Be prepared

At this point I am now mentally and financially committed to going. However, all of the inertia that had been building up now seems like a runaway train. I have a week before taking off but it just feels like there isn't enough time to scare up everything I need. Since I had just finished giving/donating the vast majority of my worldly possessions a few months ago, I'm starting from scratch...not that I had any camping equipment to being with but still. So I fire off emails to anyone who I think might have some stuff and fortunately get some real troopers to pull through and help me out. Big thanks to Marsh, Dave, Cammy, and Bobbi. For the remainder of what I need, I head to my friendly neighborhood Burning Man supply outlets detailed below. Everywhere I go though there are ominous signs of burners having been there before me: sales clerks having pat answers down for equipment needed for camping in the desert, all green (this year's Burning Man theme) glow sticks sold out, inventories of 1/2" by 18" rebar suspiciously low. I am getting the distinct feeling that I'm playing catch up.

REI - Mandatory stop(s) here. Since more than one clerk tells me that I can save money by coming back for the Labor Day sale I mostly scope out the goods and plan to make a big run on Friday. I do stop by the rental counter to make some reservations for equipment hoping that they aren't all sold out. Best rental guy ever, Rob, helps me out. I tell him, as if I had to, that I was going to Burning Man and would need to rent everything to survive in the elevated Nevada desert for a week. He clues me in on the Gear Garage, their second hand equipment department and walks me over to that corner of the store. He rummages through the goods and when he doesn't find a tent for me he tells me to wait and goes to the back room. A couple minutes later he walks back out with a tent and tells me that is exactly what I need. Fair enough. I am a little squeamish about owning more stuff since I just cleaned house and doubly so for camping equipment that I have absolutely no use for. He tells me that he can sell me the used once tent for what it would essentially cost to rent it and then I could turn around and Craigslist it when I get back. Hmmm. Free use of a tent? Sold! He can't pull sleeping bags and sleeping pads out of his bag of tricks though but he recommends that I keep checking the gear garage as he was confident that I would be able to find all of my supplies I needed over a period of a couple weeks because they have such high turnover. I end up canceling my rental reservations after friends pull through with what I needed (see shoutout above). I return Friday during the day to try to dodge crowds as much as possible. Some of the goods I pick up:

• Nalgene bottle - hydration is good
• Headlamp - as I've found, these things are insanely useful even when not camping plus I can pretend that I'm on The Amazing Race
• Footprint for the tent - note how I drop that term so casually now even though I had to ask what in the hell Rob meant when he said I would need a footprint for the tent...it's a tarp like thing to put under your tent
• Bike lock - explain later
• First aid kit - it was on the list of necessities from the BMan website plus I figure I should keep one in the car...don't ask me where it is right now though
• Camp towel - these things rock, why aren't all towels made like these things?

Thrift stores - With harsh desert camping conditions expected, I'm trying to only bring stuff that I don't mind getting thrashed. Used ski goggles for the dust storms. A very serviceable bike messenger bag for carrying supplies around. An $11 bike. It is missing a front brake but who cares? That is exactly the kind of cheap goods I'm looking for so I don't care if it gets ripped off. Later on in the week I am running out of time and run across a really nice second hand bike. It's a Specialized 18 or 21 speed (I lose count) and is in perfect working condition. It must have been just dropped off because there was no sticker on it yet. I ask around and get one of the workers there to price it for me. She kicks the tires (figuratively), squeezes the brakes, cranks it through some gears. Then she tells me that a bike like that runs $60. Gulp. At that point of the week I had more money than time to find another workable bike so I pony up the dough figuring that I can sell it when I get back. Worst part about that bike is that I need to now get a $20 lock because the bike is too valuable. Sigh. I also decide to get some clothes for the desert. Being the clothes horse that I am I snag some $3-$4 dress shirts. Just looking for some light loose cotton long sleeve shirts to keep the sun off. I end up getting an Armani, Polo, and Claiborne among others. Shirts that I'd have paid full price for. My exact measurements too! Note to self: reconsider shopping locations.

Military surplus - Bandana for the desert fashion statement. Glow sticks to avoid getting run over at night. Long underwear for cold weather. Used AK-47 rifle to keep looters away from the camp...kidding, just checking to see if you were paying attention.

Home Depot - Rebar for staking tents in the sand. Dust masks for storms. Bucket/lid as recommended by the BMan website to be used in conjunction with heavy duty plastic bags as an emergency potty. Ewww...what am I getting myself into? Duct tape in case MacGuyver shows up. Batteries.

QFC - Since the camp will be supplying food/drink the shopping list is mercifully short.

• Road trip munchies, not that that prevented us from still stopping by mini-marts and paying twice as much as we should for snacks on the way.
• Some porta-potty compatible single ply toilet paper because it is better to have it and not need it than the other way around.
• Some plastic bags for packing out trash and dusty clothes.
• They recommend 1.5 gallons per person per day. I know that water is supplied but I grab a 2.5 gallon jug just in case. Then I think better and double that. Then I get paranoid and grab two more.

Yikes. No wonder it took all week to provision supplies. By the latter part of the week I'm feeling like I've at least got most of the bases covered. Just need to make sure that everything fits in the car.

How did I end up there?

Some of you who know me might be wondering "What the...he's going...camping?" And you would be right because having to deal with roughing it in the great outdoors was definitely the major factor that would have kept me from attending.

I had heard of Burning Man a few years ago and had dabbled with the idea of going to see what all the hubbub was about but each year would easily bring enough reasons not to go. But this year would be different. Since I would be gainfully unemployed during Burning Man I was finding it more difficult to come up with reasons to miss it again. Still, with the spectre of living away from modern conveniences looming large the decision to go would not be a slam dunk. There would be camping supplies to procure, food to gather, and transportation to arrange plus there would be all of the stuff that I didn't even know about yet. Even with a free schedule this was still an exercise in fence riding. So what got me over the edge?

Let's go back to the summer of 2006. A friend of a friend was hosting a party and I was assisting with running a poker game at it. Yes, shocking, I know. Two of the guests at the party were Joe and Laraine who did catering and were being retained by one of the camps at Burning Man 2006. I tried to glean as much information as I could about what it was like to go but since they were rookies I didn't pick up too much information. All previous year's excuses for not going still applied and once again, the festival came and went and I had managed to successfully avoid going. Then some months later I ended up going to a concert with a group that included Laraine and I tried to wring out some more information to see what I'd been missing. We got started talking but one thing led to another and the music started playing so I ended up having my appetite for information whetted but not sated.

Jump forward to summer 2007. I am busy with my pseudo-retirement and once again get the itch to go see what Burning Man is all about. I have a friend, Violette, who is also interested in going for the first time. Having someone else jump in with you makes things a little easier so the inertia is already building. I check out their website to find out more information and am dismayed that their page for first-timers has a ton of links including one for the survival guide which has a bazillion links itself. Information on handling grey water, tips on what kind of food to bring, storm emergency instructions, etc. If they are trying to intimidate casual spectators in an attempt to dissuade them from attending then it is definitely working on me. Inertia has tapered off. I meet with a former co-worker who had attended multiple times to try to get more information. He tells me even more gory detail about things that I hadn't even thought about yet while also piquing my interest with information about the cool stuff that goes on there. Inertia is wavering.

I hear through the grapevine that Laraine and Joe are going to be doing catering again so I figure maybe if I held up a cardboard sign that said "Will work in kitchen for passage to Burning Man" that I might find a way to remove some of my excuses for not going. I email Laraine with some questions and my proposal to work in exchange for attending the event. In response to my ambivalence she says first and foremost "just go" and adds that they would be willing to take me on as help but proceeded to give the most unflattering description of stuff that I'd be doing. After more email exchange it looks like another option would be to join their camp and pay my way instead of working so I do what any reasonable businessman would do and throw money at the problem to make it go away. I check out the camp's website and find that I can buy in at various different levels of comfort depending on which amenities I want: food/water, electricity, private porta-potties, showers, etc. Not surprisingly I am figuring myself for the top end of the scale. Keep in mind that I actually have done camping before. Granted it was back in junior high school but I'm no stranger to surviving the outdoors plus I can sleep anywhere so I'm not really worried about that part of the equation. The primary blocking issue is sustenance and joining a camp that would supply fuel seems to be the solution I'm looking for. Furthermore, the camp would be offering vegan options which addresses Violette's dietary needs. Momentum is once again shifted into forward gear and is gaining speed.

Now that I see light at the end of the tunnel, I head back to the Burning Man website to check out the ticket situation. Yes, you need tickets to get in. I skim the page and see a lot of dates that are now in the rear-view mirror and I've missed the opportunity to buy the cheapest tickets. Just like airlines, concerts, and pay-per-view events, the earlier you buy the better off you are. The price increases as the event gets closer and if you want to pay worst case scenario rack rate you can just wait and pay at the gate. Enthusiasm wanes slightly since the tickets I buy will necessarily be held at the will call window since they don't mail them out after a certain date and I have heard unpleasant stories about the wait at the will call line. Over the next couple of days I digest this new information while lining my ducks up in a row. I shoot emails left and right. Head to websites and the bookstore to try to soak up as much information as I can before committing to going. With the major roadblocks being removed it appears that I will not be able to generate enough excuses to skip this year. I still have some trepidations but undeterred and with inertia still going the right way I unsheath my trusty Visa card and with two majestic virtual swipes, I have ordered entry tickets and paid for camp spots.

The trigger has been pulled.

So what exactly is Burning Man?

To quote from the Burning Man website, "Trying to explain what Burning Man is to someone who has never been to the event is a bit like trying to explain what a particular color looks like to someone who is blind." That statement pretty much sums it up. Part of the reason Burning Man defies easy definition is because there are so many different facets to it. Take some Bumbershoot, Costco size it, throw it in the middle of some harsh desert conditions, give it some Las Vegas style glitz, add some New York City vibrance, mix in some Bourbon Street partying, then add some flavoring of Berkeley, fold in some element of camping, extend that over a week and you have a foundation of a description of what Burning Man is all about. The rest of this blog will attempt to fill in the blanks so that you all can retroactively live vacariously through my adventures at Burning Man.

Disclaimer:
I know that Burning Man is different things to different people and everyone comes away with a different experience. This blog is a view of Burning Man from my perspective so you'll just have to keep that in mind when I made broad sweeping statements. I hope you enjoy the read. If you don't, well hey, you get what you paid for. I might make content and editorial changes after a post has been made so there. No animals were harmed in the creation of this blog. All rights reserved.

Burning Man 2007 trip report

Hello all,

I'm finally getting around to writing up my trip report for my adventures at Burning Man 2007. I am going to post in a blog format for convenience sake (ummm, that would be my convenience, not necessarily yours). I'm not sure how many posts it is going to take to empty my brain out of over a week's worth of happenings but I figure it should take many days. If you have any specific questions just shoot me an email and I'll make sure I cover it in a future blog post. So please feel free to stop by and check out the blog to read about my take on the Burning Man experience. Enjoy!

http://playatini.blogspot.com/

The word "playatini" is a hodge-podge word which is a combination of "playa" (pronounced ply' ah) and "martini". The word playa comes from the Spanish word meaning hellaciously dusty oppressively hot forsaken plot of earth in the middle of nowhere.