Burning Man – Monday

Bad wind arrival. Spent about 3 hours in line of alternating clear sun and choking dust whiteouts. The city, drawn on a slightly smaller scale this year, is really full. Blocks that were somewhat empty last year where I thought I’d might like to camp are packed. I notice what looks like a rainstorm approaching. The weather forecast indicated that this might happen so, instead of getting mired in playa mud for hours and setting up in the dark and wet, I spy a corner and snag it. I nearly run over a guy trying to jockey the T@B and truck into a position I can live with for a week. No sooner do I get the T@B leveled and the truck where I sorta want it to be, it begins to rain. Then it begins to pour. I dive into the T@B and make a cold dinner as it continues to rain. Rain like this on the playa happens once every 5 years or so and it quickly turns into a solid puddle of sticking, sucking mud. Desert-style camps with non-waterproof shade structures over bedding are devastated. A quadruple rainbow (some say quintuple) explodes in the sky as the rain passes. I cannot get out of the T@B because there is 2 inches of mud just outside the door. I try to get photos out of the windows. I finally get out after waiting for the mud to soak in and for a crust to reform in the playa. Adding insult to injury, it gets cold. Temps dip into the 50’s after sundown and dive into the low 40’s and high 30’s overnight. I’m glad I have the T@B and hear horror stories from others about trying to sleep in the cold night with soaking wet sleeping bags and clothes. I discover that in my haste to camp fast I landed precisely across the street from where I was last year!!! Is there a message here?!??