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My 2009 Burning Man Diary:
Our plan for caravanning this year was to leave at 6AM on Saturday - hopefully arriving at camp mid-day. Bill brought his trailer over Friday night so he could come right from home in the morning. Our caravan consisted of myself, Bill H, Joe S, and Jim M.
Saturday: With the RV already loaded and ready to go, we were able to get out fairly on-time at first light broke. We had no traffic all the way out. Our first stop was Gold Run to check our loads and check out the new facilities at the rest stop - which had been closed for over 2 years.
We then headed to Sparks. This time we went for gas and breakfast/lunch at exit 21. There was a truck stop and across the way were some food locations - Jim headed to Del Taco and we went to the truck stop for gas, then bought Subway and headed out to Gerlach. Jim wasn't able to reach us by radio so he headed off ahead of us thinking we had already headed out. We didn't stop till we reached the entrance to BM where we did some filter swaps and took photos with the entry sign. The time was 12:40. As soon as we hit the playa the wind started coming up. There were no more than half a dozen people in any of the lines. After getting through the entry and greeters station we arrived at camp at about 1:30.
We assembled the roof of the commons area but it was too windy to raise the structure that night. This blocked my door so I was unable to unload anything from the RV.
Sunday: On Sunday we awoke to the sound of a propane furnace. Looking out, we saw a hot air balloon drift over the bar, barely above the rooftop. It drifted back down the 7:30 street and landed a few blocks behind us. Winds were fairly calm so we were about to get the shade structure up first thing. At that point I could reach my door and start to unload stuff. We then set about working on the rest of the camp. I assembled the solar panels for the bar and our commons space and put them up. The design of the rig I made was not ideal but it was good enough for this time. To everyone's amazement, Steve showed up. He had caught a flight from Greece at the last minute.
Monday: I helped Bill set up his whirly-gig thing on the bar. Again it was too light and bendable to hold up to the high winds. Hopefully he'll think of something sturdier in the future. I worked on installing the LED lighting. It worked very well and I'll expand it for next year.
I ventured out and about for the first time on Monday afternoon hung around center Camp till the drinks opened at 3. The Center Camp crew was having a little party and ribbon cutting and Larry Harvey showed up for it. I was able to briefly talk to him and get a photo of us together. I also chatted with the architect of the City and the Center Camp structure - Rod Garrett. From there I stopped at several places around the perimeter of center Camp and looked around at the Mutant Vehicles awaiting their licenses at the DMV.
From there I headed out to The Man for photos with the quad, stopping here and there to see many of the art installations along the way. The dust storms started coming in so I didn't get any further out than The Man that day. 
So I went back to camp and applied temporary tattoos on our guests at the bar. Our camp logo (which I designed) was made into temporary tattoos which we would apply to visitors to the bar - if they'd like one. Being the only straight guy in the camp, I got to take care of the ladies. 8^) We had a rainstorm pass over at 5PM. - it cleared the dust from the air for a while. It had been a long day and I'd worked most of the morning so I was too tired to venture out Monday night.
Tuesday: On the bicycle, I headed out as far as the Temple, but it wasn't completed, so I saw a bunch more art installations on the open playa. The art was way better this year so it was fun to see and try to figure out! I really think they need to come up with some standard signage so you can know what you're supposed to be looking at and who made it. I guess true art does not need explanation - but I'm just not that sophisticated I guess. One of the crazier items this year was a huge slide covered on Astroturf. It was 3 stories tall and people would get on a tarp or whatever and slide to a crashing halt at the bottom. I think people had to be nuts to do that! I saw more injuries and road rash from the Astroturf. The EMT's finally set up camp at the base just to treat all the wounded. I saw them resetting one fellow's dislocated shoulder.
I worked my way back around to Center Camp via the 8:30 side of town. 
I love Center Camp early in the week before it gets too crowded. It's the 'Woodstock' side of Burning Man. From there I went over to the 'Alternative Energy Zone' area - out around 6:30 and D. I saw some wind powered evaporation units here and there and saw a few solar panels, but for the most part it wasn't arranged so there were any collected things to see. I really think that group need to work on their presentation. There's so much they could teach and give to the city but it was just another dusty set of campers - and hardly anyone to talk to.
Looking at my photos, it looks like I never went out at night.. And for the most part that was true. My camera was crummy at low light photos and I just wasn't inspired to get out much. My campmates headed all sorts of directions at night, but I really wasn't that excited about going out for some reason.. I need to get some friends with like interests to go out at night with!
About the winds: On Sat - Mon the winds picked up an hour later every day - 12:30 - 1:30 2:30. Wednesday through Friday were clear all day and night. It was not hot or too cold. About as perfect as it could get! Saturday things got bad again and really howled into the evening. But it all calmed down for the burning of The Man and they only had to start a half hour late. Sunday was not ideal, but it's been worse. We were able to break camp without too much problem. Monday was very calm all day.
Wednesday: I got out on the quad early and made my way around towards 2:00. I was determined to see as much of that side of the city as I could that day and ventured up and down many of the streets. I started by driving out along the Esplanade, seeing Thunder dome and a few bits of art just off of the main drive. I climbed the tower right at the corner of the city - across the street from the Opulent Temple - which is the big night dance location on that side of town. Back in the city, I talked to a fellow who had just been hanging with Dennis Miller on one of the overlook towers. I needed to get back to help with our part of 'The Naked Bike Ride', but I stopped back at 
The Man first to get some photos of the Quad with The Man and the Steampunk Spaceship. Plus I spent some time playing on the huge Buckminster-Fuller dome painted with blacklight paint. People were climbing up into the structure and jumping off into some large foam blocks. This was quite a drop and I wasn't about to do it!
I then helped with the event at camp. That went very well and we served everyone quickly. People behaved well enough this year. After serving, I did a few more tattoos to the few gals who were on the ride or had stopped into the bar. Then I headed back out via the 8:00 side of town to see the Temple and other art on the playa. Along the way I saw the 'World 
Famous Titty Totter of Death' and got a Kahula Mudslide at a camp along the way. I don't know what was in it, but it really hit me and I was a bit bent for hours. I don't drink much at all and it doesn't take much to mess me up. I remember everything so it wasn't bad.
Continuing on, I took a photo of the Quad with the huge 'Purple Palace', stopped to watch people hurt themselves some more at the big slide - saw a very impressive wire art piece and then finally got to the Temple. This was a great temple. It was huge and done in the David Best style out of carved sheets of white ply. At night, there was a whirlwind of fire inside a plexi tube in the center. This place had the same vibe at the 2007 temple. It had lots of writings and tributes to all sorts of departed people. It was meant to be a quiet- contemplative spot and it did that well. 
From there I saw more art on the open playa, such as the 'Dinosaur Nest' and the sculpture made of locks and keys. Then it was back to camp for dinner. After dinner, I went out on the bike and tried to do some night photos. I stopped and watched the fire dancers at their big stage. This was the last year for the stage and they burned it at the end of the event. I visited the rocket ship, The Man, The Flaming Lotus Girls artwork.
Thursday: For some reason I can't recall I spent whole day in camp. It was pancake morning so everything got going late. I like the big breakfasts, but by the time they're over it's going on 11 and that blows the whole morning. There was a junk bicycle that had been left in our camp. The tires were flat, the wheels out of true, and several other issues that kept it from being ride able. Since we didn't want to get stuck with it I decided to fix it. I then put it back out next to the bar so someone would 'steal' it - they did - problem solved. We had a special event at the bar in the afternoon called 'Devalution'. It was a dance and Iced tea event (regular iced tea). The bar was super busy and I hung around and put on lots of temporary tattoos. We also had a fellow making leather costumes. They were really cool and I'd love to have had one. Plus there was a fellow doing airbrush body painting, and Tyler was painting underwear. You sure couldn't accuse us of not giving back to the community! Also that day I completed the wiring for the flag lights and extended the cord for the 12 volt fan cooling the bar stereo. That actually pulled a bit more power than the solar panels could generate. We'll have to come up with something more efficient for next year for the stereo. That evening we had a couple fire spinners perform in front of the bar.
Friday:
At dawn, the hot air balloon was up giving 'lifts' to people. I rolled out early because I had a list of places in the city I wanted to visit. I visited Richard, Andy and Judy's camp. Judy and Richard were in but Andy was out and about. I later ran into him as he was boarding a transport to get a flight over the city. Lucky Andy! I was really happy for him and hope to see the photos one day. I visited Barbie Death Camp, 
Starbase 47 (both are camps out of Sacramento - and I met both groups at a local gathering in Carmichael Park), saw 'Monkey Chant' at Center Camp, and attended a gathering of kinetic art bikes and then followed them as they went to see 'Critical Tits'. I didn't see any of the gals. They must have gone another way, but the guys were all out there to watch for them. Actually, I find it all rather silly. There are topless girls all over the city all the time. There's no need for a special ride. It's amazing what you get used to after a few days. Someone in a really odd or cool costume will draw your attention, but someone walking by naked is nothing special - well, depending on the person. Anyway, I then went back to camp and did more tattoos. That night I watched 'the Rocket' 'take off' from camp.
Saturday:
Saturday was another pancake morning. 'Lepertina' stopped by camp with mimosas and to wish everyone a happy burn. The bar was a mess from the dust storms so I helped sweep the bar. The winds started picking up so I stayed in the City. On the Quad, my first errand was to drop off postcards at the Post Office. I mailed 3: One to Mother and 2 to home. They all arrived several days after the event postmarked from Black Rock City! I also went after newspapers and saw a few more sights. It took me 4 tries before the newspapers finally arrived. I also went back behind the City to get some photos of the quad on the open playa with no people or structures in sight. The wind had calmed some so I tried to go back out on the open playa in the center to see some artwork I'd missed. But the wind really picked up and I couldn't stay out long. So I went back to camp and did more tattoos. That evening we had a pot-luck dinner, then the wind got super bad. I stayed in the RV all evening until late when I took a chair up on the roof of the RV and watched The Man being burned. Along with not wanting to go out in that mess I wanted to keep an eye on camp since almost everyone else had gone to see the burn close up.
Sunday: It was a very dusty morning. We started at 11:00 to take down the bar and with lots of help we had it down by 1:30. The group decided they didn't want to haul back the fencing we made last year so we took the fencing out to the burn barrel on a wagon being towed by the Quad. I really wasn't happy it was burned. We went to a lot of work and trouble to acquire and build that fence. We worked to pack up most everything else and I loaded up what I could so I could make an early escape in the morning. That night I hiked out to the Temple for the burn. It was a really good ceremony and the crowd was for the most part relatively behaved. I caught the whole thing on video. Bill and I walked back together and stopped at the Cubeatron and a few other night time displays.
Monday: I got up a little after 6 and did my morning routine then started taking down the Commons Space lights and packing the last items into the RV. I did a final check of the RV and repositioned it so the buggy could be hooked up. After a few last photos and some goodbyes I headed out at 10 to 8. The line was very short and I hit pavement 1:15 after leaving camp - just what BMIR said the wait was.
I stopped in Gerlach and walked into the small park by the water tower. It was good to feel grass under my feet. I also stopped by the Burning Man office just to have a look around. I talked to the locals minding the office for a while and they gave me an old Burning Man calendar. After that it was off to Reno. I stopped at Terrible's, just before the border and got lunch at the Jack in the Box. The next stop was the Rest Stop at Gold Run. I only ran into traffic at two places - the area just east of Myers and in Roseville. I arrived at Mothers at 3:30. After a dip in the pool, I unloaded things I thought needed to come out right away - or were in the way and hit the inside of the RV with the blower, just to get the playa levels down some. I wouldn't have time till Saturday to do a real cleaning.
Summary: This was a really good year. Yes, there were dust storms and there was a lot of work to be done, but it was WAY better than 2008. I had a lot of fun in and out of camp. There was so much to see and not enough time and good weather for it all. I still think there's got to be a better way to do some of the structures so they wouldn't be so much work to put up and take down, and we have some work to do on the commons space to keep the dust out better, but those are just challenges to addressed for 2010!