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[figment]

Burning Man was really hard this year. Apparently, that doesn't make decompression easier.

I am too fried to really give you a good post, and pictures haven't made it off my camera onto a computer yet.

* Left on Saturday morning; this was the Acceptable Alternative to the plan of leaving Friday evening. Had to buy a car-top carrier from WalMart to make this work. Hate buying things from WalMart. The mini-van, though, was pretty awesome as a road-trip vehicle. Super comfy and good gas mileage.
* At 4 AM on Monday, arrived in Fernley, NV. Realized we had a very, very, very flat tire; thankfully this was in a gas station. For various reasons it took us until about noon and about $270 to get tow assistance (nearly useless) and a new tire.
* Made it in. OMG really dusty this year. People weren't kidding.
* Moonrock was a cool camp to camp with. Lots of great infrastructure, especially shade. Sadly the greywater disposal system died on Monday or Tuesday and had to be sub-optimally reconfigured.
* Monday night we explored the Playa a bit. It was awesome! We got on an art car and danced on the top and had a great time!
* Tuesday was overstimulation day, apparently, and wasn't such an awesome evening. This is kinda normal for Burning Man. It takes a little while to adjust.
* Wednesday, we were heading for the Temple, but when we got to the Man I unexpectedly had to sit down with my head between my knees to keep from vomiting. WTF? I had not even gotten drunk or anything stupid, and had been good about hydration. Turns out I had a stomach flu/virus that was making its way through our camp (and eventually through lots of Burning Man). I went to emergency medical services and was hopeless that night, shivering and feverish.
* Thursday I still felt terrible and stayed in camp all day. I did feel well enough to walk around a bit that night, but was in stomach pain and went to bed early.
* Friday I felt a little better, if slightly wobbly. We made it out to the Temple during the day, which was probably the most important thing for Joe & I to do during Burning Man. We didn't do everything we wanted to, but thought we'd be able to fit more fun in the next day.... but...
* Friday afternoon/evening, Joe fell ill. Really ill, lots of vomiting, had to take him to emergency medical services, he got two bags of IV saline solution and anti-nausea drugs, which helped with dehydration but did not solve the virus problem.
* Saturday day, Joe was still super sick and lay around camp. Saturday night, the main event, I was well enough to help, Joe was still super sick and couldn't drum. We did manage to all feel well enough to wander around fairly late that night and look at art and stuff.
* Sunday, pack up and move out - and Joe was relapsing/collapsing/too sick to do anything but sit in the shade. Poor Joe. Matt was a rockstar helping get the bikes where they had to go. Some of our Moonrock campmates were great helps at getting other things packed up. We decided to leave before Temple burn because we were all too sick & exhausted to stay & deal with the harder exodus drive that comes after Temple burn, plus we were down to two drivers - me and Lauren.
* Not long into our exodus, it became clear that Lauren was getting sick. Joe was still wiped out. Now down to just me as a driver, we stopped for an excellent clean, comfy $50 hotel in Lovelock, NV on Sunday night.
* Monday, Joe was thankfully feeling somewhat better, so he and I drove all day. We made it to Laramie, WY that night and stopped again. Lauren was in the horrible exhausted phase of the illness and slept all day in the van.
* Tuesday, everyone was feeling okay again, more or less. We made it through Nebraska, and through storm-filled Iowa, and made it home on Wednesday at 5 AM. Ugh.

I am completely exhausted, and back at work today.

Comments

[minnehaha.livejournal.com]

Wow, That sounds pretty bad.

I'm sorry.

B