Post
by Lord Of Ruin » Wed Nov 12, 2008 2:44 pm
I've done both. I did tent at the behest of camp mates my first year.
I had a very nice tent that I could stand up in. It was built under a Costco car port that I bought for the purpose. I had an inflatable air mattress that was full height (i.e. you can actually sit on it like a traditional bed.)
I was very comfortable, particularly at night. I didn't even both with sleeping bag, but just brought sheets and comforter. Very plush.
Last year I actually rented a 21 foot motor home that I had to myself. Wasn't crazy about the size, but it was amazing. No satellite dish and crap, but had bathroom, shower and bed, A/C, etc. More like a toy hauler.
I work a lot of staff shifts out there, so getting good sleep no matter what, 24/7 was critical for me.
My first year, my friends poo poo'd me renting an RV, saying that it wasn't in the spirit of the burn, that I would "lose my connection to everything" etc. I'd have to say that's a load of horse shit.
Almost every one of them are busily buying used trailers to fix up. So now it seems to be an emerging thing of "oh, you have a funky used RV you fixed up=you're ok vs. you rented a nice one=you are yuppie scum".
Would I go in my tent setup again? Sure. Does it hold a candle to thecomfort I felt in the RV? Not a friggin' chance. Each time I ate or slept, I bounded out of the trailer like it was arrival day.
That being said, I have been on other excursion where the rusticity of the event WAS part of the event for me. I took a sort of shabby pride in being able to survive minimally.
I guess it depends on that for you. I now prefer being able to NOT worry/fuss with camp so I can be out either working or experiencing all the great art and people that make up BM.
And I don't fall in with the whole "if you have an RV, you're inherently more rude" line of thinking. I see plenty of people that are rude, non-participatory, etc out there. Their camping method of choice doesn't necessarily correlate.
Some of the kindest and most giving people I passed this year were in big RV camps. Hell, I was walking from end to end one hot afternoon and one camp invited me under their very large shade and proceeded to walk me through a tasting tour of their microbrew taps!
LoR
The fox provides for himself, but God provides for the lion - W. Blake (attribution corrected)
All I need now is my ticket, all my crap, a car...lot of stuff to do.
