I was starting the longest drive of my travels, a 48 hour journey from Oregon to New Hampshire for the National Rainbow Gathering. Since I was in such a hurry and didn’t have time to sight-see, most of it was uneventful, but I did run into a few hiccups. I would wake up and drive as long as I could, then stop at rest stops to sleep, and as I was driving through Wyoming it started storming, with winds up to 40 miles an hour. I noticed it started sounding extra windy in my bus, and as I glanced back, I realized my moon roof had completely blown off, leaving a big open hole in my roof. I turned around on the highway to try to find it, but it was just gone. I knew it was about to start raining, so I found the closest Walmart and bought a tarp and duct tape. I got up on the bus in the strong winds, taping it down. I used the whole roll of tape and prayed it would hold as the sky opened up and it started to pour.
I thought about stopping for the day, but knew I had a deadline so decided to keep driving. As I did, my back door blew open as I was driving down the highway. I immediately pulled over. This was the second time that’s happened, and I can’t figure out why, but luckily all the animals were safe and it didn’t look like anything was missing. At that point I figured that I should probably stop for the night, so I did, and further anchored my bicycle and the elk skeleton on my hood. I did not want any more mishaps. It hailed much of the night, but luckily my tarp ceiling held strong.
Everything went smoothly for a bit until one evening in Iowa when I decided I really wanted a taco. I don’t normally buy fast food, but I figured I deserved one taco. It was also a bribe to myself to encourage me to drive just a bit further that night. There was a Taco Bell 75 miles from me, and I had 100 miles till empty, which seemed perfect. As I got closer to my destination, my low fuel light came on, and I thought about stopping, but I was so close and really wanted that taco. Ten minutes out my bus started slowing down and my check engine light came on with the warning: “low engine power.” I pulled off the highway just in time because as I was slowing down, the bus engaged the emergency brake and my steering wheel locked up, which seemed unsafe to me. There I was, stuck on the side of the highway. I had Triple A so I called them and asked them to bring me fuel, and they informed me that they would deliver gas but not diesel, which seemed ridiculous! I sat there for a bit trying to figure out what to do and decided to call my insurance company. They do have roadside assistance, but unfortunately that wasn’t in my plan, but they said for $180 they would do it. This seemed excessive, but I was running out of options. I sat there on the side of an 80 mph highway for three hours until the delivery driver showed up with five gallons of diesel. Hoping I could get the price down I asked him how State Farm paid him. They pay him a weekly flat rate, so I asked him if he would be okay with me canceling the roadside assistance on my phone and directly paying him less than the $180 fee State Farm was charging me. It would be a win-win; I would save money and he would get paid by me AND State Farm. Thankfully he said yes, and we agreed on $80.
By the time I made it to Taco Bell, only the drive-through was open. My bus is slightly over 9 feet tall, unfortunately too high to use a drive-through. I spent the night at a nearby Cracker Barrel with no taco.
One good thing that happened on the cross country trip is that I got to stop in Illinois to visit my friend Markie, who I haven’t seen in a year. We hung out, went out to eat and caught up.
The night before I arrived at the Rainbow Gathering, I stayed in a Walmart parking lot two hours away. I ended up meeting some folks who were also headed to Rainbow, so we drove up together. I was grateful we did because I got lost since one of the roads we were supposed to turn down had been turned into a one-way because of the gathering. We eventually found our way and came upon a road lined with cars for miles. I ended up finding a spot about half a mile from Front Gate.
I brought Maggie and Sophie in with me to explore. We aimlessly wandered most of the day, figuring out the lay of the land. I put the dogs back in the bus at the end of the day, which became my routine. They would be with me all day, then around six I’d go to the bus, drop them off, and ride my moped back to the gathering in time for Main Circle. Everybody joined at Main Meadow and different kitchens passed out food. The first night I sat with my friend Shastina and her pup Peter, and after dinner she painted my face. I love getting my face painted, and have ever since I was a kid.
After dinner I set out exploring and ran into my friend Scotty. We had heard about a sky net and were both in search of it. The way to find anything at Rainbow (other than the posted map) is simply asking people you pass. Eventually with the guidance of strangers, we found our way to the sky net. It was out in the woods hung high in the trees behind one of the kitchens. We climbed up the rope ladder and laid off to the side looking up at the stars. It seemed comfortable at first, but it wasn’t long before those ropes started to dig into us and we decided to climb down.
We went back through the kitchen, where I was thrilled to find out they were serving deviled eggs. I hung around the fires and got some tea before deciding it was time to head to bed. As I was saying good night, Josh, who I had just met, asked where my flashlight was. I had simply forgotten mine, and was hoping I would be able to find my way without it. I often walk through the woods at night with just the guidance of the moon, but tonight the sky was dark. Josh handed me a flashlight and told me to bring it back to the stage the next night. I was grateful for the flashlight because I tried to walk without it for a little and ran into a tree. It also made me feel good that someone I had just met trusted me with something of theirs and believed I would return it.
The next day more of my friends started to arrive. Permatours, the volunteer group I began my journey with and still pop in and out of, was coming and setting up their own cafe this year. I helped them set up and started catching up with my friends.
As the day went on, the air grew colder. I had packed a cardigan in my bag, but when I went to retrieve it, I realized I had left my bag open and it was now gone. I decided to wander around to look for it, and as I retraced my steps, it didn’t take me long to find it hanging from a tree. At Rainbow it’s a known rule that there are no ground scores. Anything found is supposed to be hung somewhere for the owner to find. I was grateful to whoever picked my cardigan from the mud and hung it in a tree.
That night I sat with my friend Julia and other people from Permatours at Main Circle. Even though there were a ton of people to feed, there was still plenty of food. We ate soups, salads and rice dishes. After dinner I went to join the rest of the Permatours crew for a little fire at the cafe, and then went with a group to the stage where a talent show was taking place that evening. My favorite performance was a girl who came up to tell the story of a butterfly. The girl asked for a volunteer to act out her story, and two men stepped forward. Their colorful acting made the story great, and by the end of the performance my face hurt from laughing.
The next morning I awoke to the sound of rain. I grabbed my raincoat, pants that weren’t actually waterproof but were silky so I pretended they were, and a bucket hat to protect me from getting wet. I went into the gathering wandering from camp to camp talking to people along the way. It was nice for a while, until the rain soaked into my clothes and I started shivering. I was headed back to my bus when I ran into my boyfriend Jorrie. He had traveled east several months earlier while I explored the West Coast, and there was no cell service here so we hadn’t been able to communicate. It was great reuniting. He was also heading back to his bus, and we spent the rest of that wet day in his bus while he made muffins and bread to bring into the gathering.
On the Fourth of July, Rainbow always starts the morning with silence. It’s my favorite day. Walking through a gathering with a few thousand people and hearing silence is beautiful. Everybody continues with their normal routines, but without speaking. When we pass each other on the trails, we nod instead of yelling “Greetings!” or “Loving you!”
At noon everybody gathered at Main Meadow and held hands. The silence was broken by a parade of children playing instruments. Once the kids reached the center of the circle, we collectively “omed” before throwing our hands up in celebration while we joyously screamed. With the silence broken, drumming and laughter exploded as everybody started dancing.
I went to find my friend Julia to join the other dancers. As we made our way over, the sky open up and it started pouring. Some ran for cover under the tarps, but the dancers kept dancing. We ran over and joined them, jumping and twirling about in the pouring rain to the beat of the drums.
We spent the day wandering about, eating good food, doing AcroYoga and enjoying all the randomness. My friend Rivit had glitter paint and painted my face and collar bone, and I spent the rest of the day hanging out with my friends taking it all in. At the end of the day we had a fire, and it was the perfect way to wind down.
I spent the next few days soaking in the love from my friends, enjoying the company and making new friends along the way.
On one of my last days of the gathering a dog fight broke out next to me. My instinct is always to jump in and try to break it up. This time I ended up getting bit on my middle finger. It was a deep wound that left a chunk of flesh and skin hanging as blood poured out. I quickly decided I should go to Everybody’s Medical, the medical area at the Gathering. A woman who was nearby walked over with me.
They were impressed with my wound and when I apologized for taking up their time, they told me they were excited as most of the other wounds were foot wounds from everybody walking around the forest in bare feet. They stopped the bleeding and soaked it in water. I sat there and watched as the man pieced my skin back together like a puzzle. One of the guys wanted to stitch it, but the other said he could just Steri-Strip it. I went with the man who didn’t want to use needles.
They washed it out with peroxide and water and had me soak it in a tea made from a plant from New Mexico that was supposed to draw out infection before placing the Steri-Strips. They put some red liquid from a dropper on it and then bandaged it up the rest of the way. They told me that I should get a rabies shot and to watch out for infection. I had no intention of getting a rabies shot since I really hate needles. And I hoped that it wouldn’t get infected since I didn’t want to have to make a trip to urgent care.
By this time the Gathering was winding down. After saying our goodbyes to old and new friends, Jorrie and I took off in our buses with our combined three dogs and one-eyed cat, hitting the road to travel together again.
Thanks for reading!
This blog is one of the ways I finance my travels and donations are greatly appreciated.
my PayPal is:
Teagandavis47@gmail.com
my cash app is:
$TeaganDavis47
My Vemo is:
@TeaganDavis47
If you would like to subscribe to my blog there is a section where you can on my homepage. You can unsubscribe anytime and will only get emails when I post a new blog.
Comments