The 1998 National Rainbow Gathering was held at Greens Peak, AZ. I had a great time. Sundog Kitchen did not make it to this gathering. It was just to stressful to drive the kitchen all the way out west, again. Plus I think it has to do with some restructuring of the kitchen core crew. I went anyway. I opened up a little coffee shop, called The Java Lounge, with a brother named Lobo. We made high test java. The other coffee places used five gallons of water to half a can of coffee. We used four gallons to half a can. It really made a difference.
We started the lounge during seed camp. One morning we were having java with a few people and we noticed a helicopter circling. "News copter" we were thinking. A few minutes passed when a couple strolled into camp and said they had seen smoke over where the helicopter was. Out went what was left of our fire. I grabed my handheld cb, shovel, and canteen and was off with Lobo to check it out. We made it to the Krishna tent. "Oh my God!" I said. A thick collumn of smoke was rising off in the distance. I tried radioing in but communications had not been set up yet. I then started to jog towards the fire. I came across Plunker. We then started to rally people to go to the fire and to alert the rest of the camp to prepare for evacuation. Wyoming was still in everyone's mind. We knew the possibilities.
When I made it to the scene Family was already there, as it was closest to Bus Village, along with a Forrest Service fire team. Fortunatly it was under control. The hardest part about that adventure was trying to get Family to let the FS fire crew do it's job. The fire was basicly out, just a few hot spots. The fire burned about a fifty foot circle. It turns out that someone had camped there, had a fire pit, and left it burning or didn't completely put it out.
I make it back up to the lounge, sit down and start to roll a cig. All of a sudden people start yelling "FIRE!" "Not again" I say. So I grab my gear and take off running for that one. It was close to lots of people. We had it put out in no time. Some brother, it turns out, built his camp fire right next to an old stump, with lots off powdered tree all around at about 18 inches deep. I think the bro felt pretty stupid. He was nominated to stand fire watch over his stump to make sure that nothing was missed.
From that point on I was on Fire Watch. I already had had a tough time sleeping knowing how much of a tinder box we were in and the winds with people having these huge fires. A Fire Watch council was also formed. Barry Plunker held Fire training by his tee-pee. I tell you, it was a crazy time. Front gate didn't have a core crew to run it at that time, so people didn't know about fire danger. The Fire Watch Council made decisions about who could have a fire and also threw up it's own red flag (no fires for anyone) even if the FS had one up or not.
One night,about 3:00am, I came across an unapproved fire. Iwas asking them to put it out when a brother came out of the woods and said that there was someone out by his camp yelling fire. I grabbed a bucket and doused the fire I was at and took off with the bro. I also got on the radio and reported what was going on. Through the woods and across the field to the reported fire I go. As I got nearer I could hear someone yelling fire and I was beginning to smell smoke. When I arrived at the scene there was about a five foot area of coals. I radio'd in "This is Shadow. I have a Firecall. Send me some people with buckets and shovels. We might have a root fire, too. I'm above and behind the main springs. Just listen for us yelling fire." Once people got there the whole place was torn up and turned into a mud puddle. That was the second such fire of the evening. Fire Watch threw up the red flag. Camp is to go cold for the rest of the evening. Good thing too. I was making another loop of the camp and I smelled smoke. I knew that all fires should have been put out, so I had to look around. I finnaly found it. A bro had dug a little hole under a pine tree and used charcoal to cook with. They had made a little baracade around there camp so it made finding where the smoke was a little harder. That camp had no shovel and no water. I radio'd up to Ghetto Kitchen and had them send a runner with water and a shovel. As I was digging it up and dousing it, I took a clump of dirt and had the brother feel just how hot the ground gets.
Needless to say, the fire danger was absurd at the gathering. A lot of fire safety education was passed around. By the time the main part of the gathering was going on people were watching out and letting each other know about the fire danger. It was a nice respite from having to wander all around camp at night. I felt safe enough to not go on Fire Watch every night and actually enjoy just hanging out and having good times.
If you didn't hear about the Jacob Isreal incident, here it is from what I saw and was told. LEO's on horseback were taking a stroll by Popcorn Palace. Jacob tried to talk to one of them. When the LEO didn't stop Jacob grabbed the reigns of the horse. The horse turned on him and he slapped the horse on the butt. Some how the LEO's got Jacob and handcuffed him. The Family that was around all converged on the scene, circled Jacob and the cops, each in their own circle, and wisked him away. There were so many people involved that the LEO's couldn't chase after Jacob. Shanti Sena were searching the woods for Jacob to council with him and see what he wanted to do. Fortunatly that was Jacobs idea too. He found us and decided that the best idea was for him was to turn himself in. We arranged a spot with the LEO's and walked with Jacob. He then stripped down naked to get turned in. You should have seen the looks on the cops' face. Jacob is also one of the people that took a ticket for an illegal gathering for the Family.
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