From: Happy Shel
Howdy brothers and sisters:
What a fabulous and enlightening time this year's Gathering was and is!
I got there on Monday, June 30, travelling from Dallas, Texas..1985 miles..arriving during the rainstorm. After parking, I made it to the shuttle stop, and thanks to the brother and his green bus, caught a ride up (the walk was 3.7 miles up a steep and climbing hill). The bus let us out at the quarry, which backed up to Zion Kitchen. The brothers at Zion Kitchen, had cut a foot path into the side of the mountain, for EZ access. I, unfortunately, had way too much stuff [bringing it all in on a 2-wheel cart] and as I attempted to navigate down this foot path, all my shit popped off the cart, bouncing down the mountain. My thanks to Brothers Elk Shit and James for helping me into their kitchen, feeding me, retying my shit to the cart and helping me traverse Main Street [an uphill trip on a muddy road] to Kid Village.
My intentions are always to get into camp before nightfall....but, not this time, due to the weather and my miscalculations.
Originally, I had planned on serving at Kid Village and Magical Veggie Kitchen, but, after my arrival, Spirit came to me and suggested that I help shuttle all my brothers and sisters to Welcome Home. And what a healing I had with shuttle duty and A camp.
Did ya'll know that there is another Gathering that takes place outside of the Camp? I didn't! Shanti Sena is there for the smooth running of the Gathering, from parking and protecting the cars, to protecting all the brothers and sisters from the harassment of LEO's and FS, to maintaining health and safety of the roads and of our brothers and sisters.
Every day, from 2 pm til 6 pm, there were between 7 - 12 LEO's, Sheriff's w/K-9's, [this was the 1st time K-9's came into camp] State Troopers, with 2 per vehicle, 4-6 FS on horseback, coming into the Gathering. Sometimes they came in from the back gate, other times from Welcome Home, and sometimes, the horsemen attempted to sneak in. Thank goodness for the Shanti Sena, who were able to monitor their presence via CB radio and protect all of us from this unnecessary harassment. A GIANT THANK YOU to Rob and Hawker for running Comm.
The first day/night I ran Shuttle, I had the honor of shuttling a sister who had twisted & fractured her ankle on the bridge to Traders Circle during the night down the mountain to the Prineville Hospital, and then waiting to carry her back to Camp. On Saturday, July 5, a sister who was at Granola Funk radioed that she was in distress, having hemorrhaged 2-4 cups of blood vaginally. Since I was on shuttle duty, I volunteered to be the Med-Evac unit and with the help of Brothers Drake, Luke, Garret Beck, Caleb, Dr. Althanal as well as Sisters Starla, Mad Dog, Susan and the many, many others who came, we quickly arranged a stretcher, moved her up the hill from G-Funk and into my van for the trip down to the Triage that Pioneer Hospital set up at the base of Lookout Mountain for emergency purposes. Thanks to FS for setting up the cell phone site so that FS could be contacted and send 2 LEO's for emergency escorted service down the mountain ( a 16 - 18 mile trip).
So much goes on outside the Gathering that without Shanti Sena and A Camp, nothing would run smoothly. So, in the future, when posting about A camp, KNOW your shit first, before spouting off the mouth. My love to all the brothers and sisters I served with: Brothers Andrew, Bob, Another Bob, Cajun, PegLeg, Hank, Mark, Caleb, Happy Jack, Fast Eddie, Luke, Sisters MadDog, Susan, Michelle, Starla, Temperance and the many, many other caring and thoughtful sisters and brothers who gave of themselves to insure our safety and serving our Rainbow Family.
For those of you who had the pleasure of getting to Orygun and parking, Sister Mad Dog orchestrated the bottom parking lot [known as Point, Point] with focus, gusto and precision. She was there from noon to the wee hours of the morning. Mad Dog, you were our MVP! Brother Caleb kept the FS off our backs by personally checking on the FS roving roadblocks (and, yes, they were there), maintaining all our civil rights, making sure that FS LEO's didn't step outside their jurisdiction
I personally shuttled hundreds of brothers and sisters up and down the hill, during the 4 days I did shuttle. Many thanks to the other 47 shuttle drivers who gave of themselves to help our Family. You'd have had to have been there to know the severity of the "hill." And the craziness of the drivers, those who drove above the 10 mph speed limit on the dirt road; those drivers who stirred up tons of dust near the road camps...so bad, that it was difficult to breathe.
And, thanks goes to the fine citizens of Prineville, Oregon, who opened
their hearts and setup the Porta-Potties across from the Thriftaway for our
use.
As for the negative statements about the citizens of Prineville, in their
defense, let me say this: from what i saw, they all treated me with
respect. I spoke to several restaurant owners who did say that they did
not like some Rainbows panhandling their patrons while they [the patron]
were eating. Totally understandable, wouldn't you agree?
As for the water, per the FS Health and Safety Officer, the mountain drinking water was pure and fresh from the springs. Never did the water get contaminated with Gardia or that other dread disease. Many of the kitchens filtered the water, regardless, to insure our safety. We may not have had the river to swim in, like Missouri, but, the water wasn't tainted and it wasn't HOT and humid like Missouri!
At the next Gathering you'll find me serving with Shanti Sena & Shuttle service.
As I was leaving, late Monday afternoon, the cleanup crew has packing in the shovels, rakes, picks, hoe's to begin the restoration process of the Forest. Let us leave the Forest better than we find it!
Ah Ho,
Peace and Love light,