Heads up from the playa: might be dusty

Boijoy · Post by **Boijoy** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 3:12 pm

yeah.. the traveling conditions deff. sucked this year. HOWEVER, every year is a different experience,, so,, this year I got to spend time in center camp and see some amazing music & art.. && I got to meet LOTS of kewell peeps around camp. & walked mostly. I'll be back next year fo sho.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:56 pm

Bob wrote:Walking?

How pedestrian.

And for me, how impossible...

BitterDan · Post by **BitterDan** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 7:58 pm

How did you fair this year Crypto? Do you have monster tires on your chair? Do you have an art car?

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Wed Sep 03, 2008 8:02 pm

I did okay. I didn't have special tires (I wonder if I can get those for my Quickee when I finally get that sorted out.) I did find that people were helpful when I got cought in dust drifts. The one time I went to the other side of the playa I bullied someone into letting me hook it up to the generator so I wouldn't get stuck without juice on my way home.

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 2:29 am

I don't know what a Quickee is, but did you see these?
http://eplaya.burningman.org/viewtopic.php?t=26065

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:49 am

Quickee is a brand of wheelchair. The wheels pop off anyway for transport. I was wondering whether/hoping that I could just buy extra wheels for it rather than geting a whole new chair.

Toolmaker · Post by **Toolmaker** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 11:51 am

theCryptofishist wrote:Quickee is a brand of wheelchair. The wheels pop off anyway for transport. I was wondering whether/hoping that I could just buy extra wheels for it rather than geting a whole new chair.

You can.. try to get the knobby style for the playa.

http://www.edmond-wheelchair.com/wheelc ... arings.htm

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 5:19 pm

My experience is the knobby tires throw up way too much dust and aren't needed if your tires are wide enough.
Probably good for uphill though.

If I can get wide enough tires, I would prefer almost smooth.
I tried out the snow tires in deep dust and had almost no slippage.
The owner said he aimed for the drifts for ride comfort.
They do work.

mk-ultra · Post by **mk-ultra** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 9:42 pm

Honestly -- I'd be terribly disappointed if the conditions were entirely benign for the duration of BM. I *love* the wind... the dust... the camp-wrecking insanity of it all. One of my MOST favorite things about BM is heading out in a complete white-out... wandering aimlessly with only 10' visibility... and stumbling upon little outposts of survival.

We got caught out in Saturday's dust storm walking back from the temple, via the Bummer to the Esplanade... and in the total white-out stumbled upon the 10 o'clock dome making the most delicious (and cold... and potent) bloody mary's imaginable.

We parked ourselves... danced... and enjoyed their amazing hospitality while the world blew by... obscuring damn near everything more than two feet in front of our faces.

Brilliant. Where else on Earth can you experience something as beautiful as that?

Our camp got trashed, despite our best efforts at engineering a wind-proof homestead. We'll be back next year... to see if we learned anything

gyre · Post by **gyre** » Thu Sep 04, 2008 10:14 pm

When we move to a dry rock platte, come over and I'll cover you in dust if it'll make you happy.

phil · Post by **phil** » Fri Sep 05, 2008 4:29 pm

Quick clip taken during Monday's dust storm:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/civex/2831873456/