2008 survival guide, distance to the man, intra-net

2008 survival guide is up!
They are expanding the distance between the man and the Esplanade, to increase the size of the city. It used to be 2200 ft from the man to the Esplanade, now it's 2700 ft. There are 5280 ft in a mile, so one trip to the man and back (or from 3:00 to 9:00) is over a mile!

They are creating an intra-net to list camp locations. "Use the Playa Info computers to register yourself and your camp location as well as to find your friends. Via the online Directory network you can exchange messages (no Internet access). Also, find and post event schedules, ride shares, and other services. The Dynamic Board maps campsite coordinates. Bulletin Boards are always available for artful posting of events, messages, and general information."

A Happier Subject than the price of gas

This is more for Jessica,

Have you made your Burka and if so can we meet so I can see how you did it and try making one for myself?

Getting There Redux

So my dad is moving to Durango Colorado... and it would be really sweet if we could head down that direction for a brief visit on our way out. We can also use this as a H20 fill up stop. It only adds 81 miles onto the trip total. I've gone this southern way in the past and don't recall many terrible mountains, so maybe we'd even avoid flipping the trailer over on the way out.
Here's my plan (provided you guys are cool with it). Pack up Friday evening Aug 22nd. Most especially finish packing the trailer.
Early Saturday Morning at 6 am sharp! Leave for the first leg. Notice I have us heading south so you can pick us up (and the trailer) on our way out.

That'll take us to approx. 9pm our time, 10pm Durango time. We get a good nights sleep at dads and spend the morning tooling about Durango. We'll also fill up our H20 here, thus eliminating some of the ridiculous gas wasted on hauling all that water.

Having learned in the past that arriving at midnight and trying to set up camp in a vicious dust storm makes for some unhappy times (especially considering we are going to have to FIND the boys this year) I think it makes much more sense to arrive in the daylight, with plenty of time to tool about and find people.

So we leave the next evening at 6 pm. We drive another 15 hours which will land us approx at the gate at 10:00 am Durango time, 11 am BRC time. 2 hours(+) at the gate, another hour or so frantically trolling the city streets for signs of our camp and we'll be setting up around 2... giving us plenty of time to enjoy that evening without passing out into a coma and missing another preemptive man burning.

I think we should prob take ol' reliable back homewards... which will be an unhappy, dusty 24 hour drive.


Melodie, from speaking with John yesterday it sounds like we 4 are good to go riding together in your truck. The boys say they will help a bit with the dome costs (provided we can fit the domes in!) so hopefully this should be a relatively reasonably priced year, all things considering.

There and Back Again, Update

I made this spreadsheet to figure out what was the most logical trip option for this year.

If John goes it makes the most sense for the 4 of us to ride together, pack light, and bring the small trailer. It would cost us *around* 260-360 (per person) depending on the actual gas mpg.

Melodie- I took the 25th- 1st off. I have to be back at work on Tuesday the 2nd. Which blows, but I've no choice. So we should prob plan on leaving Sat morning the 23rd.