HuDannie wrote:I'm traveling in an RV and will have my tanks full however when it comes to drinking water are bottles OK????

OK as long as you take away all your empties. Stomp plastic bottles flat when empty, that way they take up a lot less room.

Travel safely.

Sounds great, but the App Store claims it requires IOS 4.0 and iTunes refuses to load it on my old iPhone with IOS 3.1.3.

Back to packing...

Smoked salmon.

Pay attention, skinnay. Token speaks truth: SILK. Sew a loose sack of silk for a sleeping bag liner, then when not sleeping stick it in a ziplock bag. Time's short, go to the fabric store and get to work! If lazy, fumble-fingered or possessed of more cash than time go to a store and buy a sillk "dre...

You are not a wimp. The following comments reflect playa experience going back to 1996. 1. Bring a box of EmergenC. (There's a cheaper house brand equivalent at Rite Aid.) Add a packet to water and sip slowly, twice a day. The extra electrolytes and the vitamins do the magic. 2. Bring a dozen hard-b...

I put a half-cup of white vinegar in the "bleach" holder (but no bleach!) and run my clothes through the washing machine with the usual detergent. The final rinse takes out both the vinegar and the dust.

It is not crazy. A couple years back I brought a pint of sourdough culture and a bag of flour and made a loaf of sourdough bread on the playa using a solar oven. The bread rose nicely and it tasted great. The only puzzling part was that the bread crust never browned. I have not made yoghurt on the p...

I hope that I remember how this felt next year so I'm not so foolhardy. Pre-playa I did some surfing to check out what full-time desert dwellers wear. One of the things I found was the tagelmust, the combo turban/face wrap worn by the Tuareg men of the Sahara: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Image:Tua...

Why does it always have to end in the hateful, spiteful, whines of class envy? "It's the story of mankind: people telling other people what to do." -- overheard in the crowd at the Temple Burn. Consider instead a further development of the Gift Economy through revival of pre-missionary customs of t...

I know the newbs get annoying, but really, an explanation of why they are being so annoying or misguided or flat wrong should precede the snark. I don't want to see one more "they're being mean" PM in my inbox. True 'nuf, AntiM, but the desert is a lot meaner than the posters here. AspenMirror need...

Every year I bring a batch of picture postcards. One year they were desert landscape photos, another year Hubble space photos. I put postage stamps on each postcard. I tell each recipient they can write on the card and address it and take it to the BRCPO in Center Camp. If they look puzzled I ask if...

Hamandegger wrote: None of us deserves this, none of us should tolerate it

As long ago as 1974 people said that the revolution will not be televised. Fuck knows why people in 2007 think they can start one by posting on a bulletin board.

Do you guys know what's been going on with the hurricane? Anybody got a satelite feed there? During Exodus, Burning Man Information Radio reported that a DPW team was flying to N'Orleans to build shelters. I told a playa neighbor that people who annually build and operate a temporary city in a remo...

Jaguarundi,

The Black Rock City Post Office is performance art, not an "official" Burning Man function. See http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=5843 for one person's experience and recommendations on how to address the mail.

dust devil

Every year I've been there (1996, 1999-2003) there's been at least one repeater in Black Rock City. At the very least expect to hear some mobiles configured as crossband repeaters by mid-week.

Check the 2m simplex calling frequency when you arrive.

http://www.eugeneweb.com/~bm/ibm.html

There's little or no cell coverage after you leave Rt. 80.

[quote]It's the fucking desert - a dangerous environment all by itself.[/quote] Images of Burning Man cultivated in the media downplay the extreme forces of the environment in favor of emphasis on the social / hedonic. Were this understood, I suspect only the bravest and best prepared would chance a...

http://www.eugeneweb.com/~bm/ibm.html

Bring your own laptop or PDA and wireless card. Ideally this should be gear you won't miss if the playa dust destroys it.

In the past amateur radio operators have set up event repeaters in Black Rock City but I don't know of any list. There is usually someone on the playa listening on the 2m and 440 simplex calling frequencies and that is perhaps the best way to find out. If you have a 2m HT or a dual-bander bring it. ...

We have two coolers: one Coleman Stainless and one plastic cooler. Here's our system: Fill the home freezer with bottled water and/or a case of cans of Kern's juice a few days before departure. Put meat and fish into freezer baggies, add marinades, and freeze. Immediately before departure, put froze...

In the past: Used mylarized tarps to provide instant shade upon arrival. Lash top ends to the car rack and stake out the bottom ends with bungees and tent stakes. Helps keep the car cool and gives you a bit of shade to hide and rest while setting up camp by day. Mylar tarps are good. Have an extra o...

I second the recommendation of miso soup. You can get it as a paste in a small plastic tub. Keep it in your cooler along with some boiled eggs or tofu and maybe scallions. Chop the boiled eggs or tofu & scallions and add them along with a few generous scoops of miso paste to very hot water.

This year we took 2 gal/person/day and used about 1.5 gal/person/day. This does not include a case of bottled water (and two cases of Kern's juices). It got used for drinking and cooking, quickie solar showers, and washing dishes. At departure we drained one water can and kept another in case someth...

My name is Pat. Burning Man 2003 was my sixth stay in Black Rock City. For the last three my mate and I have camped with the Alternative Energy Zone village. Each time after returning to Mundania (a little south of San Francisco) I find myself making notes on what I learned, what worked, what didn't...