The Wedding Arch9/7/14Somewhere in all of the preparations for Burning Man 2014, my mind had some spare processing power left to muse over the plans for the schoolhouse. Combined with a constant barrage of Burning Man ideas, it came to me that after the Man burned we should salvage some part of him to be used in the construction of the guest cottage we have planned. There are often huge brackets and bolts and cables used in the construction of the Man and most of these survive the fire and collapse. |
The Man is still under construction when we arrive at Burning Man. (photo: Travus) 8/27/14
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At 3:30am Sunday morning after the Man burn Elizabeth and I grabbed some tools and rode our bikes out to the still quite burning pile of wood and metal. We combed through the cooler debris for something useable, but everything harvestable had already been snatched up by other souvenir hunters. We were even teaming up with another scavenger who was working with his own set of tools. One of us would hold a giant nut and bolt steady while the other tried to remove it from the smoldering wood beams that crossed the burn pile 50 feet at a time. Nothing we did could shake loose anything useable. Finally, someone suggested that these pieces could only be freed when the wood had been fully consumed. I stepped over to the place where the closest beam was still lying directly in the fire. I could see glowing pieces of metal laying free in the flames. But creeping carefully (or not so carefully) forward over glowing embers toward real flames could not get me close enough to grab the nuts and bolts. It was too hot and too foolish. Burning Man has been a place for Elizabeth and I to share incredible experiences. It has also been a crucible for testing our relationship. So much of what we’ve become has been formed or touched by the Burns we’ve shared and the Burns we couldn’t share. It seemed so fitting that we incorporate a piece of Burning Man into our lives in this way. But as 4am came and went it seemed like a less and less practical idea. But I was so close. I threw my hood over my head and pulled the drawstrings tight around my face. I had gloves and a channel lock wrench. Moving slowly toward the heat source was not working. Instead I dashed in and made a snatch at the cooler end of the bolt with the wrench. It caught the nut and I dragged the whole piece through the embers as I beat a retreat back to bare playa. Success! The red glow faded after several minutes. An hour later and you could hold the metal in your bare hand. What I did not realize is that I had started something way beyond the original plan to add a token souvenir to our wedding property. |
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| Temple Grace chandelier. (photo: Alec) 8/27/14 |
The following night the Temple burned and collapsed with a great twist as the steel beams that held it aloft finally buckled in the blaze. Elizabeth woke up Monday morning and went out to the pyre. A while later she returned and said that she had found something in the temple burn pile that she wanted, but that it was a pretty big piece of metal and could I come and take a look. |
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Temple Grace. (photo: Travus) 8/30/14
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She's flying Southwest, so we get two free checked bags. But that's it. And we're already loaded to the gills with stuff we need to bring home. The Man bolt is going to add another ten pounds to who knows where? "Okay," let's go see what she has in mind, "But are these going to fit in your checked bags?" "Probably not," she says. And then, "Bring the van." The van?! This is not a practical plan. We're in the middle of the desert. No cell service. No internet. No way to figure out how to ship something home to Minneapolis from the middle of nowhere. |
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| 2009 | 2010 | 2011 |
We drive the 12-passenger van a half mile or so across the Playa to black spot where a dozen or so people are scraping the ground looking for their own souvenirs. Most people are looking for melted screws or baked copper wire. Elizabeth points to a tangle of 20' long steel beams. |
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Temple Grace Burn pile. 9/1/14
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"I mean that bolt thing from the Man is cute and all, but wouldn't it be awesome to build our wedding arch out of Temple beams?" No. There's no way. Getting the Temple beams to civilization meant a shipping company or a storage facility where we could pick them up at some later date and drive them across the country ourselves. That meant Reno. Then we had to figure out how to get them to Minneapolis and up to the Schoolhouse and welded together and mounted in place. So, with only a desire to get married under steel cured in the fire of the Temple Burn, and no access to internet and thus any idea what steps 2-10 would look like, Elizabeth was ready to walk into the ashes and start lifting. |
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| 2012 | 2013 | (photo: John Chandler) 2014 |
On the other hand, it would be awesome. Elizabeth almost always says yes to my crazy ideas, so...what could I do? |
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The structural beams of the Temple dome were not consumed in the Burn. 9/1/14
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The only photo I really regret missing is the one of the two 20 foot beams "inside" the 12 foot van. Elizabeth had to sit in the front of the van and hold them down so they didn't bounce up and tumble out the back. The beams made it back to camp. They made it onto one of our semi trailers. They made it to Gerlach. |
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We can save a thousand dollars if Elizabeth can palletize the steel beams. 9/3/14
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On Tuesday, Elizabeth started making phone calls. She rescheduled her flight. She changed the moving truck return date. On Wednesday she found five pallets somewhere. Inside the truck rope, lumber, and duct tape were used to create a “secure” package weighing in at nearly 500 pounds. On Thursday Elizabeth got up at seven minutes after seven and drove to UPS in Reno. Men. Fork lifts. Bills of laden. |
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| Elizabeth's 500 pound palettized solution. 9/3/14 |
Then she drove to the airport, checked her bags, drove to several gas stations to find diesel, returned the moving truck, called a cab, and rushed back to the airport. Last one on the plane. They closed the door behind her. Two days from now we will pick up two 20 foot 100 pound steel beams from the Burning Man Temple...one of the most sacred places on earth. They burned along with everything else, and yet, they will live again for us in a field in Minnesota and bear witness to the event that will wed me to the woman I love. |
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Success! The arch beams arrive "safely" in Minneapolis. 9/11/14
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NEXT POST: Progress! |
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Burning Man. Yep, it's like that. 2012
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