campsites when everyone else is gone. You don't put a lock on your tent, because they'll just cut your tent open.
Ragestick: a decorated stick of any size that you can hold above a festy crowd so your group can find you. Can't find the Creeches? Just look for the staff of Asclepius made out of electrowire. :) Okay so I didn't make one, but if I did it would be that. They are as diverse & individual as people at festivals, & each one says something about the person who made it.
Thursday:
We sat in the security line for AGES. From 1400 arrival, to 2030 when we began setting up our camp. This was mostly because of the weather; we kept having wind/rain intermittently, and any time it threatened to get thunderstormy, the Powers that Were would shut down the festival main venue. Each time that happened, security shut down & stop letting people in. I felt this was a silly tactic; we could've at least been getting to our campsites. I was very glad we'd stopped at the I-40 travel center & filled up the tank.
( The rest of Thursday; photos )
Friday
Was in only a marginally better mood on Friday morning. It started off with someone playing some surreal recording of instrumental sounds (I hesitate to call it music) with some guy doing pseudo-political, New Age conspiracy theory spoken word stuff over it. It was LOUD, and finally we got the guy to turn it off. Seriously, we can't have that crap at 5am...we're trying to sleep!
( Friday, continued; photos )
Saturday
At first I was cranky because of the drips & condensation in our tent. Before I had my coffee, I wrote that I was "beyond disappointed" & "I am no longer a music festie fan if it means camping". I know myself well, though, because I also wrote that I reserve the right to change my mind. Especially for the right lineup. The fact remains, though, that if a hotel & shuttle is an option? I'll probably take it.
After the coffee, my optimism returned...or at least my resilience. Other people had tents down, rain flys blown away, EZ-ups torn & broken. Furniture was missing, the entire contents of tents were soaked, laid out on car hoods to dry. For novice campers, we did EXTREMELY well (I had chosen a good spot on our little piece of land, I had angled the tent so a natural trench ran around it, and I had driven in the tent spikes & the rain fly spikes and THEN put giant rocks on top of them). Even that morning I realized I'd see this as "what I am capable of" and feel less disappointment. I do. I may not LIKE doing this sort of thing, but I'm telling you, I will be EXTREMELY useful should we ever have an apocalypse.
( Saturday continued, with awesome photos )
And then we drove home. We showered & scrubbed off the top layer of our skin, & passed out cold. :) The end.
FIRST! Some definitions for your reading enjoyment:
FestyKid: This is a young person, usually not yet 21. I'm pretty sure they've never held a real job. Their parents probably bought their ticket. They were completely unprepared to camp comfortably under normal circumstances, much less the hellacious weather circumstances we got. They did a lot of drugs, and most gave me the impression they were not there for the music so much as the party atmosphere (& the ability to openly use drugs without legal repercussion); they probably had no idea who Widespread Panic & Umphrey's McGee were, and were mainly spotted at the EDM sets like Baauer & anything else playing at the Satellite Stage. Not all young people at Waka were FestyKids.
Wook (short for wookie): This is a shady type person at a festival. Unkempt & filthy, but that's pretty much the rest of us this year, too. These are the people who come rummaging through the campsites when everyone else is gone. You don't put a lock on your tent, because they'll just cut your tent open.
Ragestick: a decorated stick of any size that you can hold above a festy crowd so your group can find you. Can't find the Creeches? Just look for the staff of Asclepius made out of electrowire. :) Okay so I didn't make one, but if I did it would be that. They are as diverse & individual as people at festivals, & each one says something about the person who made it.
Thursday:
We sat in the security line for AGES. From 1400 arrival, to 2030 when we began setting up our camp. This was mostly because of the weather; we kept having wind/rain intermittently, and any time it threatened to get thunderstormy, the Powers that Were would shut down the festival main venue. Each time that happened, security shut down & stop letting people in. I felt this was a silly tactic; we could've at least been getting to our campsites. I was very glad we'd stopped at the I-40 travel center & filled up the tank.
( The rest of Thursday; photos )
Friday
Was in only a marginally better mood on Friday morning. It started off with someone playing some surreal recording of instrumental sounds (I hesitate to call it music) with some guy doing pseudo-political, New Age conspiracy theory spoken word stuff over it. It was LOUD, and finally we got the guy to turn it off. Seriously, we can't have that crap at 5am...we're trying to sleep!
( Friday, continued; photos )
Saturday
At first I was cranky because of the drips & condensation in our tent. Before I had my coffee, I wrote that I was "beyond disappointed" & "I am no longer a music festie fan if it means camping". I know myself well, though, because I also wrote that I reserve the right to change my mind. Especially for the right lineup. The fact remains, though, that if a hotel & shuttle is an option? I'll probably take it.
After the coffee, my optimism returned...or at least my resilience. Other people had tents down, rain flys blown away, EZ-ups torn & broken. Furniture was missing, the entire contents of tents were soaked, laid out on car hoods to dry. For novice campers, we did EXTREMELY well (I had chosen a good spot on our little piece of land, I had angled the tent so a natural trench ran around it, and I had driven in the tent spikes & the rain fly spikes and THEN put giant rocks on top of them). Even that morning I realized I'd see this as "what I am capable of" and feel less disappointment. I do. I may not LIKE doing this sort of thing, but I'm telling you, I will be EXTREMELY useful should we ever have an apocalypse.
( Saturday continued, with awesome photos )
And then we drove home. We showered & scrubbed off the top layer of our skin, & passed out cold. :) The end.
I always do a photo post, y'know? So here are the photos from Wakarusa! It was BEYOND a blast; I don't really have words to do justice to how much fun it was, even though there were a dozen things stressing me from the outside (not the least of which was work drama).
Headscarf & marabou floofy clip: my uniform for the weekend. I dressed in color schemes the whole weekend; the first day was pink, the 2nd day was all blue, then the 3rd day was all green. It wasn't as outlandish as some things being worn by other people (or as outlandish as what they WEREN'T wearing), but it did get me noticed, especially since I coordinated my waterproof MUFE eyeshadow with the clothes! :)
( And everything else... )
That's a good variety of pics, I think. There are lots more over on Flickr if you're so inclined.
Headscarf & marabou floofy clip: my uniform for the weekend. I dressed in color schemes the whole weekend; the first day was pink, the 2nd day was all blue, then the 3rd day was all green. It wasn't as outlandish as some things being worn by other people (or as outlandish as what they WEREN'T wearing), but it did get me noticed, especially since I coordinated my waterproof MUFE eyeshadow with the clothes! :)
( And everything else... )
That's a good variety of pics, I think. There are lots more over on Flickr if you're so inclined.
