Greetings from the middle of a dust storm!

Dear Friends and Family,
We spent the morning making good progress on clean up. Moving furniture out to the truck and taking down decor and art, so our luck with good weather seemed to be holding.

Until after lunch that is, when we got a true taste of the wrath of the playa gods. The winds pick up, dust fills the air, the sky turns dark, and the next thing you know you are wearing goggles and a dust mask, and are trying to see your own hand in front of your face.

I kept having flashbacks to last year, when dust storms also hit about a day after the event closed. It seems that as the city empties and leaves behind a bed of loosened playa silt, Mother Nature is quick to do her housekeeping. You can almost hear her laughing as you get lost 3 times in the 100 yards between you and your camp. However, you have no choice but to laugh yourself when you hear others nearby yelling out "Marco!" and "Polo!" to keep tabs on their friends.

Though it is an adventure, the citizens of Black Rock City are prepared for and used to this chaotic weather. There is a certain unity that can only result from hiding out in a half empty storage container, watching the specks of dust dance in the air, while you drink warm beers with your filthy comrades.

Usually the work carries on, but sometimes the dust and total lack of visibility make it too dangerous for driving vehicles or operating heavy machinery. After several hours, the only choice is to bug out to the hot springs a few miles away (where the weather is lovely) and watch the dust cloud engulfing what's left of the city.