you know you're tired when ...

... you sleep right through a blaze of fire in the backyard.

Yes, that really happened last night here at my lovely airbnb.com stay here in Fernley, Nevada. I felt right at home the minute I walked through the door and my host Antoinette made me feel so welcome, parking my motorcycle in her garage as I unpacked into an oasis of air-conditioned bliss. By the time my head touched the pillow at 11pm, I had the exhaustion of a lifetime after riding 280 miles across Nevada in hot and arid conditions. By the way, don't call it “Nev-AH-da,” or you'll be in trouble. Apparently, the only acceptable pronunciation of the state is “Nev-ADD-a,” not “Nev-AH-da.”

When I awoke this morning, I had some confusion because I slept so soundly I missed all the action. Here's the summary from my airbnb host Antoinette about what transpired last night:

I see the light! What do I mean? As I walk to the kitchen to get a glass of water and what do I see? A huge raging fire in the lot right behind the backyard. Panicked and in my "jammies", I run outside the front, then come back in and hear 'ding, ding, ding, ding' - the persistent sound of my doorbell. The neighbors are trying to save us!

My airbnb guest Anna is sleeping soundly apparently (which I cannot believe), I don't want to wake her, she just rode in on her motorcycle after almost 300 miles across Nevada in the wind and heat.

I run outside, men from the fire department are everywhere but they say 'don't worry, it's just a brush fire'. I say (as if they care) 'But I have a guest, her windows are open and the smoke is going to kill her -- do I knock on her door?' The fireman matter-of-factly says and I quote 'no, let her sleep, I will knock if the fire gets closer'.

Anna never knew what happened until this morning, she slept through it all. Only the photo below and the scorched area in the lot behind the house is the proof of what happened!