Hoping for 2011!

[CleverScreenName]

Greetings,

I'm from Minneapolis (where I still technically live for the next two days), and have wanted to go to Burning Man for as long as I've known about it, but have never managed to work out the logistics of traveling from Minnesota

Long story short, my career is dragging me kicking and screaming to northern Utah (setting out by car in two days, not looking forward to the multi-day drive in the tightly-packed car). It's not exactly where I want to live and work, but the crappy job market isn't giving me much choice. And it's probably not going to be as bad as I think. I'm sure I'll figure out fairly quickly that Mormons aren't really anything to be afraid of.

Two silver linings: The Sundance Film Festival, which I've also wanted to attend for as long as I've known about it, and Burning man. Mapquest tells me that Burning Man is roughly a six-hour drive from where I'll be living in Utah. I'm pretty sure I can make that work without too much difficulty.

So this post is my first tentative step toward getting myself to Burning Man 2011. I've heard rumors of a fairly large community of Burning Man enthusiasts in northern Utah who are active year-round. Any advice on how I might go about getting in touch and making friends with them? That seems like a good next step.

Hope to see you all in 2011!

[theCryptofishist]

(setting out by car in two days, not looking forward to the multi-day drive in the tightly-packed car).

Tell yourself it's practice for the drive to BRC and see how that lightens the mood.

Yes, there is an active burner community in Utah. One of the eplaya moderators is from Ogden and there are other burners from various places around the state. The regional, Element Eleven is well spoken of.
This is the link on the main website for the regional networks. I'm giving the whole damn thing in case someone else has the same question as for another town.

This is the regional subsection of this board.


Edited to remove meaningless code and add clarity to the links.

[Elderberry]

Hey there, welcome to eplaya!

JK

[CleverScreenName]

Tell yourself it's practice for the drive to BRC and see how that lightens the mood.

Good thought, but isn't that kind of like running a marathon as practice for a 100-meter-dash?

Yes, there is an active burner community in Utah. One of the eplaya moderators is from Ogden and there are other burners from various places around the state. The regional, Element Eleven is well spoken of.
This is the link on the main website for the regional networks. I'm giving the whole damn thing in case someone else has the same question as for another town.

This is the regional subsection of this board.

Awesome, thanks. That's exactly the kind of info I was looking for.

[AntiM]

I live in Ogden, we have many burners here and tons in Salt Lake. What part of Utah you headed for? Ogden is the most likely suspect for jobs, or Clearfield, Layton, Roy.... ???

Hey, I think Minnesota sucks, so we're even.

Burning Man from here is entirely doable. We drive out leisurely, taking about 12 hours total, more if we're doing two vehicles with driver naps in Winnemucca. Six hours is at top speed, not counting stops or the lower speed limits on 447. Eight is possible, ten is safe and allows for fun stops in interesting places like the salt flats. We drive out at night and arrive in the morning.

Welcome.

[CleverScreenName]

I live in Ogden, we have many burners here and tons in Salt Lake. What part of Utah you headed for? Ogden is the most likely suspect for jobs, or Clearfield, Layton, Roy.... ???

Logan. I've heard it's gorgeous, and a nice place to live and work, but I've also heard that the social opportunities for unmarried non-Mormons are pretty much non-existent, which will likely get old fast. So I suspect I'll end up spending a lot of time in SLC for the nightlife and whatnot.

Hey, I think Minnesota sucks, so we're even.

Don't take my jabs at Utah too seriously, and certainly don't take them personally. I've never been there, so I'm really in no legitimate position to criticize it. I'm just venting my apprehension, which I think is a normal part of the human condition for someone in my position. I'm leaving a city I love (Minneapolis produces more art, music and literature than many cities several times its size -- yeah, I'm gonna miss it) for a complete unknown, and about the only thing I do know is that it's dominated by a socially conservative religious community. The fact that they're Mormon, specifically, has nothing to do with it. I'd feel the same apprehension if I were moving to the Bible Belt or an orthodox Jewish community in upstate New York or something.

Burning Man from here is entirely doable. We drive out leisurely, taking about 12 hours total, more if we're doing two vehicles with driver naps in Winnemucca. Six hours is at top speed, not counting stops or the lower speed limits on 447. Eight is possible, ten is safe and allows for fun stops in interesting places like the salt flats. We drive out at night and arrive in the morning.

I figure by that time, I'll have made contact with the local burners and probably won't be traveling alone, so I'll defer to the experts on pacing. Still sounds very doable, though. There are things that I'm excited rather than apprehensive about, and this is one of them. Mountains, in general, are another. I've never seen mountains in person before, unless you count flying over them or seeing them way, way, way off in the distance from California.

[AntiM]

Logan is a lovely little town, set in a valley circled by yes, mountains. The biggest drawback to that is winter inversions, where the bad air is held in by the cold air above. It has a university, so there is some nightlife, but not a lot. They do have at least one decent Indian restaurant. Ranger Genius lived there as a student, so he cam tell you more about it.

Chefdaddy lives in Logan, our favorite burner. He's a dear sweet man, everyone loves him, he feeds the masses. We worry about him a great deal, he has health problems. But once you get to know him, you will always have a generous and kind man to watch out for you. And to feed you!

Salt Lake is where the action is. Ogden is a shorter drive, and we do have smaller burn events.

Element 11 is in June, about 400 ~600 people. I've heard higher numbers, but don't know if that's true or not. Great event.