Quincy, CA: The High Sierra Music Festival!

Leaving Bozeman and heading back west we had a record-breaking day of driving. It was our longest single stretch yet, clocking in at just over 15 hours on the road! We also drove through the hottest weather we've ever encountered with the temps reaching up over 100 inside the van. And to top things off we spent our very first overnight in a Walmart parking lot in Winnemucca, NV! What a day! The Zinger drove like a champ and maintained safe temperatures throughout the day.

The next day was a relatively short 5 hr drive to Quincy. We arrived well before the festival gates opened (a full day and several hours to be exact) and spent some time swimming in the local river. We even took river baths! (Don't worry, we have safe soaps) We stocked up on supplies at the local grocery store, which at this point was being overrun by a happy mob of festival goers and VW vans of all sorts! When Barbie and Bobby showed up they had some good news. They didn't have their van but they weren't selling it either, it was still at 'the doctors' getting fixed for thousands of dollars less than they had originally thought. 

Team VT arrived at the early waiting parking lot around 5pm. We were probably one of the first 100 people in the lot but because we didn't feel like sitting in line all night we definitely weren't the first 100 people into the festival. We cooked a good meal, partied with our neighbors and all 4 of us slept in the van. When we eventually got into the fairgrounds the next morning to set up camp we were surprised to find that thousands of people had already claimed spots. Apparently they had paid extra money for this privilege. For those of us just arriving it quickly turned into a mad dash to grab land that must have been similar to the old Wild West days. The flat camping spots were going quick but we snagged one in between a path and a fence for our main hangout spot aka 'The  Junkyard'. A lot of people passed through but everyone was friendly and at night we would light the path with glowsticks. Barbie and Bobby set up a tent nearby and we set ours up on the bottom of a hill a few yards away. We ended up setting up our hammocks in some trees up on the hill and when several neighbors did the same Hammock Town was formed. After the initial craziness of camp set up it was time to relax. The next 4 days were going to be filled with fun and music!

Unfortunately we didn't take many pictures but here's one of the lineup- your imagination will have to fill in the rest!

The fairgrounds contained several different musical venues: a big main stage, a slightly smaller stage with overhead shade cloth, a smaller tent venue, 3 different buildings with music and events, and a lawn filled with tightropes (aka slack lines), hammocks, and early morning kickball games! Pretty much everything in between was jam packed with tents, EZ ups and more VW vans and buses than we've EVER seen! There must have been over a hundred no problem! Everything was within easy walking distance and we could hear the main stage (and sometimes the 2nd big stage) right from our campsite. We spent the days and nights walking around to the different venues, hosing off at the solar shower, and listening to music from the comfort of Hammock Town. It was a very laid back and relaxed atmosphere. 

Thursday was the 4th of July and the highlight of the night was Robert Plant (of Led Zeppelin fame) There weren't any fireworks which was kind of strange but due to the extremely high risk of wildfires it was understandable. The nights were cool and sometimes humid but the days were hot, sunny and dusty and water and sunscreen were even more valuable commodities than beer itself. Luckily we had plenty of everything! We set up our solar shower in Hammock Town and even brought it out to a few shows, twirling it around and showering people around us. Everyone loved it!

Friday night was a crazy one, Primus was the main act and after that John Scofield Über Jam Band played late night. We dressed up and danced extremely til the wee hours of the morning! Sleeping in the  hammocks and waking up to the sounds of cheering from the kickball field was great fun! Saturday we caught VT based Rubblebucket and listened to more Uber Jam, this time from the hammocks. Bobby convinced us to check out a band called Octopus Nebula which ended up being one of our favorites and then we saw Thievery Corporation on the main stage (they were awesome live!) Still being kind of tired from the night before we called it an 'early' night around midnight. 

By Sunday people had already started packing up. Having no place in particular to go to Monday we had purchased tickets to a late night show (one strange thing about this festival was that they sold separate tickets for the 'late night' acts which didn't even start til 2am) We paced ourselves by hanging out at camp for most of the day, listening to the soul music of Lee Fields and some reggae by Steel Pulse. We eventually ventured out to catch a little more Rubblebucket, moe., and then our late night show, Papadosio.

The casual atmosphere continued during Monday morning's exodus. We drove the van right in and loaded up. Even though there were literally VW vans everywhere we still got a lot of compliments and everyone was amazed at the story of our trip. We took Barbie and Bobby back to the swimming hole we had found for some lunch and another river shower. After scoring Internet at the local library we parted ways. The next time we'll see them will be in NY at our friends Maggie and Sean's wedding. We made our way back into the desert to the Boomtown Hotel and Casino near Reno, NV (Barbie and Bobby played the hotel card as well). We passed out early and didn't even have time to gamble! Their Internet wasn't working but hopefully someday soon we'll be able to upload some more pictures! Stay tuned!