start to Reno playa-bound Camp Vermeer Ranger HQ I married someone rise and shine crash at Pepe's tower no sleep this night Rangers art cars people pyrotechnics SF-bound
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Burning Man 1998: Saturday Morning 'Rise and Shine'
I'm up just after the sun, at 0830. I'm not being baked out of my sleeping bag (like last year), it's just that I've had enough sleep. Ranger Lefty, on the other hand, snoozes away.
I take this photo of him and get ready to go on duty. As quietly as I can, I take my hat, sarong, identification badge, fanny pack, and radio from the pole holding up the parachute and move them to the back of the truck. Here there's less chance that I'll wake Ranger Lefty.
I make a trip to the porta potties, one block west and one block south. There's not a long wait this early in the morning, and the potties are just fine, being emptied several times each day. (I wish, though, that folks would remember to close the lids when done. Keeps them smelling fresher.)
On the way back to Camp Vermeer I pass a trio of neighbors, who pose and then give me a bag of lentil tea for later.
(I'd told them that I just replaced an o-ring on my stove and was cooking up a batch of sen cha from the Hotel Kitano, on Central Park South, in Manhattan.)
I get ready to face the world, but not before dragging out the digital camera and taking a photograph of my own still-sleepy mug. Hendrix on RFBM. No Ranger radio traffic at all.
I walk towards center camp. I switch the radio from the standby channel to the active one. Then I radio the dispatcher, asking him to place me on active duty.
I walk from Camp Vermeer northeast, towards the tallest item I see, the radio tower over Ranger Headquarters. I stroll through the lamplighter's area, their lanterns collected in carts, ready for the evening lighting ceremony.
In center camp I come across a man holding some fine steeds, waiting for a companion who is waiting in line, for coffee or ice.
I turn to look at the ice line.
I walk closer to take in the panorama...
I give thanks that our camp doesn't (and won't) need ice. On my way onto a patrol I stop by a few other camps.
Soon I heard a report on the radio: a crash at Pepe's Tower.
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