Burning Man 2012! Planning Thread

[hollyhunter]

As Birgens we are looking for advice specific to bringing "Sylvia" to BM. Should we bring rebar for instance or just lots of jugs to fill with water for weights? Would an additonal shade tent be helpful, we have an awning only. Was there anything after your first time that you thought, wish I had brought...........? Let us know so we can be as prepared as possible and to assist others.
So far I have collected some post cards and plan to pick up stamps, any luck with the rubber stamp yet? Is this something I should order and if so what should the wording be?
Thanks in advance, counting the days now.

[BamCamper]

If you have camped much, especially in hot weather, you probably know what you'll need. Nights can be quite cold and there is always that pesky wind. Things like bungees and duct tape and tent stakes are always helpful. Mats need to be staked down or they'll blow away in no time. You can never have too much water and you will likely eat less than you think. Ice is available to buy.

We always do a potluck or two. One scheduled one and many impromptu.

A bike is a must and it must be well lit at night. You should be too.
On the outside. Walking around at night you must be visible or you can be run over by a bike or an art car. It's very dark out there.

Keep a good pair of comfortable goggles and a dust mask with you at all times.
Last year was fairly mild but some years are horrendously dusty.

That's off the top of my head. I'm sure there are more thoughts...anyone?

[webspinner]

I keep a backpack with me at all times when I'm away from camp. It holds, among other things that I've probably forgotten:
*a water bladder so that I can sip easily throughout the day
*a baggie with sunscreen, lip balm and hand sanitizer
*a small roll (snag one from home just before it runs out) of toilet paper
*a notebook and pen because my mind turns to mush out there
*a small camera, with the first shot taken of my playa address + email
*something on the pack with my playa address and email
*a bandana for dust storms (if it's not already around my neck)
*goggles (although these are usually on my head)
*a mug in case someone is offering something tasty to people with a cup
*a brimmed hat, unless it's on my head
*a granola bar or two in case I'm trapped in a white out dust storm
*a headlamp in case I end up staying out after dark
*a flashing light on the back of my pack for night illumination
*el wire or some other illumination so I'm not a darkwad at night
*my copy of the What When Where and a BRC map
*a bag or pocket dedicated to MOOP I've picked up along the way

(If you don't know what MOOP is, you'll need to re-read your survival guide. Re-reading the survival guide is probably a good idea anyway. It's all true.)

This is the basic core of my pack. Sometimes it has more (my knitting, for instance). If anything seems of questionable utility to you, ask here about why one might want it before you decide to do without.

[webspinner]

Originally Posted by hollyhunter

Should we bring rebar for instance or just lots of jugs to fill with water for weights? Would an additonal shade tent be helpful, we have an awning only.

We use 2' rebar stakes with a 6" rebar cross piece welded on about 6" from one end. These hold against all winds we've encountered so far. we use a small sledge for driving them in and a crowbar for pulling them out.

I'm not sure if jugs filled with water would hold against the strongest winds. 55 gallon drums, maybe. Also, remember that you need to bring the water in with you. There is no place to fill jugs in Black Rock City.

If you plan on using your trailer awning, ask about how to guy it down so that it doesn't get torn or torqued by the winds. I've only been a few times, so I don't have as much experience as others. Every year I've been, though, I've seen tents or carport sized shade structures blown up into the air.

Was there anything after your first time that you thought, wish I had brought...........?

On my first trip, I was fortunate enough to camp with experienced burners who mentored me. One thing I would always recommend bringing is a squirt bottle with diluted white vinegar (about 1 part vinegar to 4-6 parts water). This rinses the alkali dust off better than plain water.

Also, a pack of baby wipes are great for a quick clean up when you don't want to use precious water for a full shower.

Paper towels are great for cleanups since you can put them in a burn barrel near the end and don't need to pack them out. The burn barrels fill in the last day, so burn as you go along, any time you see a public burn barrel lit.

[NevadaGeo]

Originally Posted by hollyhunter

As Birgens we are looking for advice specific to bringing "Sylvia" to BM. Should we bring rebar for instance or just lots of jugs to fill with water for weights? Would an additonal shade tent be helpful, we have an awning only. Was there anything after your first time that you thought, wish I had brought...........? Let us know so we can be as prepared as possible and to assist others.
So far I have collected some post cards and plan to pick up stamps, any luck with the rubber stamp yet? Is this something I should order and if so what should the wording be?
Thanks in advance, counting the days now.

My ZipDee has launched a pretty heavy chair before. I had luck tying it to the stabilizers or trailer wheels with out a care all week. I had a note from the Admiral over at Spanky's Wine Bar, he says to hold down every canopy pole with a ratcheting tie down to rebar, without exception.
Bicycles: I oil the chain on my bicyle every time I come back to camp; I use a silicone oil but others have good luck with WD40. Without oiling the chain, lots of bicyles become squeeky and imobile pieces of MOOP.
Wonderful what ever you might come up with for rubber stamps. I haven't seen anything coming from ChollaBill yet, they had a nice collection of hand made and maybe some commercial ones. Artsy folks, give Holly some ideas on the rubber stamps, or bring some!

[hollyhunter]

Originally Posted by NevadaGeo

My ZipDee has launched a pretty heavy chair before. I had luck tying it to the stabilizers or trailer wheels with out a care all week. I had a note from the Admiral over at Spanky's Wine Bar, he says to hold down every canopy pole with a ratcheting tie down to rebar, without exception.
Bicycles: I oil the chain on my bicyle every time I come back to camp; I use a silicone oil but others have good luck with WD40. Without oiling the chain, lots of bicyles become squeeky and imobile pieces of MOOP.
Wonderful what ever you might come up with for rubber stamps. I haven't seen anything coming from ChollaBill yet, they had a nice collection of hand made and maybe some commercial ones. Artsy folks, give Holly some ideas on the rubber stamps, or bring some!

What about using a masonary bit to make piolot holes for the rebar stakes?

[hollyhunter]

So what about the dust? Keeping it out (if possible) of the AS?

[BamCamper]

I use blue painters tape on windows and try to keep things closed as much as possible. And use mats outside the door and old carpet on the inside to help absorb the dust. I also cover my upholstery inside with sheets. But just know that no matter what you do, there will be plenty of dust inside your trailer. It doesn't damage anything as it is soft like talc but you will never get it all out.
Ahhh, memories of the playa.

[dadstoy]

Hi Folks, I'll be at BM with my MH and will be camping with some close friends. I'm curious as to how much water is typically used per person per day. Does the typical water use include showering? Do you find that you are filling your waste tanks by the end of the week? I've also been trying to find a tape that I can use on my windows without peeling off the paint after being on for a week...no luck yet. I haven't actually tried blue painters tape figuring it would not stick in the heat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks!

[NevadaGeo]

[QUOTE=dadstoy;1184107]Hi Folks, I'll be at BM with my MH and will be camping with some close friends. I'm curious as to how much water is typically used per person per day. Does the typical water use include showering? Do you find that you are filling your waste tanks by the end of the week? I've also been trying to find a tape that I can use on my windows without peeling off the paint after being on for a week...no luck yet. I haven't actually tried blue painters tape figuring it would not stick in the heat. Any advice would be greatly appreciated! Thanks![/QUOT
We say you can buy nothing at BurningMan but Ice and Coffee. Except, there are vacuum trucks prowling the city waiting to take our money to empty our gray water and black water tanks. Sort of a tradition about Thursday or Wed somebody flags down one and invites them over to the camp, and he makes bunches from us that need to be serviced at $60 or $65 each. I'd plan on the tanks being full by Friday for birgins; days may vary by years of experience and numbers of happy campers.

[NevadaGeo]

Our camp was awarded a few "designated tickets" by the placement folks. Got this placement note a few days ago to caution about not passing these tickets around other than to our camp, which already has happened in our camp...so if events happen that anyone can't use our hard won designated tickets, be sure they are used in our camp!:::

A WORD ABOUT SCALPING TICKETS OR SELLING OR TRADING EARLY ARRIVAL PASSES . . . DON'T!

Selling your tickets for a markup is directly counter to the terms which you agreed to when you purchased your ticket, specifically the part that says:
"Burning Man retains the right to cancel, rescind or revoke any ticket
purchases at any time prior to delivery of the actual tickets to the
purchaser, for any reason whatsoever at Burning Man's sole discretion. If
anyone purchases a Burning Man ticket with the express intention of
reselling it for above face value, or attempts to sell or sells a ticket for
above face value, Burning Man has the absolute right, in its sole
discretion, to cancel any such ticket order cancelled without advance
notice."

You can refer to the complete Terms & Conditions here:
http://tickets2.burningman.com/termsofuse.php

If you were one of the camp leads who received access to Direct Distributed
Tickets (DDTs), remember that "it [was] your responsibility to make sure
access to these tickets goes to the people who are integral to the success
of your project.", and "We trust the integrity of this community with the
multiple-ticket order option . . . to maintain the one ticket per person
limit across these categories. Should you end up with a ticket surplus,
please sell them back through the STEP ticket process." To sell extra
tickets back into STEP, contact online support here:
http://tickets2.burningman.com/contact.php and choose " STEP: I need my link
to sell my ticket(s) through STEP." from the drop down menu. Support will
email you your private link.

Early Arrival passes are only for key setup members of YOUR camp to build
infrastructure. Do not trade or sell them to others.

In a few cases, camps that have been discovered to have violated these
agreements, have lost their placement. Don't let this happen to your camp!


<><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><>
oh sheesh, it ends up my fault if you do that. joy joy joy

chief grump, as you were

[hollyhunter]

so we are shooting for Sun before dark. ok? btw our camp name, am I spelling it right, Airstreameri?

[StagrLee]

Hi Airstreamers,

I'm an AS newb. I just bought a 2012 Eddie Bauer but won't be pulling it to BRC. Wife but the kabosh on that idea. I do camp setup for Hushville at 5:05 and D and will be on the playa via early entry pass Saturday mid-day. I'll drop by Airstreameri BurnStream Court and and say hi, especially if you have any AS show-n-tell planned times as I have lots to learn!!!

BURN!!!

"Stagr" Lee

[NevadaGeo]

Hi Holly! Airstreameri, for airstreams, plural. I suspect a Latin expert would tell me I'm totally wet on that. The "and Geologists" cause I knew there wouldn't be much "interactivity" with the community from our small group of airstreams; and I mentioned at my table at a Geological Society of Nevada dinner meeting about Jan or Feb of 2010 who would be interested in doing a theme camp at Burningman and I got 4 business cards slapped down on the table, they would come.

[hollyhunter]

Originally Posted by NevadaGeo

Hi Holly! Airstreameri, for airstreams, plural. I suspect a Latin expert would tell me I'm totally wet on that. The "and Geologists" cause I knew there wouldn't be much "interactivity" with the community from our small group of airstreams; and I mentioned at my table at a Geological Society of Nevada dinner meeting about Jan or Feb of 2010 who would be interested in doing a theme camp at Burningman and I got 4 business cards slapped down on the table, they would come.

Thanks for the confirmation. Danhas to register with the media folks to be able to photograph and I wanted to be certain I had the camp name correct. I am also a bit fuzzy on the post card table. How many would you estimate, do I need to bring USP stamps and does that mean we provide the cards, but users pay postage? I'm about to see if there are any cool rubbr stamps online.

[hollyhunter]

Originally Posted by hollyhunter

Thanks for the confirmation. Danhas to register with the media folks to be able to photograph and I wanted to be certain I had the camp name correct. I am also a bit fuzzy on the post card table. How many would you estimate, do I need to bring USP stamps and does that mean we provide the cards, but users pay postage? I'm about to see if there are any cool rubbr stamps online.

Waaaay to early for a touch screen, Dan (my dude) has to.........

[NevadaGeo]

Originally Posted by hollyhunter

Thanks for the confirmation. Danhas to register with the media folks to be able to photograph and I wanted to be certain I had the camp name correct. I am also a bit fuzzy on the post card table. How many would you estimate, do I need to bring USP stamps and does that mean we provide the cards, but users pay postage? I'm about to see if there are any cool rubbr stamps online.

Hi Holly! They may have changed the rule on need to registering your video equipment, they didn't put the tag on my camera last year but they did take the discaimer to own your second child; but it doesn't hurt to go down to Playa Info and check with them. Or it might be described more somewhere in the survival guide this year.
Don't try to supply the city with postage stamps! That's the rest of us' job. I usually bring a few books of postage stamps for the table. We're gifting the cards, and maybe we can even put a stamp on it if we can. The post office also gets gifted postage during the week for the postage challenged.
I'm hoping lots of us will bring lots of cards for the table.

[NevadaGeo]

I got a note from Canoe, he might come by on Thursday.


]

Originally Posted by NevadaGeo

Hey Canoe, are you still thinking about coming home to Burningman this year? There's a chance our airstream type theme camp could qualify for some of the assignable tickets, I need to get our application in asap before they assign them all to other camps. Anyway, come give us a raft over at http://www.airforums.com/forums/f288/burning-man-2012-planning-thread-86477.html

Perry (that other one out west)

Perry,
Sorry to just now be replying (8 mos later - geez, some burner)
I have tickets by the luck of the draw (aka bid high bid early)
Be arriving after formal first day (ETA Thur 30 Aug)
Is the area large enough to park nearby if I arrive late?
Got 2651 miles to go to get there.[/QUOTE]
Late is great! You're welcome to come see what space we have and what is still open at that time. We'll try to leave some space open but lots can happen by Thursday. There will be space farther out just a few streets from us for sure, we're way out at 3:00 at Hyacinth this year.
Be sure to come over to the camp thread and say hi.

[NevadaGeo]

Well, large group photo. Got this from Nathan on the [RenoList], but that is one poor resolution, can't even detect our street:
----------------------------
Passing this along....

You know those satellite pass-overs the past few years during Burning Man? Such as this one:

http://twitpic.com/2p2bpz

This Burning Man, GeoEye's GE1 Satellite will do a capture over BRC starting at *precisely* 11:45:40 am on Friday August 31st.

[hollyhunter]

Originally Posted by NevadaGeo

Hi Holly! They may have changed the rule on need to registering your video equipment, they didn't put the tag on my camera last year but they did take the discaimer to own your second child; but it doesn't hurt to go down to Playa Info and check with them. Or it might be described more somewhere in the survival guide this year.
Don't try to supply the city with postage stamps! That's the rest of us' job. I usually bring a few books of postage stamps for the table. We're gifting the cards, and maybe we can even put a stamp on it if we can. The post office also gets gifted postage during the week for the postage challenged.
I'm hoping lots of us will bring lots of cards for the table.

And then there is the pony girl express for BM intra mail delivery. I laughed so hard when I loaded the photos, I may have to volunteer to dress up as a pony and be led around to deliver post cards.