Abject Failure
Well, that was a bust. All my fault. Inadequate planning and lousy health.
We left Friday, but too late. By the time we got to Redding, got our errands done, and got out to the land it was too dark to set up the "Warm Room" (the Burning Man-style "hexayurt" made from foam panels) and the tent we had left up there turned out to have been used by mice as a nest (so it's contaminated and unusable) so we had a miserable night sleeping in the truck.
The next day, Saturday, Sarah went to town to pick up more supplies and the Internet widget we are renting, and I got busy moving things to the Flat Slash as well as setting up a kind of lean-to with the foam panels just to try it out and get a sun shade going. Unfortunately, I hugely over-exerted myself and also somehow forgot to eat(!?) so by the time Sarah got back from her errands I was in a bad way. That night was the worst I have felt for as long as I can remember, literally one of the worst nights of my life. I'm very sedentary these days and I haven't been taking good care of myself for a bit, so fasting at the same time that I'm walking and lifting things all day was a really bad idea. I walked more Saturday than I normally do in a week! Maybe two weeks. I cannot risk a break in my health right now. Reiki is powerful but it can't replace food.
Sunday morning I told Sarah with tears in my eyes that I had made a terrible mistake and we needed to go home. She was having her own bad time (she hurt her hip somehow among other issues) and so she was glad that she didn't have to talk me into leaving, but that was about the only bright spot. We packed up the most essential stuff and headed back to the city.
Also the Internet dingus didn't work, and I got bit by a tick.
Truly a dismal weekend.
On the plus side we brought back some of the useful items we had left up at the land, including the ethanol kit, and the foam panels worked fine both as flooring and as temporary shelters (no surprise, if they work on the Playa they should be fine in our less harsh conditions.) The plan still seems essentially sound, this was a failure of execution. I feel really foolish for simultaneously having so much lead time and yet being so poorly prepared and organized.
I'm not sure how we are going to proceed from here. I might try to sell or lease the land, or we might try again in a week or a year. In the meantime "Take to the sea!" is starting to sound appealing again, but that would be even more foolish without adequate planning and preparation.
While on the land I found the hard copy I had printed out of Sathya Sai Baba's Vahini ("stream" or book) on the Bhagavad Gita and— practicing a bit of bibliomancy, which I don't think Baba will mind —turned at "random" to this passage:
So, the dharma that has now been exiled into the forest has to be restored to the villages and towns in order to establish plenty, prosperity, and peace to the world. From the reign of dharma-lessness, the world has to enter the era of dharma. Special effort is called for when you cultivate a crop; no effort is necessary when weeds and wild grass are allowed to grow. The valuable crop of inborn (sahaja) dharma has to be cultivated with all care and attention. When dharma is practised, the lack of dharma will decline by itself. No special exertion is needed for putting it out of action. Therefore, in this present context, the establishment of dharma means the growth of the practice of dharma.
~ Stream of Divine Song (Gita Vahini), Sathya Sai Baba
No interpretation necessary, eh? The meaning (in context) is plain: return to the house and clean up.