word made its way round the hippie network and reached me sometime at the end of may. moontribe, the monthly full moon desert gathering, was celebrating its 11th (ELEVENTH!!??!?) anniversary. anniversary parties are always such fun but i suppose its the price you pay for realizing how much older you've become. has it really been 7 years since i went to my first moontribe party?
tbug had work to do and i had homework for my monday class but sometime round wednesday nite i decided that i had to make it happen. tbug got bitched out via celly to motivate and take care of business and i kept the books cracked until my assignment for biz law was completed. made sure with the powers that sign the checks that i could take friday off work and procured an SUV from an auto rental agency cause rumors had it that the path to the party spot would be unpaved and unfriendly to cars with less than 2 feet of ground clearance (as it turns out the scoob could've eaten those mountain roads alive).
the hosts for the moontribe collective were the tule river indian reservation, out past the citrus orchards of bakersfield, the mobile home parks of porterville, and up some mountain roads that were precariously perched above some steep cliffs. the drive to and from LA was about 4 hours each way and worth every fucking minute. the people of the tule reservation were gracious hosts and joined the party. the tribal elders stopped by on friday morning to say hello and pick up one of the senior members of the tribe, a wheelchair-bound man who spent all nite keeping the beat with the djs, moontribe stand-bys treavor, brad, john kelly, and brian. the old dude outlasted me, who plead 'nolo contendre' at around 6 am friday and crashed in the homie lisa's tent.
since tbug and me left LA at around 10 pm we didn't arrive at the spot until well after midnite. during the drive up we could smell how clean the mountain air was and get an idea of now idyllic the setting was but it wasn't till i woke on friday did i realize just how amazing the location was. a freshwater stream bisected our camp and ran under a land bridge. tall trees were everywhere on dramatic sloping mountains and the areas between maintained a cool breeze. tbug and i went on a hike on friday morning to check out the waterfall and drink fresh spring water.
the rental had to be back in LA by friday afternoon so tbug and me split shortly after noon. we did spot the tule river indian casino on the way out and contemplated a making a stop as i figured it'd be hard to operate a casino these days that didn't offer poker. of course, tbug passed out before we were even halfway down the mountain so i pressed on.
it strikes me that cosmic justice must exist in some form or another because indian gaming has taken off at such an extent. after years of being kicked around by the white man, the native americans are finally getting a bit of what's there's back. after being force fed whiskey and twinkees (the rates of alcoholism, obesity and diabetes among native americans is quite alarming), indian gaming is finally able to prey on the vices of others. give them blankets infected with small pox and get in return pai gow poker and tight slots. is this how success is achived, by preying on others' weaknesses? this subject will have to be visited in the blog future.
tbug had work to do and i had homework for my monday class but sometime round wednesday nite i decided that i had to make it happen. tbug got bitched out via celly to motivate and take care of business and i kept the books cracked until my assignment for biz law was completed. made sure with the powers that sign the checks that i could take friday off work and procured an SUV from an auto rental agency cause rumors had it that the path to the party spot would be unpaved and unfriendly to cars with less than 2 feet of ground clearance (as it turns out the scoob could've eaten those mountain roads alive).
the hosts for the moontribe collective were the tule river indian reservation, out past the citrus orchards of bakersfield, the mobile home parks of porterville, and up some mountain roads that were precariously perched above some steep cliffs. the drive to and from LA was about 4 hours each way and worth every fucking minute. the people of the tule reservation were gracious hosts and joined the party. the tribal elders stopped by on friday morning to say hello and pick up one of the senior members of the tribe, a wheelchair-bound man who spent all nite keeping the beat with the djs, moontribe stand-bys treavor, brad, john kelly, and brian. the old dude outlasted me, who plead 'nolo contendre' at around 6 am friday and crashed in the homie lisa's tent.
since tbug and me left LA at around 10 pm we didn't arrive at the spot until well after midnite. during the drive up we could smell how clean the mountain air was and get an idea of now idyllic the setting was but it wasn't till i woke on friday did i realize just how amazing the location was. a freshwater stream bisected our camp and ran under a land bridge. tall trees were everywhere on dramatic sloping mountains and the areas between maintained a cool breeze. tbug and i went on a hike on friday morning to check out the waterfall and drink fresh spring water.
the rental had to be back in LA by friday afternoon so tbug and me split shortly after noon. we did spot the tule river indian casino on the way out and contemplated a making a stop as i figured it'd be hard to operate a casino these days that didn't offer poker. of course, tbug passed out before we were even halfway down the mountain so i pressed on.
it strikes me that cosmic justice must exist in some form or another because indian gaming has taken off at such an extent. after years of being kicked around by the white man, the native americans are finally getting a bit of what's there's back. after being force fed whiskey and twinkees (the rates of alcoholism, obesity and diabetes among native americans is quite alarming), indian gaming is finally able to prey on the vices of others. give them blankets infected with small pox and get in return pai gow poker and tight slots. is this how success is achived, by preying on others' weaknesses? this subject will have to be visited in the blog future.
VIEW 7 of 7 COMMENTS
mobprod:
Next time it's happening man, drop me a line or hip me to whom/whatever I need to know to come along. I'd really love to check it out. Sometimes you can't completely LA the hippie out of the Oregonian...
freyja__:
*SIGH*