I return from ze Burn

We got off to a late start, drove all night, and got there Monday, just in time for an all-day white-out sandstorm. From the paved road to where we camped, it took us about 3 hours, crawling the car forward inch by inch to find a place. We set up our camp in a raging wind.

Compared to camping experiences in Texas and Oklahoma, it was pretty mild. It was hot, probably over 100 degrees but the sand of the playa is a fine powder, almost like talcum. It's not nearly as bad as the sharp red sand of the midwest. The storm raged until about 10PM that night, I think. It was well after dark before the dust began to die down and we could start to see further than a few feet. Kinda fun. Glad I got prescription lenses for my goggles and I'd brought my respirator mask.

On the whole, our camp was a solid success. I gave up on my wind turbine at the last minute, as much due to a lack of room in our car as to problems with getting it to work properly in pre-playa tests. Back to the drawing board, I guess. I didn't get to do the frame over my bike that I wanted to do either but I ad-libbed while we were there and it looked pretty good and lots of people liked it.

The sign-post squid worked perfectly and while not everything I'd originally planned, people liked him and used him as a reference point for getting around on our street.

Stacey wired solar panels into our car's electrical system and we used that to power a couple strings of christmas lights all night plus we had a couple strings of solar-powered lights and ten stand-alone solar lights she decorated with art glass as markers for our tent pegs.

Our insulation for our tent held up pretty well. Not perfect but it was definitely far better than an unmodified tent would have been. The covers I embroidered for the chairs were cute and while our box top covers didn't turn out perfect, they were pretty good. Our 'living room' area was really nice and we spent a fair bit of time there visiting with people. It had brightly-colored cloth hangings, a south-western print carpet, crystal sun catchers, and of course, christmas lights. :) All in all, we had a pretty comfortable camp and most everyone who stopped and chatted with us were impressed that we were first-year burners because our camp was so cozy. :)

We had really excellent neighbors on the street we were on. Not too noisy and really friendly. Stacey spent a lot of time hanging out with them and chatting. In fact, I was really surprised. I was worried she was going to be miserable and was just coming along because I wanted to go but it seemed like she had a really good time and made a lot of friends and can't wait to start working on some new ideas for next year. ^_^

I feel like I should have spent a bit more time really hanging out talking to people than I did, but I instead spent a lot of time walking. Various friends were in need of attention/support and I got into a mode of wanting to make sure everyone had a good time. When I wasn't doing that, I was exploring. There was just so much _stuff_ to see that I didn't spend as much time interacting with people as I wanted. Though I did spend time being a model citizen. :) My first night there I helped some guys diagnose the problem with the motor in their fish and get it running again, and the following day, I spent a few hours at the bicycle repair shop, helping them repair people's bicycles. Between us, I think Stacey and I fixed at least a dozen bikes.

Wasn't just us, of course. For most of the week, everyone I met at Burning Man was really pretty awesome. Willing to pitch in and help others, give people stuff, and things like that. Really good environment. The tone changed a bit by Friday; I noticed a lot more trash getting left places and stuff like that, but on the whole, most people were pretty great. We definitely needed to take more/better gift items. Ohwell. There's always next year.

If there was anything that I didn't especially like, I suppose I'd say it was guys. There's only so many times I can listen to guys ask every woman they see if they can photograph their tits before it gets old. Seriously boys. They're breasts. Get over it. I also didn't like that both times I got the slightest bit inebriated, it seemed like a certain type of guy would home in on me and start asking me if I was interested in going off somewhere... Um... No. I'm intoxicated, not stupid. Ugh. But... All in all.. Those guys were a minority (or the majority just weren't interested in me. Whichever) so I guess I should just forget them.

We decided to head home Saturday because I'd spent two of the previous three nights walking the entire circumference of the camp and had worn a hole in my heel and because the atmosphere was changing and becoming more of a vibe that I wasn't comfortable around. I think Stacey would have enjoyed staying longer, but neither of us were too keen on the traffic jam that would have accompanied staying longer.

Of course... Saturday, after we had started packing, another massive sandstorm blew in, so we tore down in heavy winds and white-out conditions and drove out nearly as slowly as we came in. Traffic probably wouldn't have made a lick of difference. Doh. Que sera sera.

We got home late last night, took much-needed showers, dressed our sunburns and slept until noon. been a quiet day. Mostly been watching cartoons and cleaning up the carnage of our house from our last-minute packing.

And now.. I get to rest a bit... Well. Except Silicon is only a month away and Halloween is a month after that and FC only a few months after that. Heh. No rest for the wicked. :)