Been there, done that

Reno, Nevada
We leave the burn at sunrise, hours before the crowds of Exodus develop. By 3pm we have washed the van inside and out, washed our laundry and donated our crazy clean clothes to a thrift store, checked into a hotel (after finding out that our bank account is totally dry and talking the hotel into letting us pay with, gasp, cash), and are attempting to decompress. It helps that Reno is still full of Burners, at the In and Out, in the hotel, up and down the streets with their wild eyes and playa-coated cars.

We can't yet speak of the sadness of Not Being There. We shower and shower and shower, we slip next door to see a movie, we call our families to let them know we are OhSoBetterThanOK. Tomorrow we'll pick up the dogs and slip southward to Vegas, that awful place where we still have wonderful friends.