--- the journey ---
so the GRAND PLAN was to set off on Monday evening and arrive at sunrise. Lizzie and i venture downtown to the Dollar car hire, sign up, hop in the SILVER JEEP and navigate home to load her up... by which time she's stinking... the car park dude checks her out and says there's no water and no oil in there. Cutting a LONG teeth gritting ridiculous story short we get the thing towed at 12am and replaced with a BLUE BEAUTY. Fine. We'll leave EARLY in the morning, we reckon. Then we balls the alarm and end up leaving at 10.30.

ALL GOOD

We get to RENO, we do the HELL THING that is WALMART, pick up our hire bikes from 'the rat'... And we drive through the late night creeping trail to the Black Rock City - watching out for behorned bulls, sucking little BOILED SWEETIES, oogling at the spray of STARS emerging outside and listening to the CHILLED TUNES mix from Maciek again and again in lieu of bad radio.

--- the setup ---
we were in a tent, part of a campsite parked at 2.45 and Brave in the Black Rock City.
Lots of lovely kids sat on sofas around the barrel of fire, military kitchen tent operation, beers, bloody marys, Warren's unbelievable spag bol one night, a shower erected on day 2, shade cloth, bike rack etc, weathered the DUST STORM, ummm maybe a few pics will help

--- hot ---
More than I can express. BLESS the camp site for creating a SHADE structure and a tent. Lathered up with factor 50, hid and cooled down with water spray. Nope, didn't burnt. Crossed the line of dehydration a few times; where am I again? But mostly drank so much damn WATER that my days were largely defined by trips to find TOILETS [works of beauty they were, with lovely little sanitising squirty things outside], or emergency illicit squatting or such.

--- moments ---
- KIND PEOPLE
- SERENDIPITY
- NO MONEY
- LEANN'S arrival on the Thursday morning,
- tequila and SUNRISE DANCING at the tikki bar
- begging and squeezing a place in the HULA workshop... wrapped mine up in blue and fluorescent orange
- then hula at sunset at the deepend
- cycling [yep, MY BIKE a sweet young thing with stars in the wheels and a bit of worse for wear fluttery streamers hanging off the left handle] cross playa - day and night
- STARS STARS STARS
- DANCING DANCING DANCING
- SIPPING SAKE on a swing
and the list goes on
not enough words for it all

--- and relax ---
Have been taking in some long balmy urban and waterside white wine lunches with Lizzie - one disastrously ending off with a VEGAN PIE - involving rhubarb and some nasty wholeweat no butter crust... and they served it cold which was ALL WRONG. Vegan dessert is one step too far over that hippie line for me.

FRIDAY blows Robyn [big sister Laing] into town - then we embark on the CALIFORNIAN WINE SOAKED SEASIDE DRIVE BY ROADTRIP EXTRAVAGANZA for 10 days. Napa, Big Sur, Monterey Huntington Beach, San Diego etc.