Last week, while I was looking for something I could put on my poop at MutantFest to help break it down, I discovered Tea Tree Oil. I’ve been using it in my toothpaste for a while, but never really realized what the stuff was.

It’s a first aid kit in a bottle. Here is a list of some of it’s uses:

Tea Tree Oil is a natural antiseptic, germicide, antibacterial, fungicide. Many people use tea tree oil for: athletes foot, cold and flu, oral thrush, cold sores & canker sores, tooth ache & gum infections, ringworm, candida, head lice or louse, cleanser additive, gum problems, mosquito bites, bug repellent, cockroaches, deter flees, mouth ulcers, herpes, cuts, abrasions, after shave, sunburn, anorectal or vaginal yeast infections, unwanted body odors, acne, toe nail infections, and many other uses.

The first day of MutantFest, Tina managed to acquire a bug bite above her eyebrow about the size of a quarter. It was huge. When we got back to camp, she put a couple drops of my tea tree oil on it and, after a couple hours, it was practically gone. I also used it as a bug repellent, since I hate putting that Raid stuff on my skin.

I highly recommend picking up a bottle.

I just got back from the Autonomous Mutant Festival. Well, sorta. Directions to the festival weren’t announced until 5PM on the 5th (before that all we knew is that it was probably somewhere in the Randle, WA area) which means that, with traffic, we didn’t arrive till about 10:30PM. Long story short, we basically drove five miles past the festival because it was too damn dark to see anything. I don’t recommend driving in a forest that you’ve never been in at night – especially not one that has crazy bats that fly at your windshield, ala Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas.

On the 7th we attempted to walk to the festival, but only made it about 2.5 miles (up a mountain, I might add). After that, Tina wanted to drive to it, but driving in a national forest is just depressing (sorta ruins the one-with-nature vibe), and I was perfectly happy just camping.

So we started home this morning because Tina had monstrous bug bites and was getting bored. We did see the festival on the way out, but it didn’t look like there were more than a couple hundred people. Overall I’d say that Mutant Fest was a bust, but camping was fun.

Pictures will be up soon.

Posted to the mailing list:

Hey folks: greenjon here. Let me say first that I just got into town, and I didn't read all the emails about sites. I might but have not yet. If someone already found a dope ass site then great! we have two! So then, instead of going to a ten day meditation thingy, I went to scout in Gilford Pinchot NF in Washington. Let's get oriented (these are not "directions": Going North on the 5 from Portland about 68 miles, one comes to 12 East. Going East on 12 for about 50 miles, one comes to the delightful town of Randle. Randle is kool cuz it's the HQ for the local part of Gilford Pinchot NF. THey got pie, too, and you can smoke inside. They even have "DSL" at the biblioteque... Anyway, from Randle you can enter the Forest and jump on the 23. About 40 miles later you take a little road a mile off the road. This splits at a T. One end of the T ends at The Gravel Pit and the other does not : ) The Gravel Pit is about the largest I have seen; they quarries purpley rock there. There are a few piles of gravel left behind (big ones), and between the size and the existing piles I can easily see 3 soundsystems sharing it (SPAZ/5lower/Oly?). The other part of the T goes a short way and then splits in FOUR! Counterclockwise, these (very short) spurs goto: 1): a cul-de-sac with trees in the middle; difficult to picture a full camp here but Droid or Tea Camp might work. 2)a trail that goes about 1 mile down to a big ass lake (more on the lake follows). 3) a proper clearing. 4) steeply up to a little spot (droid or tea camp?). The path down to the Lake is about a mile, and has one very large meadow off of it. Unless people wanted to hike serious gear, this is not a sound system spot but it'd be fun camping and perhaps a good circus spot. Other camping is not totally obvious, as this is heavily forested, but I think there will be enough camping (I didn't bush whack/explore the woods as much as freaks with tents will...). The Lake is BIG (not as big as some in washington, but big). There is free camping there, and a parking lot, and the spur road it is on also connects with the 23. There is plentiful parking on this road. okay then, the cafe I'm in is closingl, just turned out the lights, so I gotta run. If people are still scouting, power to you, and if you turn up a site that can top a Mt. Adams view and a big lake (etc), then do get the word out and we can decide what to do. I may scout a little more, or not, but I think a good time will be had at the spot down 23. greenjon 510-384-5096.

I’m happy. Randle appears to be roughly 3 hours south of me and weather.com’s 10 day forecast puts it in the low to mid 80F. Plus, there’s trees and a lake, which is a nice improvement over PhoenixFest.

Yesterday I formatted Wintermute and reinstalled Gentoo. I had just made some upgrades to it before I left, so I figured this was a good time.

I made it back from PhoenixFest. It was good fun. The days were hot, but bearable and the nights were cool. During the day, we hung out in the shade with our neighbors Jeremy and Dale, who were coffee camp. Most everyone stopped by at one point or another for coffee, so we met a lot of people.

My favorite performance of the whole festival was the 999 Eyes of Endless Dreams Carnival Sideshow of the Damned. Tina and I saw them three nights in a row.

As far as music, there wasn’t really a schedule, so I have no idea who I was seeing and who I liked. I can say that the Combustion stage (mostly psytrance) and the Ambient Room (who’s geo-dome Tina and I setup) were my favorite places. Dragontech was good, too.

Pictures are up here. I didn’t take a lot, since during the night it was too dark and I think flashes ruin the vibe. There is a bit of video, though. It’s all PG. If you want to see topless women lighting their breasts on fire, you’ll have to go next year.

A lot of the burners there seemed to think that PhoenixFest was superior to Burning Man because it was smaller and calmer – more of a community. I was hoping for a little more visual art from Phoenix Fest, like you see in pictures of Burning Man, but Phoenix ended up being mostly a five day rave.

Speaking of alternatives to the playa, I also found out about the Shambhala Festival in B.C.. Apparently a lot of folks who think Burning Man is too corporate now are heading up there. Perhaps I’ll go next year.

All in all, it was an excellent Festival. I plan on going again next year.

Next stop: Mutant Fest.