Yes, they absolutely do use them as shelter--mostly for sleeping, less so for shade because eventually they do get warm and stuffy inside on a particularly hot day, and the view is narrow.YIKES!! I wasn't prepared for that number! I've also read a bit about renting a Uhaul both as transport and shelter...do you see a lot of that on the Playa?
However, on a cool day (65F or so--it does happen) you might be able to nap inside. I did once from 1-5pm, despite usually being terrible at napping. Moving trucks, box trucks, etc make excellent bedrooms. Quiet(ish), & you can sleep about an hour later than in a tent.Some folks extend shade cloth off of the open end of a moving truck using poles of various kinds. In a pinch, you could even sit in the shadow of one, provided you don't mind moving your chair from time to time. I did this during my second burn. It wasn't spartan to me; it was just funny.
If you're camping on the end of a block, avoid pointing a moving truck's large door to the South, because that's the direction the dust storms tend to come from.
Reno's trucks get snapped up fast and demand is large (and prices high) so look at flying into any city that's an acceptable number of hours' drive from Gerlach.
