End of Rainbow, no pot of gold - trip re port

“Started out for Chicago to party with old friends on Wednesday. Gotta luv the traffic out there, what the hell was I thinking! Anyway, on Thursday it was pretty much a drinkfest. The rules:

Start at 11:00, end whenever.
Mission, get through 10 caes of beer between the 9 of us.

Needless to say, I haven't drank that much since college. Lots of fun, but I went to bed early for the next days big adventure.

Friday - headed out to meet SmileyGirl in the upper hand part of MI. Arrived around 2:30, SG nowhere to be seen. Poor planning on my part, but c'est la vie. I decided to head to Hartwick Pines. The sites were full (it's the 4th, again, lack of planning). I headed to Jones lake, which was reccomended by the rangers at Hartwick. Found a spot and set up camp. The place had about 909 sites, and I found the only empty one. AFter 15 minutes, I saw two cars circling looking for a campsite. Some hot chick rolled down her window and asked if I knew of any empty sites, and that she'd been looking for something for 3 hours. I told her no, but they were welcome to camp on my site becuase I had plenty of room (here comes the interesting part)

Hottie takes me up on it, and rols out of her car:

Three kids
Her female friend &
Some Marylin Manson lookin' dude with a #&%!$ that said "Pagans Rock"

They told me that they were coming back from some Rainbow Outing, which I immediatly knew was very bad based on reports from fellow TT'rs out west.

FYI - Rainbow people are hippie Dead followers that decided to go camping after Jerry died.

Anyway, sfter they set up camp, they rolled out the bongos, guitars, and native american flutes, started singing and dancing war protest/feminist tunes, and smoked huge amounts of ganja in front of the kids. Then they mooched food of ole' BB, and then, they started discussing how ancient civilizations worshiped female dieties, and that wars and violence didn't exist.

Thank god I study this stuff, and am the former president of HMWH Club. I refuted just about everything they were talking about with these foriegn things called facts. Anyway, to make a long story short.... after they cleaned me out of food, and I saved one of the kids from burning alive in the fire (mom was too engrossed in anti-war song) I hit the sack and GOT THE HELL OUT OF THERE the next morn.

It's funny, usually, the a$$holes blaring AC/DC are the folks that really annoy me when car camping, but I almnost welcomed them this time around.

I may never car camp again. And I'll definately plan better next time.

Peace, love, kill some Al Queda guys..., out.

BB”

“Hmmmmmmmmmm, a friend who had been in Wyoming like 3 weeks ago was headed home and he picked up hitchikers. Cuz, he said, they looked harmless enough and it was a couple anyhoo, the girl in the dress with dreadlocks.

Course, he got a closer look when they got into his Jeep CJ equivalent with the top off (Isuzu Amigo)..... the "GIRL" had a goatee. Now we're used to seing the bearded Amish grandma in the store in Preston, but this was not Preston, nor was *HE* Amish. LOL!!

Everyone said, GEEZ, a couple, they coulda killed ya. A knife at the throat from the back seat, while the guy in the front seat would grab the wheel.

Oh, he said, they looked femmie (well, there was the dress!!) AND HERE'S THE KICKER you waited to long for: Ends up they were headed to a Rainbow event. They rode with this guy from near Cheyenne or somewhere like that halfway across Minnesota. I can't remember if they cleaned out his food or not. I'LL ASK!! :-)”

“BB - LMAO. That couldn't have been funnier to read if you made it up.

Thanks for sharing.”

“Great trip report there BB,..Thanks for sharing it!”

“Buddha, ya left out the most important part.

Did ya nail it?”

“Buddha, you consistently find the really interesting side of life....LMAO!”

“You drove right thru Muskegon, I bet. You shoulda stopped in for a beverage on Friday eve. I was there for a wedding.

Sounds like an interesting weekend!”

“lmao! Ya gotta watch out for those Rainbow people.”

“Lmao. What some guys get themselfs into for a long shot a some 'tang. (myself foremost)

great story!”

“I knew I was reading about this Rainbow thing in Michigan. From the Michigan Tech Alumni E-newsletter:

"RAINBOW" GATHERING CONTINUES: Thousands of Rainbow Family
members marched to a meadow in the Ottawa National Forest in
Ontonagon Country Thursday for a meditation and prayer
circle. The U.S. Forest Service has attempted to keep the
8,000 people away from a site considered archaeologically
sensitive and not able to sustain the waste such a group
generates. Several arrests were made and the group refused
to apply for a free permit for the gathering. Daily Mining
Gazette reporter Steve Neavling wrote: "An hour before the
prayer service, participants spread across the meadow to
meditate, stretch and freely share drugs. A low, ominous
chant resonated from the assembled multitude as they joined
hands. After 10 minutes, family members hugged, blew horns
and drummed."”

“7/5/02

Rainbow prayer circle peaceful

Forest Service watches, but uses no force

By STEVE NEAVLING
Gazette Writer
CHOATE — Thousands of Rainbow Family members marched to a meadow and joined hands in prayer Thursday, despite government efforts to stop gatherers from entering the disputed section of the Ottawa National Forest in Ontonagon County.
About 8,000 peace supporters — dozens naked — massed on a high rolling meadow at noon for a meditation and prayer circle, the high point at the annual gathering of the Rainbow Family of Living Light.
U.S. Forest Service officers on horses, four-wheelers and foot spread out on hilltops, but made no effort to forcibly remove gatherers from part of the Choate town site, where at least 20 people were arrested in the past two weeks.
Forest Service officials have feared gatherers would damage the archaeologically sensitive area and ordered the site closed June 23.
Despite warnings of arrest, family members journeyed down a 2-mile dirt path through a forest of pines and birches, and walked across a bridge participants erected with logs, mud and twine.
An hour before the prayer service, participants spread across the meadow to meditate, stretch and freely share drugs.
A low, ominous chant resonated from the assembled multitude as they joined hands. After 10 minutes, family members hugged, blew horns and drummed.
The prayer circle is the gathering’s definitive moment, when diverse people share a moment of unity, Rainbow Family members said.
Jeremy Mlnarit, a bearded man with a gray-streaked ponytail and wire-rimmed glasses, sat along a dirt path with his dog after the circle disseminated. He said life is too short to spend stressed out.
For a living, Mlnarit tie-dyes T-shirts at his home in Chippewa Falls, Wis. and sells the creations at festivals and concerts. Mlnarit takes winters off “to play,” he said.
“I don’t want to wait until I’m too old to enjoy life,” Mlnarit said. “It seems like so many people work and work, then get sick and die. They don’t get time to play. I don’t think I want to do that.”
Some participants describe the gathering as a utopian exercise of communal living. The annual get-together attracts a wide range of people, who assemble from all parts of the globe.
Participants currently are occupying a densely wooded area, where they erected massive campgrounds and a makeshift town. About 25 wood-fired kitchens are set up to feed campers.
With no religious or political affiliation, the Rainbow Family draws a diverse group of people.”

“buddha does it all for the nookie.

whoa...”

“The only thing Mr.Dready would've killed ya with would been with his killer kindbud.”

““I don’t want to wait until I’m too old to enjoy life,” Mlnarit said. “It seems like so many people work and work, then get sick and die. They don’t get time to play. I don’t think I want to do that.” ...With no religious or political affiliation, the Rainbow Family draws a diverse group of people."

I dunno, sounds good to me.”

“None of them Rainbow hippies in the Adirondacks, BB.. you would have had fantastic hiking, spectacular views, the company of some real joksters, and only black flies to contend with had you joined us! :-P

Oh yeah, I forgot to mention the hot naked chicks who had lost their clothes while washing them in the brook in my trip report. They turned out to be very "friendly". I just didn't want to go off-topic.”

“Damn! I knew I made the wrong decision! Hey, you have to go to Towndawg's Cook-off II in Dec or Nov. It is a blast.

BB”

“Buddha, the picture you paint brings a big grin here.

The Rainbow gathering was only about an hour's drive north of me. Various elements of the "tribe" drifted through Rhinelander during last week. Easy to spot in the supermarket -- a trio, two gals and a guy in standard neo-pagan regalia, consulting a tattered shopping list near the checkout lanes, the only item picked up so far was the fistfull of TOPS rolling papers the guy clutched.

Lots of happy mosquitoes near Watersmeet, full of Rainbow blood and making lots of baby skeeters.”

“I'm guessing you went to the wrong end of the rainbow!

”

“LMAO!

For some reason my uncle's younger days of running across the Canadian border for beer just came to mind!”