If you're gonna meet somewhere there, n no cel phone recpt..

[thefreshmaker]

If you're gonna meet somewhere there, n there's no cel phone reception, and you're both new so you have no idea what to expect. Then how would you end up coordinating to meet up with that person?

[Token]

Who told you about the no cell service? That is soooo two years ago.

There is a bunch of computers at Playa Info at center camp. You enter your info into it so your friends can find you and vice versa.

There was also a text message service that was run by a theme camp that allowed folks to send text messages on their cells but I don't know if they are back this year.

[gyre]

If the machines work.
If you can get to one...
etc

[mudpuppy000]

You can leave messages at playa info I believe. Never done it myself. Also you can set an approximate address where you plan on camping beforehand. There shouldn't be too much trouble finding open spots on the outside streets. (say 8:30 and "G" street)

[Fire_Moose]

you don't worry about it, then run into each other randomly on Thursday night. Then spend the rest of the week talking about everything you've seen so far.

[Savannah]

Registering with Playa Info is a good idea.

I would . . .

* exchange approximate camp locations ahead of time (if known). "We're aiming between 3:00 and 3:30 on G street, ideally facing towards the Man" (as opposed to the mountains).

* Exchange camp name & camp features, including any distinctive landmarks, like "We're called Sandy Camp, we have 15 people, we'll have a 20 foot flagpole wrapped in hot pink lights, a sign with our name out front, a quonset hut shade, and a trampoline, look for two RVs, a white cargo van & a black pickup."

* arrange a meeting place ahead of time - the Ice place at the 9 o' clock plaza, the sunrise side of the Man, or even an intersection, like 4:30 and F . . . on a given day at High Noon. Wait 10 minutes (bring a parasol, heh). You can arrange to do this 3 days in a row, just in case the 1st or 2nd day doesn't work. Don't use landmarks that might move, like other camps. Use Ice, Medical, the Man, the Temple. If it's a large place, choose the sunrise side or the sunset side (if they are bad with directions). Be aware that you might not instantly recognize your friend in playa drag, so keep that in mind.

* Have a whiteboard and dry erase markers bolted down at your camp in your shade, so people can leave you messages.

* Try phoning your friend anyway. Sometimes it works for a few minutes.

[oneeyeddick]

Cell phones work fine in Empire and Gerlach, wait for your friends there.

[gyre]

Blue tent,
next to the dome.

[Ugly Dougly]

Find a registered theme camp that you're both interested in. They should be established by the time you arrive. If you treat the theme camp people nice, you can leave them your location for your friends.

[capjbadger]

Blue plastic box,
next to the dome.

Fixed!

-Badger

[mudpuppy000]

Just look for the hexa yurt!

[oldsoul]

In addition to what everyone else has said, I've always had great luck in tacking up paper messages at the board outside Playa Info. We found our camp last year this way, and I think I found the message after barely a minute of looking for it.

If you're planning on getting to BM the same day, but are traveling from different places my suggestion is to meet up in Reno/Sparks and caravan up together.

[LostinReno]

We used walkie talkies last year to lure in our friends from England who showed up on Weds. I had my doubts that it would work but sure 'nuff they found us on channel 13, good buddy.
The PC's in Center Camp were never working when we went down there to look for other people.

[Elorrum]

There is a very old fashioned way to tell people where you are camping. It's called a bulletin board. It requires a flat piece of paper type material with marks made on it with a pen, that when decoded, indicate your location. Yuu could even say, meet me here and then draw the marks that mean a special time and day. then you put a pin, duct tape, nail, on or through the material, and place it on the bulletin board. A paper plate works, a premade colorful sign is fun. Say to your friend, look in the lower right corner, or top right, middle... that sort of thing. works at campgrounds. I saw a bulleting board at center camp near the computer registration area a couple of years ago. is it still there?

[motskyroonmatick]

Decide before hand what side of the city you will camp on. The 3:00 side or the 9:00 side. I prefer the 9:00 side so we will use that as the example.

It is decided to camp on the 9:00 side.
You may want to reference a map from years past for this.

The first group in turns to the left at the Wye just past greeters(towards 9:00) and finds a great place to camp. Lets say camp is 8:45 and H.

Once camp is established with a sign marking it a person goes to the nearest lower number street intersection (8:30 and H) and installs a small pre-made sign with a left arrow on it and your camp name or symbol. The next sign goes all the way out on the furthermost outside road. It is a right turn sign.

When you or your later arriving friends get to the event they just turn left on the outermost road and start looking for the sign that points to the right. Once they see it they turn in toward the man and look for the next sign where they turn left once they find it. Turning left gets them on the block where camp is and they look for the sign in front of camp.

Register at the playa info database as a back up plan.

For preplanning purposes the sign posts are 2X2 wood attached to a metal Tee post. For small signs drywall screws work. For larger signs some type of U bolt is a good way to go. Paper plates and other light flimsy material does not work.

[gyre]

There is a very old fashioned way to tell people where you are camping. It's called a bulletin board. It requires a flat piece of paper type material with marks made on it with a pen, that when decoded, indicate your location. Yuu could even say, meet me here and then draw the marks that mean a special time and day. then you put a pin, duct tape, nail, on or through the material, and place it on the bulletin board. A paper plate works, a premade colorful sign is fun. Say to your friend, look in the lower right corner, or top right, middle... that sort of thing. works at campgrounds. I saw a bulleting board at center camp near the computer registration area a couple of years ago. is it still there?

Not effective when the computers are down and the lines are so long that the boards get to be five layers thick.

[oldsoul]

Not effective when the computers are down and the lines are so long that the boards get to be five layers thick.

The computers have nothing to do with the bulletin board except they happen to be located at the same place. In 5 years I've never seen a line to look at the boards. Towards the end of the week they get pretty full, yes, but not so full that I don't think I could find a particular message if I just took a few minutes to look for it.

[gyre]

The boards filled up quick last year with no other alternative.

[Ugly Dougly]

Once camp is established with a sign marking it a person goes to the nearest lower number street intersection (8:30 and H) and installs a small pre-made sign with a left arrow on it and your camp name or symbol. The next sign goes all the way out on the furthermost outside road. It is a right turn sign....

Our theme camp was near an intersection and sure enough, there was a cluster of home-made signs attached to the post.

[Thecatman]

I was in Gerlach three weeks ago. The people I met there called from the playa while I was still at work: in Reno.
When I got to Geralch I "phoned home."
I can't say what the service is like deep on the playa.

Don't know where the tower is but,
One thing everyone approaching Gerlach from the south can't miss is the hudreds of miles of gas pipe being stored south of the railroad tracks.
When I was there, there was still a good mile or so railroad flat cars still loaded with the stuff.

[bluesbob]

I'm arriving at BRC on Monday. A friend will not be there till very late Tuesday. I'm just going to volunteer to be a greeter from around 10 pm onward on Tuesday and wait for him to arrive. About the best way I can think of to meet up with someone.

[Fire_Moose]

I'm arriving at BRC on Monday. A friend will not be there till very late Tuesday. I'm just going to volunteer to be a greeter from around 10 pm onward on Tuesday and wait for him to arrive. About the best way I can think of to meet up with someone.

there are multiple greeter stations...and at 10pm, all those cars are going to look the same...

[Bob]

Sharpie it on their forehead so they don't forget.

[bluesbob]

I'm arriving at BRC on Monday. A friend will not be there till very late Tuesday. I'm just going to volunteer to be a greeter from around 10 pm onward on Tuesday and wait for him to arrive. About the best way I can think of to meet up with someone.

there are multiple greeter stations...and at 10pm, all those cars are going to look the same...

Multiple meaning he could go right by me? How big is the gate? Is it lit up so I can see whats going on? He's a noobie like me, so he'll be getting out of his car to ring the bell or something.

[theCryptofishist]

I'm arriving at BRC on Monday. A friend will not be there till very late Tuesday. I'm just going to volunteer to be a greeter from around 10 pm onward on Tuesday and wait for him to arrive. About the best way I can think of to meet up with someone.

there are multiple greeter stations...and at 10pm, all those cars are going to look the same...

Multiple meaning he could go right by me? How big is the gate? Is it lit up so I can see whats going on? He's a noobie like me, so he'll be getting out of his car to ring the bell or something.

The line breaks up into multiple greeting stations. You'll be too busy with your job to watch every line. Crap shoot.
And once again, "Greeters" are not at the "Gate." Gate is where they take your ticket and inspect your vehicle. Greeters is a ways (a mile?) away.

[Savannah]

If your volunteer shift is indeed Greeter (i.e. not the more official, ticket-tearing Gate* shift) then it might be possible for your friend to find you. If there are a dozen cars there at once on a Tuesday night and you're busy greeting, it would be easy to miss him in the crowd, but if he knows you're greeting from 10pm to 2am (for example) he can easily hop out and say "Hey, my friend Bob is among you, tall, bearded, do you know him?" So make sure to introduce yourself to your fellow Greeters. Hopefully the group is small enough that you can do so. Someone could have found me this way last year, easily--if they'd come in the right 4-hour window.

* The mood at Gate is more brisk and official by necessity, and there are tons of people, so holding up the line (already more than it is) doesn't seem like a good idea. Greeters is more relaxed.

[Ugly Dougly]

Since the cell-phone tower has limited bandwidth (or whatever you call it), you will be more likely to get through early on, when there aren't so many wombats and bandicoots crawling around.

[bluesbob]

If your volunteer shift is indeed Greeter (i.e. not the more official, ticket-tearing Gate* shift) then it might be possible for your friend to find you. If there are a dozen cars there at once on a Tuesday night and you're busy greeting, it would be easy to miss him in the crowd, but if he knows you're greeting from 10pm to 2am (for example) he can easily hop out and say "Hey, my friend Bob is among you, tall, bearded, do you know him?" So make sure to introduce yourself to your fellow Greeters. Hopefully the group is small enough that you can do so. Someone could have found me this way last year, easily--if they'd come in the right 4-hour window.

* The mood at Gate is more brisk and official by necessity, and there are tons of people, so holding up the line (already more than it is) doesn't seem like a good idea. Greeters is more relaxed.

Well...he'll be looking for me also. He knows I'll be a Greeter. So we should find each other since we're both looking. We both figure he'll be there sometime after midnight.

[Eric]

Multiple meaning he could go right by me? How big is the gate? Is it lit up so I can see whats going on? He's a noobie like me, so he'll be getting out of his car to ring the bell or something.

BB- this is the Greeters station, during a slow time in daylight with no dust (ie: unusual):


This is at dusk (note more cars, harder to see. Now add 6 hours, total darkness & dust blowing everywhere with the cars lined up 3-6 deep waiting to get through):


Tues/ Weds is a prime time for mass arrivals. I would definitely make sure your fellow greeters know you're looking for someone (and that they'll be asking for you)

Make sure the other greeters know the name your friend will be looking for you as: if it's your default name ("Bob Smith") tell them that, if it's "Bluesbob") let them know.

Most importantly- have a back-up meeting place in the city after your shift ends, just in case. There's a very good chance that "in case" will happen. (ie: "if you miss me at greeters, I'll head right to 6 & H once I'm off") Don't "figure" it will happen, prepare yourself for it not happening & hope it does.

[Savannah]

Well said.