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.

$$$

In Brief: This year is going to be expensive. $900 a person average with 3 vehicles. Hope you're saving your pennies.

In exposit: We're looking like we will take 3 vehicles. Jeep for bicho and I. Tundra for Jys and Bob. F150 for Melodie. None have very good mpg.

Bicho and I will take a jeep/explorer into the unknown territory of Jungo road. This will shave 200 miles off of the trip but likely add unseen costs like tire replacement, lost gas/time, and other damage to the car. Estimated fuel cost of $1,000 from Denva and back again.

Last year the tundra cost approximately 1,000$ to get out there dragging a trailer. I'm estimating the tundra to cost 1,500$ round trip. (gas is 'rumored to hit $5 a gallon' so I assume it will.) Melodies truck will likely cost her 1,700$ with the added size. Add 300$ for the trailer drag. If we were to split the costs evenly (not suggesting this, it's not really fair) $4500/5 = $900 a person. If we shave one car off and travel light (the tundra) $3000/5 = $600 a person.

I think that we should try our hardest to skip using the trailer and pack the PVC in the backs of both trucks. If we can, we should skip using three vehicles and find some way to only take one of the trucks. Having one body fly then figure out some sort of ghetto-ride-from-reno would save money. Otherwise, having one person drive to the playa alone is alot to ask. I'm not going to worry about the logistics here as I'm going early and staying late - I will throw in money to get the PVC out there but I'm not going to throw in more money than buying the PVC in reno would cost. (re: 100$ a person sounds fair)

Personally I will be traveling very light. The only thing I will not be able to transport myself is the camp stereo. (I'm working out how to make it small and manageable.) Everything else will fit in/on the jeep with a luggage rack. If we can't fit the camp stereo without the trailer, I say to hell with it. It'll work at interfuse. Same thing with the pluton/barr.

Option 2: Renting a box truck. Cost of $2,800 for use & mileage: with an estimated mpg of 8: total cost of $4,675. $935 per person + $350 airline ticket + $50 biobus pass = 1335$/person Not gonna happen.

-capt'n surly

Apparently lots of other people have had issues with "Trailer Sway"

This interesting article discusses the frequency of u-hauls trailers starting to violently sway back and forth (called "trailer sway") which often causes horrible wrecks. The majority of the causes are incorrect weight distribution, speeding (you are supposed to go 55) and faulty equipment.
Having this happen to us several times on the way out there last year and managing not to crash (somehow!) is still fresh in my mind. We are going to enjoy driving out without a trailer this year!

On that note: Melodie, your trailer looks fine, I think. As a camp, we need the PVC brought out and a playa pluton (which folds up flat). I think we are going to wind up driving and be able to take everything else.

Pirate Ship, Driving Out there...

Oh how I would love an art car. The above is a very abbreviated version of what I think would be a hilarious golf cart art car. We could go take attack other, larger pirate ships and shoot at them with the flame thrower.

I don't know if Shana or Bicho ever read my comments many blogs ago about traveling out there. But I'm going to repeat them incase you use an RSS reader or something.
"I agree, we obviously will need somebody to drive something out and back in order to have domes and stuff... but if we split the driving b/t 4 people that would be good for every bodies tired level. I for one would want to drive there, and would want to stop off at the house of Bicho/Shana on the way there. Provided they are there of course... it'd make a good break.
However, another thought just occured to me, what if we brought out everything long term to Colorado (Domes, plywood furniture) prior to the trip... if Shana and Bicho want to drive anyway. I want to go skiing and visiting before then anyway and taking it out in trips would be far less stressful. this would mean we could fly out and back... which would be so absolutely awesome.
This depends on the Blythe's storage space at their new home (do you have a garage that can store the domes etc?) and their willingness to drag the domes out there. Obviously we all benefit from our glorious dome structures, but I wouldn't want to impose on their time off either.
So, how do you feel about that Bicho/Shana? And everyone else?

Oh, also, I'm volunteering to make everyone terrorist costumes... b/c i think it would be fabulous fun and well suited to the theme. It'd be hilarious to have a terrorist bar day. For the ladies I was going to pone Blythe's excellent idea of a full burka. I think it's appropriate desert ware. And for the boys something similar to Bob's Halloween costume. And a little Fremen."

"Obviously, if the bicho/shana drive out with trailer were to happen, we'd all put in the the cost of the gas and trailer. Just wanted to clarify. And this time we should collect the $ before we go out there, so we don't end up with all those unnecessary computations at the end, and so nobody has to carry the balance."

Getting There

Ok, I definitely want to fly this year. I'm going to have difficulty getting as much time off as I really wanted I feel. (due to my premonition that I'll take a day or two off for a concert in mid june)

However, I'm more than happy to help with my share of gasoline. I'll have the same crap as last year, just lighter and no mattress. I'm thinking that if we do bring the flame thrower it'll be modified to run off of C02/propane or just something more portable than the air compressor.

So, flying into Reno and taking in the "Bio Bus" sounds like my cup of tea. I wouldn't be objected to driving HOME if we want to do some "rent a giant Ryder and have everyone else fly - bio bus in" strategy. I feel this way because the cost of flying no longer really means as much to me and my time off feels much more valuable. I don't really want to spend two of my full day's off driving only to arrive on the playa exhausted and exhilarated. I'd rather blow 500$ in Reno then go to Burning Man refreshed, showered and ready to get dusty.

I know Bicho mentioned a similar plan. Is this a common theme or is there talk of driving again?

Notes to self: next year.

Paul Addis, alleged man-flambér, above.

Notes to self for next year:
-bring day time clothing, bikini top and short skirt for easy bike riding
-make triple sure that the special bike pump thing is attached to my bike
-bring 2/3rds LESS food. Bring smaller coolers
-bring more flashlights
-don't bring as many books.
-bring many more mixers for bar
-bring extra shoe inserts, 3 pairs of shoes (Birks, boots and something else)
-bike headlamp
-make shower out of metal, be sure to bring pallet, extra soap
-make hotel reservations in Wendover or Salt Lake for way home for me and Bob
-make your own delicious jerky
-probably do not need entire arsenal of snow gear.
-get button maker, make buttons with website
-the pluton rocked, make a sitting up sofa with appropriate easy to store cushioning.
-work on making the kitchen more usable
-work on getting motorized bike. fuck exercise.
-look into a metal dome like the god-boxes.
-begin convincing dad that he really does want to fly out and meet the google founders.
-pre-check tire pressure in trailer and pack it more appropriately.
-Elko has h20 as well.
-do NOT volunteer to bring the MWB shit, under no circumstances. cheap bastards.

There and back again, maps.

Our route. Google maps says it is 22 hours and 40 minutes. Since we'll be hauling the trailer we'll have to go slower. I've got it stuck in my mind that it's a 28 hour trip. Mabey not. Also, driving up through Denver the way the above map suggests is a bad plan, because around Denver the mountains come into play. This will piss off both the truck (who is very well behaved and deserves to be coddled) and the van. Going north into Wyoming via Nebraska puts us in hilly areas, but won't start really being an issue for longer.

Refer to green line on below map.
Nebraska is one hell of a boring state though.


Then we will be stopping in Winnemucca, Johns' least favorite town in the world, where we will be subject to mass hysteria and moody shopping. I plan on crying hysterically at least once here. There are a weird lack of good restaurants in Winnemuca. But many casinos. Here we will also purchase H20. Last time we purchased most of our H20 here, and they had plenty stocked up for the week. I have no idea how to calculate how much it costs to move a pound of stuff out there... but rest assured that it makes very little sense to haul H20 that far.

The Official 54th post on Camp 54.

Bicho's lovely pirate bar. I will also be making pink/black/red 54 banners with little pink skull and crossbones. Also, I think we should consider making this the entrance to our dome-home area.

Op. also, we need a trashcan or something.

Also, acquired yesterday... the wonderful... the glorious... the unfortunately terribly photographed "camp kitchen". It even has a sink feature and a place to hang H20 for watery goodness. And it folds into a handy box.

Not only an eclipse, but a meteor shower!!
Meteor Shower: Aurigids
Late Friday night-Early Sat morning Aug 31- Sep. 1:
Aurigids, a rare and spectacular meteor shower will be peaking at 4:36 a.m. in the east- north eastern skies. Visible from Nevada. It will last about 1.5 hours. Best to watch between 4 and 5 am, with up to 160 Aurigids meteors per hour.
http://aurigids.seti.org/
This very rare shower will occur again on 1 September 2007. A brief shower of tens of meteors will radiate from the constellation of Auriga, many as bright as the brighter stars in the sky. The Earth will be in the thick of it during the one hour centered on 04:36 a.m. PDT. The
shower will be visible by the naked eye from locations in the western United States.
Best viewing: Keep Moon out of field of view (best to block behind obstruction such as telephone pole, then watch whole sky), avoid city haze that scatters moonlight Best direction: East and Northeast Best time: Start one hour before peak, then see the rate of meteors increase and decrease while Earth travels through the shower.

One of the noobs needs to buy some cheap-o walkie-talkies. For the ride out.

Our trailer is reserved, courtesy of Mark.

Overload - Assets Continued

Ok, here's an ongoing list of shit we still need.

• Mailbox - the feds will not be happy - I'm on this


• New air filters - for both cars, this will increase our gas mileage on the way home


• coolers - I propose that you work out food storage with the people you live with. Noobs, don't bring more than 3 coolers.
  - Get yours!


• solar shower - simply putting the shroud together and then taking it apart. I need a length of velcro/some "flap shutting" solution and zipties.


• PVC for the second dome


• Rugs - Keep acquiring them, we have an awesome huge one that Vickie found for us, another two big ones would be swell - a few 19$ smaller ones from the 'marts would fill the void as well.


• Seats - camping chairs outside of the plywood furniture - noobs get some

Add anything you can think of.

JRS

Just reading the JRS newsletter and clicked to the playatech.com page which has some really brilliant ideas for plywood furniture that can be broken down into small, easily shippable units.

Assets, Needs

Alas, you really do have to stake your tent.

Assets- (As a group)
I've recently acquired another parachute, some white winter shade coverings (the guys at the surplus store swear they are virtually unrippable (which I giggle at), two 6-foot folding tables, camp stove, fire pit. John has (I belive) gotten our shower stuff.

Things we still need (As a group)- Hammock stand, barrel for fire (if we decide our fire pit is too unstable for the playa winds), bike pump (John is checking into this), coolers, black tarps for H20 evaporation pond (people get really snarkey if you don't have one of these), plywood and El-Wire for sign

Everybody needs to be gathering up a tent for themselves, a bike and a camel pack of some sort.
Who has coolers? We need at least 3 for the dry-ice system I previously posted about.

Also from my experience purchasing H20 in Winnemucca (despite Johns extreme hatred for the city) is a really good bet. Hauling all that water from Kansas seems wasteful, and is probably more expensive than buying it. That said, we may still need to think about getting some water containers-- like the green 5 gallon kind, so we can better pack the water in. The website says we will be needing 1.5 gallons per person per day. From previous experience this is PLENTY of water. However that will mean we need 13.5 gallons per person and for 7-8 days that equals around 100 gallons. Thats HEAVY!

Finally, check out this really cool site in comic book form of pics from the last 10 years of Burning Man.

there and back again

As it stands now we have 7 people with tickets that probably want to camp at camp54. Me, Bob, Mark, Michael, Bicho, Jimmy and Jen. Have not had any official information as to Jen's travel plans.
I've heard faint rumblings that Jon and Gary might come, but they need to decide very soon to be taken into consideration.
Other years I have gone have been excessively chaotic when planning because we counted hypothetical people into our plans. As my goal for Burning Man continues to be "get bigger and better" each year, I only want to focus on planning for people who are courteous enough to plan ahead.

Of course in the below spreadsheets I take a number of different attendees into consideration for the sake of comparison.

I've heard many suggestions as to how we should get out there. Buying a bus is one option. Bob and I have the truck, and tentively plan on renting a 6' by 12' trailer from Uhaul. We could have Bicho and Michael ride together in one car with Mark, Jen and Jimmy in the other. Or if Jen's travel plans do not include our group Bitcho, Mark, Michael and Jimmy could ride together in one car and put all of our other stuff in another car.
Following are a group of graphs that math out the cost of each option, gas wise. All gas guesstimates are at $3.50 per gallon. The total mileage is assumed to be 3400.
Each option presumes that we add up the total amount of gas cost of the entire trip, all cars included, and divide by the number of people going. This means that the burden of gas does not become uneven, and allows us to divide our goods into many different vehicles without possible hurt feelings over money.

The first spreadsheet assumes we use the truck and some number of cars. Option 1 lists the cost if 7 people go in our caravan. Option 2 lists the cost if only 6 people go in our caravan and we take the truck and only one car.


Obviously if we decide that we need to take 3 cars, like option1 but only 6 people are going in our caravan the cost will be 481.60 for gas per person. Likewise if Jon or Gary decide to go (or both) the total using Option 1 (assuming we take the same number of vehicles) will be $361.65 and $321 respectively.

The next spreadsheets list the cost if we were to (as a group) purchase a school bus. Obviously these numbers would vary according to how much the bus (and licensure, insurance etc) would be. I assume here that the price of the bus is $2000.00 and that is gets 8 mpg. (This total may be a little high some websites I read said they avg. 5mgp). Also, school buses take diesel, the price of which seems to fluctuate more rapidly than regular gas.

For some reason I forgot to total the price of gas for 7 people on the bus. The price would be $498.00.
Using the above information we see that the bus option only makes sense with 9 or more people going in our group. However, I wonder how much stuff we could get into the bus. I've got a short-bus on my mind, I'm not sure how much a full-sized bus might cost. Also, I suspect that you need a special license to drive a full-sized bus.
If we get a short bus we may need to rent a trailer and take the truck as well. This means that the price per person doesn't make sense again until around 11 people are going.

My personal opinion is that the bus is a really cool idea, but probably not doable this year. Bobby and I, having just purchased a new car, cannot buy a bus ourselves. This means somebody else would have to take the reigns on getting info about buses/licensure etc.
Also, as Michael said, I would be afraid to put all of our eggs in one basket. An old bus may not work very well, and may need alot of mechanical upkeep and might just break down on the way there. Our truck is brand new, so barring any severe misfortune will work great there and back again. Also we have at our disposal several very travelable cars.

That being said, it'd be pretty cool to have a burning man bus. If somebody wants to look at it, send me links and whatnot so we can further discuss it on the blog.