how do you get your camp out to the playa?

graidawg · Post by **graidawg** » Sun May 01, 2011 3:51 pm

Elliot wrote:

Decommissioned school bus, with improvements (ongoing).

*sighs* now if only we had school buses in the uk. $2000 dollars is about Â£1300 i could afford that - hell thats my budget for BM including just about everything

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Sun May 01, 2011 4:29 pm

You may not have school buses, but you do have Top Gear. Absolutely wonderful stuff that americans just can't do right.

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Sun May 01, 2011 6:34 pm

But shipping a bus across the pond every year would cost rather a lot, I fear.

some seeing eye · Post by **some seeing eye** » Sun May 01, 2011 7:10 pm

A different kind of answer, I have been trying to minimize. I pack everything in about 3-4 cuft zip duffels. One for tent, air mattress, inflator, ground cloth, rope; one for aluminet shade cloth 20x25' and rebar stakes; one for bedding: flannel sheets, comforter, blanket for under sheets to minimize heat loss, pillow and other inside tent stuff; one for clothes and costumes; one smaller for tools, snacks, clean clothes outbound and packing list items. I go light on food, plenty of opportunities in and out of camp for that, and I lose my appetite. The only other things needed are some 8' 2x4 shade structure vertical corners and optionally a bike & lock. The duffels can go in the wash at home and are useful for travel year round and for years. They can be tied down on top of the vehicle to travel, weatherproof.

I've ridden with people from other camps and it is a pain to get stuff between camps. A wagon is useful for that, maybe one of the camps has a wagon on their list?

If they are there, supplement or donate excess costumes to the Black Rock Boutique on the center ring.

If flying in, I divide my list into "get in Reno"/"leave in Reno/donate-burn on playa (lumber)" and "return to home". Detailed the rental, kept doors closed on playa and had no problem, but you might check for recent experiences - suggest returning the rental vehicle (clean) in your "Burningman, what's that?" Sunday best. I did fly in and out with the packing scheme above and it is funny outbound to be all dusty, playa brained, with dusty luggage, and with many other dusty new friends around in the airport!

On return, bags go into the basement or sit outside and most contents are loaded directly into the washer.

Also from international travel experiences, separate "could loose" from "cannot lose" bags.

Enjoy, we need more geo-diversity and international participants!

havoc · Post by **havoc** » Mon May 02, 2011 8:26 am

C187 wrote:@havoc - Box truck is really the way to go from our area. Just need two people that feel the need to drive it and place everyone's stuff in it. I normally see people charging by the square foot, and flat fee's for broken down bikes. If you have enough space offer to haul for people in the area not in your group. At least then you'll come close to breaking even.

where do you come from c?

i found a friend who has built himself a steampunk lounge from a box truck and has a long standing desire to go to BRC (it'd be his first year) but doesn't *quite* have the fundage this year. i'm seriously considering gifting him a ticket + half the gas money in exchange for taking our stuff. :)

Otherwise the cargo van, or even two of them isn't a bad idea if it'll hold everything. Another thought would be to have someone in Reno days ahead and UPS stuff to them. I don't know how well that would work, or how annoyed the hotel clerk would be.. :/

lol, i've *totally* considered that idea too. :X

havoc · Post by **havoc** » Mon May 02, 2011 8:28 am

Elliot wrote:But shipping a bus across the pond every year would cost rather a lot, I fear.

buy it here, fix it up and store it at a self-storage place in NV? :)

Elliot · Post by **Elliot** » Mon May 02, 2011 9:02 am

That's a logical idea, but it would require Graidawg to spend a lot of time here, and he would need tools and materials etc etc. I have a lot of time and various equipment invested in "Millicent", but I did it little by little here at my house.

Next I would worry about storing a motor vehicle unattended for 50 weeks at the time. I tend to mine; I close the windows in rainy weather and open them in dry weather. I charge the batteries from time to time. Motor vehicles do not respond well to sitting unused for long periods.

But I suppose it could work for somebody.

Sail Man · Post by **Sail Man** » Mon May 02, 2011 10:30 am

theCryptofishist wrote:You may not have school buses, but you do have Top Gear. Absolutely wonderful stuff that americans just can't do right.

Maybe so, but can they chuck punkins?

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon May 02, 2011 7:13 pm

Sail Man wrote:
theCryptofishist wrote:You may not have school buses, but you do have Top Gear. Absolutely wonderful stuff that americans just can't do right.
Maybe so, but can they chuck punkins? :lol:

I would trust the guys from Top Gear to do all sorts of chucking. Wood chucking is always a little dicey.

Tamino · Post by **Tamino** » Wed May 04, 2011 6:43 pm

Automatic Subconscious uses the Boston Burning Trucks. Two 52' trailer trucks shipped by rail (CSX) to SF then to Reno by Trucks. Most Boston Burners use the truck to ship personal items as well.

http://burningtruck.chaoshacker.org

havoc · Post by **havoc** » Thu May 05, 2011 7:52 am

Tamino wrote:Automatic Subconscious uses the Boston Burning Trucks. Two 52' trailer trucks shipped by rail (CSX) to SF then to Reno by Trucks. Most Boston Burners use the truck to ship personal items as well.

http://burningtruck.chaoshacker.org

jealous!

if i lived in chicago i would seriously consider setting something like that up for the community up there. i've read the AZ burners guide to setting up a container truck (which is an amazing resource by the way: http://www.azburners.org/container.htm), but there's just not enough demand for it in indy and trying to arrange chicago stuff from indy is a logistics nightmare.

ah well, a girl can dream. :)

robrob · Post by **robrob** » Sat May 21, 2011 11:14 pm

Did you get Damien's info at the Chicago Town Hall?

There is a chicago truck that goes out- in fact this year they bought their own instead of renting one. Shoot me an email if you need his contact info.

Rice · Post by **Rice** » Sun May 22, 2011 11:51 am

I have always struggled with hauling my camp's gear to the burn. Since it is almost 3000Km one-way with a mountain range in the middle, it is challenging.

I have a SUV which might be big enough to haul all the gear I need if I am camping with a group (who have brought the shade, etc.). I also can add a 15 foot enclosed trailer which is big enough to haul everything I need for three people, but doubles the fuel costs.

Crossing the US border makes life interesting too. I have nothing to hide, but always feel like I need to omit my final destination. It takes me the same time to get to the US as you San Fran burners need to get to the burn.

I realize that my driving distance is smaller than some, but it really limits what I can do. For now, no art cars. {pout}

Anyhow, thats my experience. Yours will probably be different.

Love Rice

Apox · Post by **Apox** » Thu May 26, 2011 12:34 pm

theCryptofishist wrote:You may not have school buses, but you do have Top Gear. Absolutely wonderful stuff that americans just can't do right.

agreed!!!

StevenGoodman · Post by **StevenGoodman** » Wed Jun 01, 2011 3:50 pm

Our camp had:

School bus from TX
School bus from FL
Rental truck towing a mutant vehicle
F450 thing towing a trailer (for a different camp)
Sprinter cargo van
Old cargo van
SUV towing a camping trailer
Another cargo van
Two SUV
S-10 Pickup truck
and I think two passenger cars
And two people who flew in and got rides.

Martini Steve