My little buddy and I were surprised on the last day to feel extremely sad to be leaving port-a-johns, dust, extreme heat and air mattresses behind. We felt bad that we could not set up our camp “Nailed It’ with Brooke, Gage and their friends. They worked tremendously hard to make sure the camp was comfortable and that we had cooling when we needed it and a shower! Our food was delicious, the beverages never ended and the conversations were amazing. Thankfully, we had a chance to help strike camp with our friends and family to ease the guilt and work through our emotions. We cleaned our shiftpod, deflated our mattresses and squeezed our suitcases shut. Anything we did not want to carry back home went back into tubs and ferried home by Brooke and Gage.

Most burners earn a Playa name. We had none until the last day–“Moop” and “Fluff”. MOOP means matter out of place and not a single string, sequin, ribbon, crumb, or item not found on the desert floor is allowed after Burningman is over, and if you own a metal detector, it is even more complete! So, we combed the grid by foot for hours, making sure nothing was left behind. It was akin to a search party looking for a lost child. Inch by inch we walked, scouring for moop. The fluffing, which is hand-raking, was done by Brooke after the entire camp was packed up and ready to go.

Brooke drove us to the bus depot early, hoping we could catch an earlier Burner Bus to Reno. We stood in the blazing sun for about a half-hour in the standby line and caught an earlier bus. We sat in the very back with great legroom, but halfway into the journey, we wondered why the A/C was not on. We were dying of the closed-in, stifling heat of bodies on a full bus. Burners were fanning themselves and groaning.

There was no running water in the only bathroom on the bus, but someone had left their bottle of water. When they did not return, Teri poured the water onto two neckerchiefs and we sighed a breath of slight relief. We were afraid to empty the water we had in our camelbacks after hearing nightmare stories of hours in line to exit the desert. Luckily, we had a fast lane for buses only, and the A/C was turned on once the dust would not enter the air ductwork of the bus. We napped like babies.

Dusty burners filed off the bus, with some immediately hopping onto their flights in Reno airport. Huge plastic bags were wrapped around the dusty luggage, so dust would not clog up the luggage conveyor belts. Giant boxes were outside to empty any possessions or illegal substances not wanted on the flights. We had arranged to spend the night at Harrah’s in Reno, so we caught a Lyft to our hotel to shower up and rest up before our red-eye flight the following day.

That first shower was Heaven, but our hair was like straw, our cuticles had suffered and we were bloated. It took two days for us to feel somewhat normal, but we dressed in clean clothes to eat dinner and cheered to our survival with cold glasses of Chardonnay. Ah, back to the real world. We crashed early and slept like babies.

The following day, we did not want to even put our feet on the ground, but hungry girls’ gotta eat and we rose to take showers. There was no cold water, steam was coming out of the toilet and the water was so scalding that we had to change rooms. Dragging our dusty luggage four rooms down the hall, we decided to pay for another day and relax in our rooms. It was worth it. We joined Brooke and Gage and treated them to a great dinner at the resort we should have stayed. (Peppermill)

Our flight was not until 11:30, but we went to the airport early and I passed my last journal around to obvious dusty burners waiting for their flights. “What brings you to Burningman?” was the question and I met new people with great answers for a future blog. What a great time we had. We had to decompress at home and catch up on sleep. We washed all our clothes in Vinegar to remove the alkaline dust. My decision to blog my stories based on “not chewing my cabbage twice”. How many times can I tell this story? My friends and family ask, “what was the best part of it all?” IT WAS ALL GREAT AND I WOULD DO IT AGAIN IN A HEARTBEAT!