It’s kinda like a Grimm’s Fairy Tale mashed up with a Greek Tragedy. It starts off with a TON of hurdles to jump over in order to get where we wanted to be (Dark Skies, with all of you lovely people) a fantastic middle where the fun and love happened, and a tragic ending, where we realize what the trip would cost us. So, here goes:

Before the weekend even started, we had arranged to split the RV with some friends who, all but one ended up backing out last minute. The guy who didn’t back out just picked out an RV without consulting us on anything and told us how much we would owe him. Then, LAST minute (Wednesday) told us his girlfriend from LA, whom neither Tuck nor I had met, would be joining us. We were OK, but a bit confused. He asked us to pick up the RV, because we were leaving Thursday instead of Friday like they were. No problem so far. Tuck and I left a bit later than we had originally wanted to. We had trouble getting a hold of the guy we were splitting the RV with, but we were still able to cope. We managed to get to the RV rental place OK, and pick it up. Our friend checked out the RV and took most of the paperwork with him, but we didn’t figure that would be a problem. Little did we know…

On the way over to drop off my car at our friend’s apartment and load up the RV, Mike scraped the side of a garbage truck with the RV, ripping off 2 of the cargo doors and pitting a small puncture in the side. He bent the shit out of the garbage truck’s fender, but no one was hurt. He was going like 5 miles an hour. I may post more pictures. We had NO paperwork on the insurance to give to the cops. But luckily, the other guy DID purchase insurance on the RV. WE figured probably a $500 deductible, plus the ticket and the cost of the RV which was $300 a day. The accident doubled our expected budget, in about 2.5 seconds. OK now, monetarily we’re FUCKED!

Neither of us are currently working steady jobs. I finished out the school year, so no more work or money ‘till Aug. Tuck is working temp jobs, and hasn’t heard from the agency since we’ve been back. I did some auditions and interviews before we left, but also have not heard anything. This trip maxed us out!

Dark Sky itself was a BLAST! We got there around 4 or 5 pm on Thursday and started to set up camp. We had a mellow evening, moseyed around the playa, met some beautiful soles, and made a bunch of new friends, and got to bed and woke up relatively early. We again wandered around the playa and came back to take a nap. The other guy and his girlfriend showed up mid afternoon, tried to insist in the bed Tuck and I had slept in the previous night (the only bed we had fitting sheets for.) and bitched about the mess.

We got both messes straightened out, and thought everything was cool. Tuck and I had planned to leave in my car first thing Sunday morning, and drive through Searchlight and Kingman, so we could pick up our dog from the kennel, instead of going through Las Vegas and over the Hover Dam. Anyway, we got up Saturday morning after bouncing around all night and our friend and his girl announce that they had seen everything they needed to see weren’t feeling well, were going home (in MY car) and leaving us with the RV. Our whole schedule was screwed. We couldn’t get the RV to the rental place before they closed on Sunday (the RV wasn’t due ‘till Monday); we had to call the kennel and get the dog to stay an extra day, we couldn’t get a hold of the guy to get the extra set of keys and square up money wise. We didn’t know where to dump the black water or anything. We ended up leaving the RV parked across the street from the other guy’s apartment.

Well, the next day I offered to drive in to Vegas (about an hour) to meet at the RV place and drive him home. He said that’d be great. Well he ended up dropping off the RV and getting back to his car fine and never called me to let me know. SO I drove an hour for nothing. I rushed out of the house so he wouldn’t be late checking the RV in and he didn’t even find out how much it was all going to cost. Just handed me the $75 gas bill and said there was a $60 dumping fee. So, I wrote him a check for almost ALL of the money in my bank account. $950. I didn’t argue, I just figured it was done and that I’d figure out some way to pay bills.

Well, the next day I got a call from him saying that it was $1,000 deductible and I need to cough up another $500. I just don’t have it. I asked for the phone number to the RV place and called them. They told me it was $1,600. worth of damage! I can’t even imagine! I asked them to Mail me a copy of the report. I don’t have any idea how we are gonna get ourselves out of this mess.

If you are financially able, feeling generous and would like help us out ANY help at this point would be welcome. You can donate to our cause through our paypal account: midnight420man@netscape.net or point us in the direction of work. We live right between Vegas and Kingman, AZ…
so if you have work in either area PLEASE let us know. I am an educator by profession and degree currently, but out of work. I have been a professional singer/actress/dancer. I did art modeling in collage. I have been a tutor, nanny, early interventionalist, and respite care worker. I have worked with disabled children and adults. I am fluent in American Sign Language. I have cleaned houses, babysat, done TONS of clerical work, I’ve even managed to work myself out of a job by turning an 8 hour job into a 4 hour job by streamlining their processes or organizing. So, again if you have work, we are ready willing and able to work for you.

Let the playa provide. Much love! Thanks for listening.