You have an RV, What you can expect at the Gate?

[Rice]

So, you have an RV. What you can expect at the Gate?

When you arrive at the Gate there are several things you should know:

* Have all your tickets ready (just go to Will Call if you don't, no you cannot wait in line for someone at Will Call - you will get shuttled to the Will Call Lot anyhow [no exceptions])
* Have your vehicle pass affixed to your windshield in the appropriate location.
* Follow the instrutions of the Gate Volunteers at both Apex and when you get to the Gate proper.
* Put your RV into PARK when you stop at the Gate, there are people walking around. {Do you want to be responsible for sending a Gate Voluteer to the hospital in Reno and runing their burn? no, I thought not}
* Gate Volunteers are going to ask to search your vehicle, if you say NO - you will not be allowed thought the gate.
* Gate volunteers will not take off their boots when they come in to search - if that is a problem, bring a few sets of those paper shoe covers for the volunteers to wear when they are in your RV - something like:

* Make sure you have the key for every cuboard, door and nook in your RV - If you have to look for the key, you will get sent to D-Lot and your RV will probably come under extra scrutiny as a result.
* If you are trying to smuggle someone in, all of your tickets will be voided and everyone sent back to Reno (no exceptions, no excuses - seriously - with LE backup if necessary)
* Once your RV has been searched and your tickets have been torn - you can slowly (at the freaking speed limit) head to the Greeters Station. DO NOT STOP UNTIL YOU GET TO GREETERS! (at minimum the Perimeter Voluteers will pay you a visit, worst case senario LE will get involved)

Simple requests, fairly straight forward rules, some common sense, and a dash of patience.

Gate volunteers are not trying to slow you down, or prevent you from getting into Burning Man. They have a job to do, rules they must follow. Please make it as easy as possible for everyone involved and you will have a great start to your burn.

[Savannah]

Great stuff, Rice!

This will save time not just for RV drivers and their passengers, but the people behind them as well.

[tamarakay]

This should be a sticky. Or we all need to remember to bump it often.

[robbidobbs]

Having worked Gate, I like youre puting the onus on the RV user to provide paper booties. I get they want their deposit back, but boots are a bitch to get on/off and it's just not going to happen.

[Molotov]

My gate experience took less than 3 minutes for them to look in my small travel trailer. There are only 2 places large enough to smuggle in a person/animal, the closet and the shower. I do leave my exterior door locked until I get to the search areas because I don't want some stowaway to sneak onboard while I am concentrating on moving through the line. which would really screw up my burn, and would be hard to prove that I didn't know about it. Gate folks may not like it, but I will get out of the truck and let them into the trailer. I don't have a problem with any dust being tracked in-I retrofitted wood floors to my rig.

[MikeGyver]

Locked compartments aren't an issue at all as long as you have the key (not a ring with 100 keys you have to keep guessing which is the right one) It makes complete sense for them to be locked while driving as a extra precaution of them not coming open.

One thing to add, If you bring a BFT/cargo trailer Don't make a floor to ceiling stack of Totes. They will have to be removed and looked behind. I know this is about RV's but it needs to be said, Its a Pain in the ass.

We want it to go as quickly as you do.

[ygmir]

That Rice........always with the perfectly worded, polite posts...........he's a real prince.

[mdmf007]

I have to disagree with Rice - You dont have to go to Reno - Your just not getting into BMAN after trying to smuggle someone in.

When I bring my RV all of the advice given above is pretty sage. Leave room for one of the volunteers to poke around. Sometimes its a search, other times its a breeze. You can certainly ask them to wear the booties, but provide them. No offense will be taken, since they know you want to keep your place clean for a week.

[LowePro]

1 additional tip, don't block the bathroom/closet/shower doors with gear because the Gate folks need to open the doors to look around. Make conscious decisions when packing up the trailer. Don't (as we did our first year) stack all 50 dome poles blocking the bathroom door of the trailer. If you must block the doorway, block it OPEN so the Gate staff can see in easily. It will make a much quicker search for the whole line.

[maladroit]

Maybe I've gotten lucky the past two years, but I've brought a 4x8 utility trailer that has a cargo compartment about 2 feet high full of gear, a plywood platform on top of that, a hexayurt strapped to that, another piece of plywood, and bikes on top of the whole layer cake. Opening up that trailer means unstrapping the bikes, unstrapping the hexayurt, pulling off the hexayurt, backing out some lag screws, and pulling off the plywood lid.

I've been ready to do this (straps loosened, lag screws removed, practiced a 2 minute drill on it) but both times, I haven't been asked to open it up.

Special circumstances though. The first year, I knew my Gate person and was coming in for early entry. The second year, I had just spent 24 hours waiting on Gate road in the mud, and they were trying to get everyone into the city ASAP.

This year I'll again assume they'll want to look in it, and hope they believe me that I could cycle it in 2 minutes rather than sending me to D lot.

[Eric]

Another "don't block" tip - if your RV has storage under the bed, do not pile up so much shit on the bed that it's a pain in the ass to open. Learned this the hard way, and we were lucky we were early entry with no traffic (and years before the sell-outs started), so Gate gave us time to shift stuff.

There are some excellent folk on Gate, and they're all just trying to do a required job. They are not the enemy, don't treat them like they are (or like they're an obstruction to your Burn)

[AntiM]

We have had them climb up to look in the roof topper (when we used it). A couple of those years, it was where we packed the skeleton. I thought it was amusing, Gate didn't even blink.

Our trailer is open sided slats, so you can see in if the tarp is unstrapped a bit, but it is packed to the gills. The covered bed of the pick up has a trike strapped to it, which is not too hard to remove, but is a pain if they ever wanted it all the way off instead of peeking in the section of the cover which can be lifted. A couple times I have know our Gate person, which is a fun, but rushed reunion!

[trilobyte]

Great stuff - I'm giving this a nudge over to the Transportation board, since that's a better fit for a post about getting to the event.

[skippy3k]

If you have an RV with a slide-out blocking a bathroom or bedroom door, they will want you to slide it out so they can look inside that room.

One year our gate volunteer climbed up on the roof of our RV. I made a comment about how silly it would be to try and smuggle someone in up there in plain sight. He said he wasn't looking for me smuggling someone in, but during the slow crawl through Gerlach or even the playa, some asshat without a ticket could have climbed up there in the hopes of being smuggled in unknowingly. That just blew my mind, 'cause it was so simple to do, and the results would have been disastrous. It had never occurred to me before.

Now I inspect my roof prior to arriving at the Gate. Hell, I inspect it a few times. (Plus it's a nice view of the line from up there.)

[mooserider]

One year our gate volunteer climbed up on the roof of our RV. I made a comment about how silly it would be to try and smuggle someone in up there in plain sight. He said he wasn't looking for me smuggling someone in, but during the slow crawl through Gerlach or even the playa, some asshat without a ticket could have climbed up there in the hopes of being smuggled in unknowingly. That just blew my mind, 'cause it was so simple to do, and the results would have been disastrous. It had never occurred to me before.

Now I inspect my roof prior to arriving at the Gate. Hell, I inspect it a few times. (Plus it's a nice view of the line from up there.)

Sounds like I should get that bike rack that mounts on the roof access ladder, to block asshat access to the ladder, rather than stowing the bike underneath in the baggage compartments. Although my RV has only the upper half of the ladder permanently mounted (lower part stored inside), it's still possible to scramble up to it if the upper section isn't blocked.

Hmmm.... is there a possibility of asshats trying to ride _underneath_ the RV in the main engine or generator compartments (open from the bottom)?

[skippy3k]

Hmmm.... is there a possibility of asshats trying to ride _underneath_ the RV in the main engine or generator compartments (open from the bottom)?

Yep, they usually check there too.

[Just_Joe]

We bring and offer water, snacks and beer for after shift
It's appreciated.

[mooserider]

Which brings up another interesting point....

If you _find_ an uninvited stowaway on your vehicle in-line to but prior to arriving at the Gate, how does one get rid of such an individual without effectively committing murder by abandonment in the desert? Is there a means to contact LEO before you reach the Gate so they can take them away before they can invalidate your tickets? This is a serious question, not a joke, since it sounds like the asshat population is increasing, and it's going to cost way too much (in time and effort as well as $$$) to make this trip to have it destroyed at the last minute by some cheapskate who won't pay his own way.

[skippy3k]

This may not be a popular answer, but honestly, if I find someone stowed away on my roof, after one request to get the fuck off, it will be all I can do to not push them off. I'm sorry. I've spent MONTHS preparing for this emotionally, financially and physically. I will not let some asshat jeopardize my camp.

[maladroit]

That would really suck, to have played everything by the book, and then get sent back to Reno because you have some unexpected dingleberries.

[GreyCoyote]

First thing out of your mouth should be "i've got this asshat whom I dont know and have tried to remove from my vehicle several times. He snuck on-board and likely has no ticket. I would like your help in getting a LEO over here, and I would be happy to wait and swear-out an affidavit if you wish. And yes, Inwould like to press charges".

My bet is they would take care of the miscreant most timely, thank you for helping, and send you off to find your camp. (And if they didnt, they just missed a golden opportunity to make their job easier while at the same time forcing you to become your own enforcer for trespassers).

Gate seems like reasonable folks. I bet they'd be happy to help!

[C187]

If you suspect someone is hiding just let the person you talk to know. Simple as that.

[skippy3k]

I don't mean to belabor this...but if I find or even suspect someone is on my roof, I am not going to wait until I reach Gate to deal with it. First, because I'm not taking any chances of waiting that long and having it be ok. Second, (and a distant second) I suppppppoooose I would be slightly upset if he or she fell off and was hurt in some way.

[ygmir]

yeah I'd echo that if you find an uninvited rider, and they won't disembark, flag down any official, ORG or LE, and report them. There are usually a fair number of ORG vehicles and such scooting up and down gate road, if you can get their attention. But, report it ASAP, so it'd obvious you are pro active and not waiting to see if you get caught.

[Elderberry]

If you have an RV with a slide-out blocking a bathroom or bedroom door, they will want you to slide it out so they can look inside that room.

One year our gate volunteer climbed up on the roof of our RV. I made a comment about how silly it would be to try and smuggle someone in up there in plain sight. He said he wasn't looking for me smuggling someone in, but during the slow crawl through Gerlach or even the playa, some asshat without a ticket could have climbed up there in the hopes of being smuggled in unknowingly. That just blew my mind, 'cause it was so simple to do, and the results would have been disastrous. It had never occurred to me before.

Now I inspect my roof prior to arriving at the Gate. Hell, I inspect it a few times. (Plus it's a nice view of the line from up there.)

This kind of stuff never ceases to amaze me. That's beyond stupid.

[Elliot]

Sounds like it is time for the annual posting of this classic photo:

[Elderberry]

Is that for real? Isn't there wiring and steering columns and things back there?

[Elliot]

I don't know how real the picture is, but it appears from time to time in connection with Gate. My guesstimate is that it could be real, if the person was small enough, and the vehicle large enough, and there was no concern for the future of the vehicle. The heater-A/C, associated ducting, radio, and a great deal else can be removed without rendering a car undrivable.
What puzzles me, is that the storage box on the inside of the glove-box-door, as well as the heater-A/C outlets (the rectangular boxes close to the seat), are intact. I would have expected those to be cut away to where only the facades were left. But anyone who would do this sort of thing is likely to be "a few bricks short of a full load".

[maladroit]

This was for a border crossing, and the idea was definitely to pass a search that included opening the glove box etc. IIRC, they would have passed the search if a dog hadn't indicated someone was present.

[Elliot]

Ah. Very good. I will stop using the photo.