And now for something completely different.

bm_cricket · Post by **bm_cricket** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:11 pm

Thank you! This will be my second year and thanks to the advice and tips from this forum I am upgrading from a ramshackled and dust filled tent to a dome. It looks beautiful in my back yard so far. I'm still considering all the options of dome covering but I'm well on my way.

How have everyone's playa preparations changed over the years? I'm pretty good at knowing what I need and when I need it in the vanilla world but I've learned the hard way that mother nature always has something up it's sleeve once you get out of the city.

How about your personal gear when you walk about? How aggressively do you collect other people's moop? What kinds of "oh, just in case" stuff do you have on you? (Safty Pins, zip ties, multi-tools, "legal" medicine, med equipment.. all came in extremely handy last year at the least expected times)

And what is your favorite color?

Absolut Jeenyus · Post by **Absolut Jeenyus** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:54 pm

Your other post got me thinking about this. How things have changed and gotten bigger and better throughout the years. Evolved if you will. I remember my first year, I had a single burner stove, and about 3 or 4 milk crates with some food in it. Mostly dehydrated or freeze dried meals, a few MRE's, a one man tent, a very weak 8x8 PVC shade structure that got destroyed in a heartbeat (live and learn lol), a sleeping bag, a small table and a duffel bag with some clothes. That was about it. Very basic but it was a great time. First year is always wonderful. As our camp seems to grow slightly in numbers I collect more and more shit through the years and also match and join gear with other camp mates to create our humble little home on the playa.

Now days we have a full kitchen which I am so proud of. Running water to make doing dishes a cinch. It took a few years of trial and error to find out what works well and what doesn't, which is a lot of fun to me. We fucking quit using EZ-ups too for the most part, we are using the heavy duty military GP tents now. Got a new hexagonal shaped one that I cant wait to setup this year for the first time.

The event! The people! The camps! The city! It really the greatest thing to me to see it all...

Absolut Jeenyus · Post by **Absolut Jeenyus** » Tue Aug 04, 2009 10:57 pm

Oh yea... Red and Black.

Elorrum · Post by **Elorrum** » Wed Aug 05, 2009 8:35 pm

it's changing... I found that a few designated content, smaller, containers for gear work better than sorting through a big dusty rubbermaid tote. Trader joes has some cheap closeable cooler bags and I got a couple of those for kitchen, and food. What I carry with me: cheapo digital camera, a few bandaids, antiseptic wipe for scrapes, chapstick, tums, ibuprofen, couple of safety pins, pen/sharpie, notepad, water, cup/mug, spork, snack, small flashlight (I found a very bright one that clips on the rim of my hat and tilts for directing the light,) goggles, bandana, pocket knife/tool, p38 can opener, three pieces of small rope for magic tricks. If I can find sunscreen in a tube the size of neosporin, I'll carry that too. If I bring things I will certainly use and winnow out the things I haven't used, packing up and unpacking is easier each time. I've found that when I forgot things I made do with what I had.

and green.... no wait blue AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!