Hola from Seattle!! Virgin Burner (hopefully)

[tacomaboatguy]

Hello everyone! After moving to the Seattle area to re-find and reinvent myself, I have decided to take the plunge and make a trip (or many) to Burning Man. I am unsure if I will be able to make it in 2019 due to my wifes work schedule. I will be lurking on here, looking for tips, tricks and advice. Im not really good at these intro things, so ask me questions. Im better at that!

[Amedao]

Hello fellow Lurker and Seattle-lite.. I live in NC now, but for almost 20 years I was in the Seattle, Tacoma, Everett.. Redmond area.. I hope to go in 2019 or 2020 as well. I would recommend that survival guide that is on the main page for the Burning Man. After that will be subject to budget and available resources in your area.. I am pretty sure that since you are in the Seattle area and if you can find a local burners FB page or two they could give some good tried and true advise on what to bring and what not to bring and where to find it... I'm doing the same thing here and already contacted people in Wilmington.
Read everything and check out prep vids on youtube they have good advise.. peruse the lexicon for jargon like "what is a darkwad?" and stuff like that..
And also look up the regionals that might be available in your area if Nevada and a 2 week trip are not in the stars at first.. sometimes smaller steps before a bigger plunge is in order especially if your going by another person's schedule.
You can always contact me here or any of the mods on this forum.. like Trilobyte or AntiM

And welcome to Eplaya and hope to see you and the Burn!!

[lucky420]

Hola and hello...

[crazydoglady]

Hello from over on the peninsula!! I'm over in Poulsbo.....and my very first burn will be 2019. So, if I can do it at 50+ years then you can too! I've been lurking around picking up little pieces of info here and there on this board. Lots of helpful folks.

[Elderberry]

Hey there, welcome to ePlaya!

[Captain Goddammit]

The Portland regional, SOAK, is pretty good and not too far to hit from here.
I’d warn against falling into the recently-common “I’m going to Burning Man so I NEED to join a camp” mentality.
The survival guide is essential and unless the camp is made of people who are already your real friends, you’re better off providing for yourself so you know you’ll be provided for at all.
You don’t normally pick your friends from an internet list... when you go to BRC you’ll undoubtedly make friends and find camps you like and then if you want to join them, great.

Shade is everything. The best initial project to work on is the best and most shade you can build.

The next best thing that I don’t see mentioned often, but have learned from many years of on-playa experience, is couches. It absolutely rocks to have a real couch or two. Find a cheap or free old and lightweight one and bring it, you’ll love having somewhere real to sit and hang out. Playa couches rule.
Bring several camp chairs too. More than just one for yourself. Invariably someone will be over, and a few other friends, and there won’t be anywhere to sit.

The unofficial official beer of Black Rock City is PBR. I’d never drink that stuff at home but it’s light and watery and becomes ideal in the desert.

[lucky420]

Playa couches do rule ^^!

[tacomaboatguy]

Thanks for the replies! Currently I am looking for a cheep 25-30' rv that I can turn into my burning man camper. I figure this way I will be able to take showers and cook actual meals for myself and my camp mates. I am in no hurry to join a camp, I actually think That making my own will be the best way. Planning on bringing a few couches, depending on who joins me. Have a cheep way to make durable shade structures out of a shrink wrap material that I use to wrap boats for the winter. I will be experimenting with it throughout the summer and will post progress and what works and what doesn't.

As for regional's, I plan on attending Ignition and am volunteering at SeaCompression this weekend for security. I figure this will be an easy way to meet new people and make friends as well as help contribute to the local burner community. If you are attending SeaCompression please say hello if you run into someone who looks super uncomfortable and out of place as I am sure I will until I get to know people a bit.

[Captain Goddammit]

If you buy an old motorhome, the most important things are: transmission, tires, radiator and make sure the fridge works.
A portable Honda generator will use less fuel than the built-in one it has. The cost of fuel isn’t an issue, it’s that you have to carry all of it with you.

[tacomaboatguy]

Not wanting to get into the extra maintenance of a motorhome. I have enough things with engines, tires, and propellers. Im thinking something to tow behind my truck. Want to keep it pretty simple, as long as it has a good frame and solid walls and roof everything else is pretty easy to take care of and build/fix. If I dont make it to burning man this year, I will be going to Critical and possible some other regionals to meet cool people and test out my creation.

So excited to volunteer at SeaCompression this weekend! Need to meet others and make connections beyond work. Life has been pretty boring since I moved out here by myself, I can only watch so much Netflix after work.