Here goes, its a live one

magpiefarm · Post by **magpiefarm** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:01 pm

A total and complete newbie. Have only heard of BM and am planning to go with my lovey and our two kids, 12 and 15. My partner and kids all have school on Tues the 4th. We live in Western Massachusetts. Can someone tell me if it is cool to leave say, Sunday morning. Even at that we will barely make it. I want to go soo bad but just am unsure if it makes sense.-magpie
Actually, I dont think we can even make it back for Tues school. I think it is at least 48 hrs staight. But, jeeze, I'd hate to miss the burning on Sat. Any thoughts...[color=indigo][/color]

phil · Post by **phil** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 8:29 pm

Screw school. Leave Tuesday and take a leisurely drive back - Drive safe!

The kids will get more out of Burning Man than they will out of missing a _week_ of school out of 12 years.

Burning Man is a wonderful experience. Your whole family will love it. Make plans to stop by and have lunch with Louise and me, seriously.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:13 pm

phil wrote:Screw school. Leave Tuesday and take a leisurely drive back - Drive safe!

The kids will get more out of Burning Man than they will out of missing a _week_ of school out of 12 years.

Burning Man is a wonderful experience. Your whole family will love it. Make plans to stop by and have lunch with Louise and me, seriously.

\/
phil, That is the best welcome I have seen on this board..

MikeVDS · Post by **MikeVDS** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:34 pm

The kids will get more out of Burning Man than they will out of missing a _week_ of school out of 12 years.

Actually it's more likely that they will miss the first week of school for the rest of their lives.

SnowBlind · Post by **SnowBlind** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 9:39 pm

magpiefarm wrote:Can someone tell me if it is cool to leave say, Sunday morning. Even at that we will barely make it. I want to go soo bad but just am unsure if it makes sense.

If you can somehow get away with coming back later it'd be great to stay till Monday. Sunday night usually features several large scale burns.

On the other hand, a lot of people leave Sunday. The last year for which I could find the census data seems to be 2004, but that year almos a quarter of all participants left Sunday. http://afterburn.burningman.com/04/cens ... rtact.html

Note that the road off the playa gets clogged up in the later part of the day, even on Sunday. Leaving early, or planning in a few extra hours helps.

emotion_sickness · Post by **emotion_sickness** » Thu Apr 12, 2007 10:18 pm

HAHAHA speaking of missing school, the first day of classes for me are...Aug 27th. So guess where I'll be? Thats right, letting the sun bake my ass into the ground on the playa! I'll be missing like the first 2 weeks of school...good thing I've taken 2 of my classes last semester and I'm just retaking them next time around!!!

oh, and since you guys are newbies, i just thought id let you know i'm trying to see if there is any interest in putting together a newbie camp, maybe registered, maybe just camping in the same general area...let me know if you & your fam would be interested!

magpiefarm · Post by **magpiefarm** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 4:33 am

Not getting back really isn't an option, if it were I wouldn't have a dilemma. My partner teaches, that's the main thing.

I guess we will try to drive through leaving Sunday am early. Better than not going at all.

Thanks for the advice, all. And for the census link.

htrammel · Post by **htrammel** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:12 am

magpiefarm wrote:A total and complete newbie. Have only heard of BM and am planning to go with my lovey and our two kids, 12 and 15. My partner and kids all have school on Tues the 4th. We live in Western Massachusetts. Can someone tell me if it is cool to leave say, Sunday morning. Even at that we will barely make it. I want to go soo bad but just am unsure if it makes sense.-magpie
Actually, I dont think we can even make it back for Tues school. I think it is at least 48 hrs staight. But, jeeze, I'd hate to miss the burning on Sat. Any thoughts...

Our burner group in Western Mass has a meet and greet every other Thursday evening. Next one is April 19. Stoney's pub in Hadley. Feel free to drop in and say hi, ask questions, or just hang out.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:13 am

magpiefarm wrote: I guess we will try to drive through leaving Sunday am early. Better than not going at all.

.

Just for scale, I drive out from western Michigan. The only significant road delays for me have been Exodus and poorly managed road construction within 100 miles of home. I've been leaving on Monday morning and getting home late on Wednesday, taking a slightly less excited pace than on the way out where I don't even stretch my legs until Iowa... With two drivers and minimum stops you should be exhausted but punctual, but be prepared to field lots of questions about your Playa Hair and why your lesson plan has a Mutaytor sticker on it.
Even if you missed The Man's burn, it'd still be worth going...and DEFINITELY accept Phil and Louise's lunch invite. You won't meet better folks out there.

CagedKitty · Post by **CagedKitty** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:23 am

A lot of people leave right after the burn on Sat night. I don't know how they do it, but if you're anxious to get back and you see people leaving you'll probably wish you had packed up before the burn to be ready to leave whenever you want.

magpiefarm · Post by **magpiefarm** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:56 am

Wow, everybody, this really helps! I was unsure about it but now we are definitely going. So Phil, how does one find you for lunch? One other thing... Are there teenager/family camps?--magpie

Post by **AntiM** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 6:56 am

Our first coupla years we left Sunday. It was fine, the drive out wasn't a zoo. Better than no Burning Man at all!

One year I took my oldest niece, she missed her first week as a senior at a private Catholic high school. She survived. Heck, one year (1970?) my folks took me to Japan and Europe (military space available free flights) and I didn't go to a single day of school that year. Not one.

Now a teacher missing a week, well, that's tough to pull off.

unjonharley · Post by **unjonharley** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 7:21 am

WE simply must have BM declared a world holly celebration..

Is there any way you can fly the teacher home early??

phil · Post by **phil** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 10:19 am

> So Phil, how does one find you for lunch?

Drop me a private message (one those icons near my name on the left of the board - hover over them and see what pops up) in August when we know where we'll be camped. We'll set up a day and time; I'll see if unjon can make it then, too, and maybe even Anitm and robotland.

After you've been coming a few years, you get to meet these people on the playa and renew your acquaintance every year, so you might as well start early.

No matter when you leave, drive safely. If you leave at night, be aware that the highway goes through open range land which means there are cows on the road. (They're on there during the day, too.) Don't outdrive your headlights when in open range, the cow you kill could make you late.

PurpleKoosh · Post by **PurpleKoosh** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 11:36 am

phil wrote:No matter when you leave, drive safely. If you leave at night, be aware that the highway goes through open range land which means there are cows on the road. (They're on there during the day, too.) Don't outdrive your headlights when in open range, the cow you kill could make you late.

...and broke, too. Not merely for repairs to your car, but you could be asked to pay the farmer's deductible for his insurance on the cow.

http://www.burningman.com/preparation/e ... ml#highway

SnowBlind · Post by **SnowBlind** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:17 pm

emotion_sickness wrote:HAHAHA speaking of missing school, the first day of classes for me are...Aug 27th. So guess where I'll be?

A few years ago a college student from Berkely wrote a great piece about that. Its called My Grandmother is Planning to Die During the First Week of Classes

I just posted a link to it a few months ago: http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic. ... ht=#298121

motskyroonmatick · Post by **motskyroonmatick** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 5:33 pm

I second unjonharley's idea of flying the teacher home. At minimum it would be a good backup plan if you find that you are amazingly exhausted after the week and have to take things slow for several days just to be safe. For me my favorite days of the event are monday through wednesday and sunday. The early week atmosphere of Black Rock City is priceless!!!! Study the survival guide hard and look arround on the web for additional information as well. Starting on eplaya as you are is a great start.

Bring bikes!

Welcome!!

Nick Collide · Post by **Nick Collide** » Fri Apr 13, 2007 9:23 pm

Another suggestion: By the middle of August you should have received the kids' class schedules and teachers. You could contact as many teachers as possible and get the homework for the first week. That would give the kids something to do on those long stretches of road coming and going (and maybe during the week if weather becomes an issue). That way they wouldn't be behind when they do get back - whenever that is. Some teachers might even offer extra credit if the kids wrote a paper on what Burning Man is and what the adventure meant to them.

pinemom · Post by **pinemom** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 7:49 am

hahaha...my biggest dilima is my 13 yr old is coming for our wedding(thursday) and she's a professional fire performer...but now's she's got her heart so stuck on going the whole week...I run a BAR theme camp, these 2 idea's dont mesh. So she talking her co-jr varisty firespinners, MOM into going, so she can camp with them...uhggg...I see the writting on the wall for this idea.
I just dont know about this...yes, she's a Total Burner Kid,She's wonderful!!! and she has her ticket already...but man...I can only hope that the other MOM decides to camp in KidsVIlle...........
I know this sounds selfish, but it my vacation away...from all responsibilities...uhg....seen to many un-responsible parents bring their kids and things go wrong. One of our Fire conclave members is a teacher, and she goes back in forth all week, Im thinking of begging her to bring her out with her wed pm or thur am, then Ill at least have a lil' repreive.
Plus I know in the meantime, my Daughter is wanting to be part of the fireconclave before the man burns ...hehehe cant blame her Im excited too!

magpiefarm · Post by **magpiefarm** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 8:11 am

These are all such good suggestions.

What we have decided to do is to leave early Sun morning and drive through. My daughter, who is 15, will miss a day but my husband and son will not. I ahve been homeschooling my son and he is really excited about starting junior high and it feels important to start him off with the other kids. It is a good compromise for us.we get to go and dont loose our footing when coming back to the "real"world.

I already feel like I belong. You guys are lovely. -magpie

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Sat Apr 14, 2007 12:51 pm

You're only as lovely as the company you keep. See you soon.

spectabillis · Post by **spectabillis** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:32 am

fair warning - we eat children.

magpiefarm · Post by **magpiefarm** » Sun Apr 15, 2007 11:49 am

I'll be sure to feed them lots of garlic and rosemary on the way. I think I have some olive oil skin salve too.