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GERLACH, Nevada (August 4, 2005) -- According to the locals, our
beloved Playa is in the best shape it has been in
since 1997, when a jet-propelled car called ThrustSSC
broke the sound barrier there on October 15th and set
an new world land speed record of 763 miles per hour.
Precipitation was plentiful last winter and the playa
even had a decent layer of snow on it, according to
Dave Lesfevre at the Winnemucca office of the federal
Bureau of Land Management. Once the white stuff
melted, the continuous wave action of the wind
provided all the levelling old Lake Lohontan needed to
take on its billiard table appearance.
Maid Marian, Burning Man’s mistress of communications,
noted that the Playa was “hard and chunky” when she
arrived earlier in the summer, “so there was hardly a
plume when you drove,” but more recently, the ground
has dried and “the dust is more noticeable.”
On June 25 that around 9 p.m., some customers of Bev's
Miner's Club in Gerlach found their drinks were being
watered -- 2 inches of rain in 15 minutes caused a
flash flood that flowed right in through the back of
the bar, shorting out two refrigerators and taking out
the floor in the store room and an adjoining bedroom.
Only quick action with some brooms prevented the mud
from remaining ankle deep in the bar, but repairs will
still take several weeks.
The same flood decimated Dooby Road's southern end
and it should only be visited from the north or by
foot.
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