*Yawn* Good Morning

Greeting!

Good Morning.

Party Babas are just waking up from their post Memorial Meltdown nap. 

We needed a nice long one after such a fantastic effort! 

Want to know what we have been up to?

Here it is...

We made multiple trips up to Middletown for take down. 

And guess what? 

We are gonna make one more trip to take down the shamiana frame and the headquarters shade. 

I hear Chillits had a nice time borrowing those items for shade a few weekends ago.

Sharing is caring. 

We have also decided to stick with oomplops.com as our permanent website. 

So make sure you got that bookmarked. Your party specific info will be posted there. 

Another great way that you can receive event specific communications, as well as random tidbits of happiness is by joining our brand spanking new mailing list

partybabas at oomplop dot com 

Send an email to that address to join the list. 

Then check you spam folder. 

Now that all the housecleaning is out of the way, we are happy to announce

GOA GIL BIRTHDAY BASH

OCTOBER 5th 2013 

Northern California 

We all enjoyed Middletown, but now Party Babas is on the hunt for an October location. 

Sadly the Dry Creek Road/Middletown spot is no longer an option. 

Prior to the Memorial Meltdown we had a very nice visit from the Fire Department, Police Department, Board of Supervisors and Zoning. 

All Middletown officials were compassionate, kind, and open to our vision.

It was nice to know that our fire safety plan was excellent and approved. 

However...there are a ton of neighbors that have been dealing with us for the past two years, and they need a break! Middletown is generally very open to events, camp outs, and retreats, but they want us to go through the proper procedures to get a permit. The thing is...the really easy to get available festival permits don't allow all night amplified sound. We could get a specific land use permit, but this process requires a 30 day time period for the community to weigh in. 

We know that we have a lot of support from some of the Middletown community.

Others...not so much. 

It is my honest opinion that if we did decide to get a permit, we would succeed. But at the same time, I dont think that it would feel right. I can only assume that the nice Dry Creek Road neighbors moved out there to get a little peace and quiet. 

We want to respect the community.

And we want to blast our sound system full power. 

So on to new locations we go! 

That means we want to hear from YOU!

What are YOUR favorite party spots?
Comment and let us know!

Gil Retirement (repost)

Hey Everyone 

A lot of people were like 

freaking out about the post earlier about Gil retiring 

So maybe I thought that I would delete it and reclarify 

Party Babas organizes the Northern Cali Gil parties. 

Usually, we plan the gatherings way in advance and like, know when they are happening 

We know for sure that there will be a Gil gathering in October 

It will be Gil's birthday and we all look forward to seeing you.

There have been many rumors of retirement 

but we all hope these parties all go on forever

and we all know that each party might be the last party we all get to take part in this experience together

After October, we will all get together to see what is possible.

 

 

THANK YOU

THANK YOU ALL! 

Party Babas had a really amazing time, and we hope you did as well! 

Four group of people left trash. We know who you are.

Prepare for spankings. 

Send us your pictures and video! We would love to post it!

gilnessisgoodness at gmail dot com 

We are, of course, VERY sad to say goodbye to this beautiful land!

The creek! The moss! All the wildlife!

It really is one of the most beautiful locations to have a gathering. 

We did kind of burn it out though. 

And I think that this is an important lesson for other party organizers as well.

 Obviously there are neighbors. 

This was our fourth event at this location.

The first one...they had no idea what was going on, so there was almost no response.

Second one....we contacted a bunch of the neighbors, put them up in hotels, spoke with the police department to manage sound complaints, ect. 

Third one...a lot more neighbors complained. Cops came out like....a lot. Maybe five or six times at night and during the day as well. 

And this last one....oh boy....

on Friday

a bunch of hot hot firefighters came by to say hello

(and mostly to check for fire safety) 

along with the Sheriff, District Supervisor, and Zoning Board 

I guess there was some regular PTA meeting or something, and one of the parents heard about "the rave in the woods" and was wondering "where their teenagers are gonna be" 

To me, this is pretty interesting. 

Overall, it demonstrates how, even though we spoke with all the neighbors, and put a bunch of them up in hotels, ect.....the word of the event spread far beyond where it could be heard. It became an issue for the Middletown community.

Now...once all our Visitors saw how beautifully we had been caretaking the land, and ALL the work we put in weed waking to prevent fire danger, as well as our professional nice set up, it dispelled any negative notions about us and what we do.

With a more "underground" style event, we usually dont worry about these kinds of concerns.

but Goa Gil is not so underground anymore I think...

so this is an issue we must consider. 

I tried to address some of these issues on our website, oomplops.com, and I know that the neighbors that did read it were grateful to learn more about us. 

By the end of the event...

We got a few offers from other locals who live in a more remote location 

and we heard about a lot of amazing properties for sale

so who knows...

maybe we will be back in Middletown in the fall

(just not the exact same spot!) 

Look for our next blog post..

about Gil retiring...

 

Directions

IT IS SUPER DUPER DRY

BRING A PORTABLE ASHRAY 

NO BBQs NO FIRE TOYS NO OPEN FLAMES

ELEVATE ALL CAMPING STOVES  

 Think about bringing a tool to help you clear the dry grass from your camping area

Here are the directions.

Please don't forget....

Drive slowly once you pull off the highway

Always obey all speed limits. 

At the end of the directions, you will turn right to cross a bridge on my way road

The party will be a little bit up from there on the left

Please do NOT drive fast and be patient

Also, remember

YOU WILL BE WALKING IN YOUR STUFF.

BRING A WAGON OR A METAL SHOPPING CART

TO HELP YOU CARRY YOUR STUFF

ITS ABOUT 1/2 MILE WALK

From SF (avoid this route if it takes you thru Santa Rosa during rush hour)
- take the 101 N for about 55 miles to River Rd towards Calistoga,
- follow the signs to Calistoga,
- turn right on Mark Springs West rd,
- go 5.3 miles then continue onto Porter Creek road,
- go another 4.7 miles and turn left on Petrified Forest Rd,
- go 4 miles and turn left onto the 128,
- go 0.8 miles and turn right onto Tubbs Ln,
- go 1.3 miles and turn left onto the 29 towards Lakeport, go 15 miles to Middletown.
- After going up the mountain on the 29, the road flattens out, you will see a casino. 0.3 miles past the casino veer left at Dry Creek Cutoff then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
- go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
- go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way"  party will be .2 miles on the left J
- Cross a bridge

   
   

·        

·         From East Bay:
- take the 80 E to the 37 west at Vallejo,
- go 2 miles and take the 29 N towards Napa.
-Take the 29 for ~55 miles to Middletown, passing through Napa and Calistoga.
- After going up the mountain on the 29, the road flattens out, you will see a casino. - 0.3 miles past the casino veer left at Dry Creek Cutoff then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
- go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
- go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way"  party will be .2 miles on the left J
- Cross a bridge

    From Mendocino county and Humboldt
   
    Head south on US-101 S/Redwood Hwy toward Branscomb Rd
     Take exit 555B to merge onto CA-20 E toward Upper Lake/Williams (go 19.5 miles)
    Turn right onto CA-29 S  (go 30.8 miles)
    Turn right to stay on CA-29 S  (go 15.8 miles)
    Turn right onto Co Rd 113/Dry Creek Cutoff and then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way" party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge
   
     From Oregon
   
    Head south on I-5, go into california    
    From So Cal - 5 north
    Enter California…
    Continue south for 219 miles
    Turn right on ca-20w (and go 36.7 miles)
    Turn left onto CA-53 S (signs for California 53) go 7.4 miles
    Continue straight onto CA-29 S (for 15.8 miles)
    Turn right onto Co Rd 113/Dry Creek Cutoff and then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way" party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge
   
   
    From So Cal - 5 north

    One way is to take 5 to the 580 N to the 680 N to the 780 W to the 80 E o the 37 west at Vallejo,
    - go 2 miles and take the 29 N towards Napa.
    -Take the 29 for ~55 miles to Middletown, passing through Napa and Calistoga.
    - After going up the mountain on the 29, the road flattens out, you will see a casino. 0.3 miles past the casino veer left at Dry Creek Cutoff then take an immediate right to remain on Dry Creek cutoff.
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way" party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge
    ,
    Alternatively from So Cal, you can take the scenic route, avoiding the bay area all together:
    - go past Sacramento,
    - go west on the 20 in Williams for 37 miles,
    - go south on the 53 for 7.4 miles,
    - go south on the 29 at Lower Lake for 14 miles to Middletown.
    - go past the 175 in Middletown for ~1.3 miles
    - go right at Dry Creek Cutoff just before a casino
    - take an immediate right to remain on that road .
    - go 0.5 miles, take a left on Dry Creek Rd
    - go ~0.7 miles and turn right at "My Way"  party will be .2 miles on the left J
    - Cross a bridge

The Gil Pre Weekend

Greetings!

Party Babas went up to Middletown to check on the land. 

Wow! The land is soo amazing in the spring! There is so much life everywhere.

We even found this butterfly cocoon ready to burst open! It was wiggling around!


But it was also fairly dry....

See? Look at all that yellow grass!!!!

This means 

HIGH FIRE DANGER ALERT 

NO FIRES!

NO FIRE TOYS!

NO BBQs!

ALL CAMPING STOVES MUST BE ELEVATED. 

PLEASE BRING YOUR PERSONAL POCKET ASHTRAYS WITH YOU.

Party Babas did a bit of work while up on the land.

We brought a truck full of stuff that got unloaded. 

We cut a bunch of legs for our stage. 

We set up a little chill out area, in the shade. 

We also cleaned up our staging area from October. 

Surprisingly, everything was in fairly good condition! 

The shamiyana (Gil's Indian Tent thing) frame only got bent a little bit, and the top of the DJ table was a bit warped. Both are easy fixes, so yay for that. 

Car Camping

With all that going on, I did not get a chance to count out the car camping spots. 

Assuming everyone who reserved car camping uses their space efficiently, I think we might be able to have room for a few more cars. 

however

we wont really know until the gathering 

If you really want to car camp, but you did not reserve a car camping spot, you can give yourself better odds of getting one by arriving when the gate opens, at 3pm on Saturday! 

If there is extra car camping, it will be given away on a first come first serve basis.

Weather

It looks like the weather should be amazing.
Low is 48.
High is 78.
Make sure to pack plenty of water to keep yourself hydrated.

Goa Gil less than one week away!!!

SO MUCH EXCITEMENT!

Pre-Gil Madness Baby!

Will someone please explain how it is Thursday already? 

This whole week has been flying by....with so very much going on....

Security and Gate 

We have once again decided to go with High Rock Security  .

We used HRS back in October, to run the gate from Midnight til Gil ended. 

This was awesome for Party Babas, because everyone who has organized a gathering knows how difficult it is to staff the Gate after midnight. Also, at this particular location the Gate is a bit far from the sound, so it is not very much fun in the wee hours of the night all alone to be out there.

Also, using HRS gives us the peace of mind of knowing that there is always someone at the gate, at night, and on Sunday. 

Generally, as a Party Babas policy, we don't staff the gate on Sunday after the party breaks even. This is just...you know...your belief that everyone should enjoy the event as much as possible, and our favorite time to play is Sunday day time. 

The issue is, this location is just too close to civilization for that. There are neighbors that can stop by, as well as random people passing by. 

HRS are Professionals. 

They are amazing at what they do.

Please follow all of their instructions. 

Oh also, when you hire HRS, you have pay for additional walkie talkies, which are like, the Super Pro kind. you can hear someone talking to you from the gate, even on the dance-floor. 

We are for sure getting some extra ones. 

Walkies will be carried by: the front gate, the medic, the sound, HQ, and HQ back up. 

First Aid

We are also having HRS provide us with Medics. 

I am pretty sure everyone at this point knows our awesome Cosmic Care and first aid provider Dave. 

He has been with us through some of the doozies, providing you with the best possible attention and care in your sensitive state. 

This time we decided to go with HRS, mostly because the price is good, and we wanted to try them out. 

So....you know....be prepared to give us your comments post Gil!  

AdAstra Sound

We are super duper excited to have AdAstra Sound (Valik and Eric) provide the sound system.

They will be bringing Adamson tops with well hung Danley subwoofers.

Deco 

We are very happy to have Alex and Olya creating some custom deco pieces for us~ : ) 

You all know we love us some dance floor shade. 

We got these very useful tarpy type things for shade, that work super well. 

But they are sort of not that cute. 

So Alex and Olya have taken on the huge task of making the shade pretty!!!

Also....I hear there is a generous soul who will be donating some Luke Brown tapestries/prints. 

CAR CAMPING 

Yes yes I know, you are very sad that you did not get a car camping pass. 

Party Babas are going up to the land this Sunday to do a real good job of counting out car camping spots. 

IF we can fit more cars in this limited space, I will post a car camping link on MONDAY on this blog. 

This will be the ONLY place where the link will be posted, if at all. 

THANK YOU ALL

CANT WAIT TO DANCE WITH YOU SOON

Great Work Team! (Neighbor Responds)

GREAT JOB EVERYONE!!

 I really appreciate everyone's comments in response to the Email from Neighbor. 

And guess what? 

Neighbor appreciates our responses too. 

Here is an bit from our latest communication from Neighbor: 

"When I said I was open to reassuring words I meant it and I do feel reassured. I appreciate you guys going above and beyond to address not only my concerns but reaching out to the community to ask for feedback on others concerns.   I have sent your contact info to the other locals so hopefully they will open communication with you  if they still feel the need."

So Really, here is the Dilly. 

Other neighbor concerns include people getting lost and accidentally trespassing on their property. This mostly occurs when people drive past the entrance to the gathering. I think that we will try to combat this by putting up more signs on the road leading into the party. 

Another concern that I know was expressed last year was reckless driving. Mind you.....we did not actually have reports of people driving recklessly, but it is always a concern. Especially because there are a lot of horsies and other animals on the roads......so please obey all signs and drive SLOW once you pull off the freeway. 

In regard to the ecological concerns: 

1) Every time we have done an event here, my personal main concern is keeping as many cars OFF of the land as possible. This is why we have a limited number of "car camping spots" available on site. I said "car camping" because sometimes people just want to pay the $10 to get their car closer, but don't actually camp next to it, which is fine. 

As always, car camping is in the last large field on the right before the potties. 

There are a total of 35 car camping spots available. 

But about half of those have already been purchased.

So if you want to car camp/have your car closer, buy a car camping pass TODAY. 

   

2) The Creek. We will be posting some signs around the creek, asking people to not recklessly wander around. There will be an "approved creek space"....for splashing and playing and enjoying. 

3) Trash. This is a Leave No Trace event. So...leave no trace. In fact, try to leave your camp site better than how you found it. 

If....it is the end of the party and you have no room for your trash....here are some tips: 

• Lots of trash usually means you have eaten all your food and drank all your beers. Therefore, open up your cooler, make sure its empty, and put your trash inside. 
• Tie your trash down to the top of your car. Borrow some rope from the crew if you don't have any. Since we are less than 10 minutes away from Middletown, this is a great solution. Just stop by town to unload your trash and dispose of it properly before heading for home. 
• Ask the people camping next to you if they have room.
• Find someone with a flat bed truck. Ask that person if they have room. 
• As a last resort, come talk to a Party Baba. 

As you can see, there are many options, NONE of which include just leaving your trash at the campsite. 

We are also always open to more suggestions about how to improve everyone's experience!