A 450 page blockbuster, this is Steve Arntson's exploration and description of a journey to something that almost didn't happen at all: the Burning Man festival of 2020. Only a few hardy souls came to the playa that year. Travel with Steve through the red fires of that endless summer, that made West indistinguishable from East. Make your way up to Oregon, and climb Steens Mountain. Meet the Stockton cop who spawned the name, his own name never to be known. Rusticate in New Pine Creek, where Steve fantasizes the retreat of a person who feels threatened and lurks in junk shops to obscure his identity. Ride behind the ponies of Adel, clamber through the wilderness wondering if you remember what to do if you hit quicksand. And at last, meet Laura, the Gate, at the opening to the playa where no one is supposed to be at all, but, irresistibly, comes.