cooking and getting power at your camp

alex · Post by **alex** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:00 am

i have a really stupid question. but on the bm site they say that you set up ovens and you can have a boom box as long as your don't play it too loud. but where exactly are you getting power from? there aren't any outlets..
do you just use camping ovens? hmm.

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 10:07 am

Most use propane-fueled camp stoves. As for the boom box, many Burners bring gas-powered generators. If you choose to do this please come prepared to be considerate of those camping around you.

[Rant: last two years in a row I've been annoyed to no end by neighbors who set up their generator on *my* side of their car. If you don't want to hear your generator, what makes you think I do??]

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:23 pm

Alex, I suggest that you investigate the Alternative Energy Zone site. And don't buy a generator just to run yer boombox. At LEAST string up some lights, or power a water mister or SOMETHING.

alex · Post by **alex** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:36 pm

ah thank you so much! i don't plan on buying a generator, and i can't go to bm for two years anyway. i'm only 16 and i'm a girl...so i'm sure my rents will want me to go along with someone else..

thank you for the suggestions and the information :)

Ivy · Post by **Ivy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:37 pm

I run my stove off propane and my li'l stereo off batteries. That's all.

Chai Guy · Post by **Chai Guy** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 12:40 pm

Or you could just run an extension cord into the center camp cafe, I'm sure they wouldn't mind.

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:00 pm

I should start a new thread for my rant... I'm still steamed about that. :-/

I was going to suggest batteries (hey Ivy, long time!) but I figured I'd be doped slapped for suggesting anything that involves disposable lead.

As for minors, I wonder what BM's policy is on allowing minors with their parents' permission? Not that it's likely any sweet sixteen year-old's parents would let her wander off into the desert with a bunch of crazed hippies, anyway...

Finally, Chai Guy, I admire your fortitude to take every small opportunity to subvert the center camp cafe!

alex · Post by **alex** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:25 pm

you're allowed to go if you're under 18, as long as you have someone who is 21 or older who is willing to be responsible for you. i would love to wander the desert with a bunch of hippies ;) but the only people i know who want to go are 20, not 21. you're allowed to go to burning man at the age of 18, so i guess i'll have to wait until then.

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:31 pm

You might be surprised to find surrogate Burners who are willing to take you under their wing, assuming your parents would permit it. I wouldn't take that decision lightly (on either side of the deal) but I'd like to believe all things are possible with like-minded people. That kind of arrangement would be a lot easier if you could meet Burners in your area.. where ya from?

alex · Post by **alex** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 1:58 pm

yeah i thought about that too, but my parents have already been so generous and easy-going, i'd feel like i would be taking advantage of them, but i'm still considering the idea for the burn in 2005. i'm from new jersey, by the way.

Alpha · Post by **Alpha** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 6:25 pm

Well good luck to ya!

alex · Post by **alex** » Tue Mar 16, 2004 9:20 pm

thank you! and thanks to everyone for their help, i hope your experience at burning man in 2004 is an enjoyable one.

stuart · Post by **stuart** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:26 am

http://images.burningman.com/index.cgi? ... _category=

Some boomboxes might be impractical to run off of batteries

Licentious Queen · Post by **Licentious Queen** » Wed Mar 17, 2004 11:58 am

Hey Alex! I'm 16 too, and I can't go this year either. I'm hoping 2005 will be my first. I live in New Hampshire. Maybe we can go down together next year. My sister will be 21 then, and she really wants to go as well. So yeah, lets talk!

Icepack · Post by **Icepack** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:21 am

Alpha wrote:Most use propane-fueled camp stoves. As for the boom box, many Burners bring gas-powered generators. If you choose to do this please come prepared to be considerate of those camping around you.

[Rant: last two years in a row I've been annoyed to no end by neighbors who set up their generator on *my* side of their car. If you don't want to hear your generator, what makes you think I do??]

Diesel powered generators are wonderful things!
Last year the camp I was with rented a diesel generator and then ran power cords through the camp so people could hook up to it.

An RV pulled in, and set up right next to us and started their generator. I was a little annoyed because it had the "on the back side of their camp/front side of my camp" feel to it. But it was very temporary situation. They quickly did their cooking, offered us a meal, and then hooked into the diesel generator. It was nice that they could have their power, and we could have our quiet.

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 7:22 am

A solution to your energy needs: "Camp Treadmill"....offer free exercise to your fellow Burners by thoughtfully providing treadmills and perhaps stationary bikes, all of which are linked to alternators and then to your camp's power grid....

III · Post by **III** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:17 am

or you can get placed in center camp, so you don't need to provide your own power at all...

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 12:55 pm

robotland wrote: "Camp Treadmill"..

Better yet "Camp Sisyphus" (alt: "Camp Camus") Have participants roll a rock up a hill and generate electricity when it escapes just short of the top.

alex · Post by **alex** » Thu Mar 18, 2004 8:47 pm

haha, camp sisyphus, very nice.

to Licentious Queen, thank you for your offer, i will keep that in mind!

i probably won't go with a generator, and i'll look for other resourceful ways of attaining energy at my camp...but sadly, that camp won't exist until at least two years from now

robotland · Post by **robotland** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 6:25 am

Another Energy Solution- for authenticity, convince Thunderdome that they need an underground pig farm and methane refinery......after all, "Who rule Bartertown? MasterBlaster rule Bartertown!"

Licentious Queen · Post by **Licentious Queen** » Fri Mar 19, 2004 3:53 pm

alex wrote: to Licentious Queen, thank you for your offer, i will keep that in mind!

Aye, just a thought.

That's a creepy smiley. You probably think I'm so homicidal maniac or the like. well, I promise, I'm not.

...yet...

diane o'thirst · Post by **diane o'thirst** » Wed May 26, 2004 10:21 pm

Yeah, wait 'til you're eighteen. PLEN-TEE of time. Even at 18 you'll be a spring chicken, I believe the median age of attendees hovered somewhere in the thirties and forties.

Like I said, you have plenty of time. Knowledge is power: in the meantime, learn up, decide what you want to do, and go armed with a Jacob's Ladder.