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Post by falcozappa on Jun 15, 2011 10:14:20 GMT -5
I really enjoyed my first Roo, but had an unfortunate experience on the Monday morning. It was time to pack up and I had to go and friends at their tent in GA (which was about a 20-30 minute walk from VIP B) as they were giving me a ride home. I had too much to carry in one trip, so I packed up a bag and my chair and set off, intending to come back and take down my EZUP, my tent, my precious tarp, and then pack my remaining stuff into my new backpack. When I returned around 45 minutes later, I couldn't find my tent. It slowly dawned on me that it was gone!!! All I found was a pile of my clothes uncermoniously dumped on the ground. Fortunately, I'd left no valuables apart from my house keys, and they were still there. As I was taking stock of the situation, a guy sitting by a car nearby called me over, and apologised for taking my stuff. He thought I'd just dumped everything there, especially as my car had gone (it had "gone" because I didn't have one in the first place). He returned to me my tent, EZUP and sleeping bag and apologised profusely. Feeling relieved, I went back to my heap of stuff, but realised that my backpack and tarp were still missing. The guy told me that he'd seen some girl "with a giant inflatable turtle" looking around in my tent earlier, and that she'd probably taken them. So, I had to gather my remaining things in whatever recepticles I could find (empty beer box, plastic bag from WalMart) and take the long walk back trying to balance all my stuff. I understand that a lot of people do just leave things at festivals, so I have no objection to people grabbing abandoned stuff in principle. But this seemed a bit eager, to put it mildly. Grrrr!!!! It's a shame that this was my last festival moment there, as everything else (apart from the blazing sun, which can't be helped) had been positive. I don't really expect to get my things back, but if it was an honest mistake (rather than a theft) and anyone knows anything, I'd be very grateful for any information.
There are so many people who just leave everything at Bonnaroo, I am not surprised this happened to you. I am sorry it happened to you, but I know I own camping equipment that I got from abandoned camps at Bonnaroo (though I know they are abandoned, see the people leave, they say they are leaving their stuff, etc.)
We didn't leave the VIP campgrounds until 2:30 Monday and by then several people had rolled through and picked the place clean. One lady was putting up abandoned tents, I think she was deciding whether they were worth taking.
Never seen so many people picking through junk. It was pretty weird.
If you're in the same situation next year ask someone to watch your stuff. Glad you got most of it back.
I did notice that they seemed to stop enforcing exclusivity of the VIP area once Monday rolled around. While closing down camp with my friends, we were approached by one of those Hari Krishnas (or whomever they were) in a GA wristband trying to unload/sell his books to us. That's when I knew the party was truly over.
I'm not a fan of anyone pushing any religion on me... especially when that anyone shouldn't be allowed inside the area for which I paid extra. That was another one of those moments that had me thinking I possibly overpaid to be VIP.
I wouldn't be surprised if your tent robbers got into VIP by the same lack of enforcement that brought in the cult peddlers. It sounds as if both mine and the OP's incidents happened in the a.m. hours. I can understand why AC/Superfly would want to let scavengers pick through the remnants... but give us VIPs time to leave first, for crying out loud.