The California High Desert is starting to look more like I imagined it.The Road Warrior Weekend was a recent three-day, post-apocalyptic campground party. There were no stuffy hotels, no lines to pile into meeting rooms, no overpriced convention center lunches. Instead, this one-time-only event brought fans of the Mad Max series out to the barrens for
Scarlett Harlot, who has made a name for herself with appearances at pirate events (you can make a name for yourself that way?), came up with the idea after a night of wine (very un-apocalyptic) and Road Warrior a year-and-a-half ago. "I started thinking you don't want a bunch of people in a hotel or a convention center, it doesn't go with the theme of Mad Max," she explains. "I started thinking, it would be really cool if we could do in the desert with a backdrop similar to the movies."
The event was held in Soggy Dry Lake, an off-road racing/camping area about twenty minutes or so outside of Apple Valley. Outside of town, you have to follow a two-lane highway with little in the way of street lights and signage. Along the side of the road are a few scattered trailers (meth labs), an occasional farmhouse and clusters of mailboxes. The 247 highway grows progressively more desolate the further you drive and once you reach the turnoff for Soggy Dry Lake, there is nothing but dirt road, rocks and a smattering of desert fauna. Visually, it's about as close as you can get to the wasteland while still being less than two hours away from Los Angeles, which is also a wasteland of sorts.
95.7 FM was the designated radio station for the event and featured blocks of Australian-made music (lots of AC/DC, Midnight Oil and INXS) and was a beacon growing clearer as scavengers approached the site. The Road Warrior campground was marked by a burnt-out, upside down truck guarded by a guy in punked-out leather, naturally.
The awesome Vernon Wells (Wez) and Virginia Hey (Warrior Woman) were on hand to answer fan questions and sign autographs. Inside Bartertown, attendees could check out themed merchandise and pick up odds-and-ends for their campsites. Meanwhile, MFP cars raced around the grounds and crowds chanted "Two men enter, one man leaves" as mock battles took place in a makeshift Thunderdome, which is similar to my exploits when I trick women into my tent. There was even a gyrocopter which flew through the desert sky and swooped down to the center of the Wasteland. Road Warrior Weekend wasn't strictly a convention. Drawing elements from Burning Man and longstanding desert party culture, DJs played throughout the day, and there were parties through the night.
No word if there will be another gathering in the future, but you can always roll around in pig shit if you want to recreate the Master Blaster scene.
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