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BRC -> SF |
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Burning Man 2005: Black Rock City to San Francisco
Sunday 4 September 2005
The Man burnt we left the playa and headed towards Reno a day and a half before we'd planned on leaving. Usually we find a hotel room at The Western Village or the Nugget and shower off the playa and sleep in air conditioned splendor before enjoying the breakfast buffet at the El Dorado casino. But this was Saturday, not Sunday or Monday. Between the Saturday night motel visits of the young and the discrete and the popularity of the Hot August Nights muscle car and barbeque festival, there wasn't a free room in all of Reno, nor even in nearby Boomtown.
Exhausted as I was after almost a week of Rangering and family life in the desert, I had to ask Rose to help me out with the driving. She took a turn while I slept, and then we pulled over to a gas station (Hurricaine Katrina? Gas over $3.00? What happened while we were gone?) for some cheap coffee, beef jerky, and Ring Dings. So fortified, I took a turn. Soon we arrived in San Francisco at 05:30, whereupon we slept for most of the day. We started to unpack the van, but daylight gave out, so we slept through another night.
 Gerlach webcam - as we were cleaning the van... (Did I mention that at this point I also got the cold that had been bothering the kids? Nothing more than seriously sapped energy and a truly annoying non-productive cough, but it took its toll as we tried to re-integrate into our urban surroundings.) The next day Rose unpacked the lion's share of what was left in the van; later the kids and I helped. Here's Lila taking in some of the kid chairs; everything had to go to the back of our house to be cleaned off and packed for our next camping adventure.
 He-man Isaac took command of the unpacking, hoisting buckets of costumes from the back of the van.
 We teach cooperation; the kids plan how to move our things out. I'm proud of them. All together, in fun and chores.
 Isaac finishes up the last bucket. We'll watch the playa dust waft over our back garden later. Now they're excited by the prospect of hosing down the van.
 All empty, we clean out our van; Leave No Trace, remember? A wet towel is used to wipe down the interior, and a vacuum picks up most of the playa we tracked inside. The windows are cleaned. Then we lock up the van and give it a through wash and soaping. The next morning Rose and Lila take Isaac to school. I drive the van back to the rental agency at the airport and take BART back home. Now I have to start making these web pages and start planning for next year.
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