https://docs.google.com/document/d/15Hx ... t?hl=en_US
Playa Tips.
- Arriving: Have a set of playa cloths ready to put on when you turn off the blacktop road onto the dirt road towards the playa. And make sure your goggles and mask are easily accessible as well. One year we were stuck at the front gate for six hours in a dust storm. Its kind of a bummer when your mask and goggles are packed deep in the bowels of your vehicle when you need them.
- Mask: A mask in a necessity. At minimum you need a well fitting painters mask and a respirator is super nice if you have to be out doing anything serious in a dust storm. When traveling ALWAYS take a painters mask with you or at minimum a bandanna or scarf.
~ Painters Mask: http://img.alibaba.com/photo/50117006/P ... _Mask_.jpg
~ Respirator: http://www.rosemania.com/images/Respirator.jpg
- Goggles: A well fitting pair of goggles is essential. Most goggles are manufactured with holes in them to keep them from fogging over. Fogging is a minor problem on the playa but holes are a big problem. You should seal up any and all air holes in your goggles with tape, glue or something so that zero air can get in. And make sure the goggles fit and seal well against your face. If there are any holes you will have a private little dust storm inside your goggles well after the real dust storm has moved on. Sometimes you can find cheap goggles on ebay by searching for "googles" - sometimes it pays to be dyslexic.
- Lights: at night you need lights on your bike (see below) and also a light on your self in case you decided to park your bike and walk around. I use a little flashy light originally use for a dog. Its easy to turn off and on and has a little clip that I can clip to things. I also have a key chain light that I fasten to an elastic band around my wrist. This is super for checking out the porta-potty. Sometimes I keep my flashy light on the elastic band too and you could keep your bike lock key there as well.
- Packing: Plastic bins are great for cloths. Some prefer the low clear bins as you can kinda see what is in there, others prefer the taller Rubbermaid bins. Both are stack-able and for the most part keep the dust out. Inside the bins I often use large clear zippered bags, the type your comforter cover came in. Large Ziploc bags are good too. Ziploc bags are great in general for keeping your stuff organized. You can also find large blue zippered bags at Ikea that are nice and cheap.
- Cameras: I have never brought a DSLR to the playa so maybe someone can pipe in about protecting your camera there. I use a little Olympus waterproof point-n-shoot and keep it in a soft bag inside a Ziploc. Because its waterproof I can dunk it in a bowl of water if it gets too dusty. In general you are supposed to ask people if you want to take a photo of them. If its a wide shot with a bunch of people then that is hard to do but don't be taking photos of naked people without asking. And please ask camp members if you can post their photos on any public site before doing so.
- Traveling: When you leave camp for any reason, even if its just down the street, its always a good idea to take your goggles, mask, and water with you. Really!
- Bag: Bring a bag, backpack, something to put things in as you travel around. I keep water, goggles, a mask, camera, TP and a few other things in my bag. Zippered pockets are good as when wipe out and your bag goes bouncing your stuff will still be in there.
- Smoking: Bring an Altoids tin with you to put your butts in. Smoking herb is illegal in Nevada and you can get busted for smoking it up on the playa. In fact they can bust you in your camp if you are smoking in an easily view area of your camp. If you are in a closed area, like your tent or in the closed lounge then you should be safe. My suggestion is to be quite discrete because they use infrared visioning to snoop on people.
- Porta-potties: Know where the porta-potties are on the playa. In the city they are usually off the main spokes, 3:00, 5:30 and 9:00 about half way into the city Out of the city they are usually located on the 3:00 and 9:00 spokes mid way out to the man and on one side of the temple. And they might be different this year so look at the map and locate them when you arrive. Keeping a little extra TP in a bag tied in your bike basked is not a bad idea.
Health:
- Sun: The sun is bright and hot and many of you will burn really quickly if you don't cover up. But its hot and if you cover up you will over heat. What to do? Bring light colored light weight loose fitting cloths for the day time especially if you are not accustomed to being out in the sun a bunch. One of my favorite daytime playa items is a large silky white scarf. I often bring it with me and wear it as a cape if I'm feeling too exposed. It works perfectly for keeping the direct sun off my shoulders, neck and back without making me too hot. A big hat is good to but if it gets windy you and your hat could end up in the trash fence.
- Cold: It can get cold at night - be prepared.
- Netti Pot: Playa dust plays a number on your nose and using a neti pot twice a day will keep your nose much happier. And no, you cant use mine. You can get a cheap plastic neti pot in Berkeley. Just ask anybody walking down the street. I'm happy to teach you how to use your new neti pot if you need help.
Neti Pot: http://modernvenus.typepad.com/.a/6a00d ... 970b-800wi
- Hands, Feet and Lips: Again, playa dust plays a number on your hands and feet. I bring Cocoa or Shea Butter and massage my hands and feet twice a day. All it takes is a couple of cracks in your foot and you will be a most unhappy camper. I also bring an SPF 15 lip balm.
- Sleeping: I believe quality sleep is THE most important thing for me on the playa. I can burn hard and fast 18 hours a day for six days straight as long as I have 6 hours of good quality sleep. So here are the things I bring in my sleep kit:
~ Ear plugs: good quality well fitting ear plugs
~ Blindfold: I do a lot of sleeping in the day
~ Noise canceling earphones: These are ear buds with active noise canceling circuitry. Phillips SBC HN060 are the ones I have and they work pretty well. These are totally optional.
~ MP3 player with ear buds: I have a small MP3 player with sleep music on it. This usually puts me to sleep in under 5 min which is pretty sweet. The music I have is "Natural Music for Sleep" but you can use what ever works for you, waves, frogs, snoring...
~ Herbal Tinctures: I use Skullcap, Passion Flower, and Blue Vervain but Valerian and Kava Kava are stronger (but may leave you with a slight hang over - like that matters). These herbs are relaxants and help induce sleep.
~ Have water available in your tent. I have a separate water container I keep in my tent and fill it as needed.
~ An extra set or two of earplugs because you just never know.
- Water: Bring something to carry water with you. When ever you go anywhere you should carry water with you - seems obvious but some people forget to bring their water bottles and / or camel backs. And bring two or three water containers because you will need more than you think.
- Toothpicks: I love cinnamon or mint toothpicks - they clean your teeth and freshen your breath all at the same time. Make sure you put the old ones in your little moop bag.
- Take care of yourself. Only you know if you need to take a night off and rest up. Be your own guardian and make sure you are well hydrated, safe from the sun and cold, and getting enough sleep to be happy. If you need help, hugs or someone to listen to you then speak up. At time we all have a hard time and most of us are more than happy to help out if we can.
Taking care of our camp:
~ Wind: Even though our camp is a temporary structure it would be really nice if it stuck around the whole week. Making sure that it does not self destruct or fly away in high winds is a whole camp effort. This means that everyone should be familiar with how to check the all the ropes and tighten them if necessary. If your around camp when the dust and wind pick up then put on your goggles and mask and quickly check the ropes and make sure they are all tight. If there is a problem and you cannot handle it yourself get help from other camp mates or our neighbors. It really doesn't take much for a 20ft x 10ft carport to fly away and if one of them goes then we could loose all of them and that would be a total bummer. If you don't know how to check the ropes then ask someone when you arrive and have them show you. And don't kid yourself about how wonderful the weather is; every humongous storm is preceded by remarkable calmness.
~ Moop ( Matter Out Of Place): Keep the camp clean. You are encouraged to get totally F'ed up and have a huge ass party but when you leave or go to bed everything that could possibly blow away should be nailed down. Leave nothing on the tables, chairs, ground, etc. Pick up everything and find a home for it before you leave home or move away from any potential moopish happening. Its a whole camp responsibility so if you come back to camp and find it a mess then please clean it up. Perpetrators will be summarily dressed in skimpy panties and publicly flogged unless they really really enjoy it.
~ Housekeeping: Don't leave a big mess for others to clean up. Keep track of your shit and pick it up now and then.
~ Chip In: There are a few of us working really hard to make this camp a nice place for everyone to land. If your not one of these people then plan on chipping in during the week because it actually feels good to chip in and help out. And please don't skip out early just to avoid packing up the camp. The more people helping to pack up the easier it is on everyone and there really isn't any rush. Plan on taking your time and sticking around to help pack up. Lets make a party of exodus.
Food:
For the most we will be using milk crates as much as possible to store our kitchen food and mess kits. There is a little room for bins under the tables but that space sparse and bins get stacked and your stuff ends up on the bottom. So try to pack day to day food in milk crates and keep the bins for special group dinner stuff or things you don't use all the time.
So often people bring ripe fruit and it goes off in one day. Or they throw it in a bag and it gets smashed on the way up. Too much fruit in the first two days and so much spoils before we can eat it. And then there is nothing at the end. Fruit / avocados / veggies: Buy green fruit. Things ripen super fast on they playa and if we want anything yummy towards then end then it better be rock hard and green when you bring it on Monday. Find a box that fits in a milk crate and put bubble wrap or something soft in the bottom. Put the fruit in there and make sure it isn't smashed buy the lid. If you have extra fruit or food please let people know they can eat it. Perhaps we should have a "Eat Me" shelf where we can put food we want to share.
Shower:
Our shower has a tiny evaporation pond so we ask that you bring an extra thick beach towel to place on the floor of the shower pallet so that your shower water is absorbed by the towel. Then hang your towel on the cloths line with the hand spring clamps to dry. This keeps all the shower water out of the evap. pond and your towel will be soon be dry. Using the method we have been able to take showers the day of exodus.
Bikes:
- Lights: You should have a rear light in addition to any other decorative lights you may have. Lights are SUPER important on the playa at night and even a minor collision could cost you an enormous amount of grief (hurt or you bike hurt). And bring spare batteries. And a spare light is nice too. Glow sticks are not lights and after a few hours most of them are too dim to help.
- Bell: You need a bell or noise maker on your bike. I cant tell you how many times a bell has saved my life - its essential equipment. Squeaky dog toys work well too.
- Basket: A basket or rack is almost essential and at minimum really really important. You can use the standard hand held grocery shopping basket strapped to you handle bars or to a rear rack. We will need to stock up on ice every now and then and baskets are great for ice runs plus its much easier putting your water and stuff in your basket when you riding to the other end of the world.
- Moop Bag. You should have a small sturdy moop bag on your bike for those small pieces of stuff you need to stash. And nope, you cant use mine
- Kick Stand: being able to use a kick stand makes life much easier. If you need to lay your bike down every where you go it becomes a pain in the ass plus it takes up a bunch or room. Using a kick stand also keeps people from tripping over your bike, hurting themselves, and putting a boot through your spokes. I find the kickstands that mount on the rear of the bike a bit better than the ones that mount in the middle but taping something on the end of your kickstand to give it a bigger footprint helps keep your bike up in soft areas. Also learn which way to turn your front wheel to make your bike more stable. Turning one way is good, the other way and it spins around and falls down.
- Lock: Locking your bike keeps people from steeling it and it gives you piece of mind. A simple chain inside an old inner tube is cheap with a easy to use with an easy to read cable combo lock. Don't use one of the combo locks you used on your high-school gym locker - they take too long. Or some of the 99 stores sell really cheap combo chain locks, or use your U lock. Something is better than nothing. I often use a carabiner on a chain with an old lock - its not really locked but people think it is.
Combo Lock: http://cycles4udirect.co.uk/images/Lock ... racket.JPG
- Cable: A small steel cable, the kind you use to lock the front wheel of your bike in the city, is nice to have as well. If your hot and want to leave your totally famous coat at your bike you can loop the cable through the coat arms and lock it to you bike. Again, peace of mind.
- Something to keep your famous pants out of the gears: Bike stores sell those velcro pants keepers or get / make something like that to keep your pants from getting caught in the gears / chain. Or a chain guard.
- Oil - oiling your chain makes life much more pleasant after a couple of days in the dust.
- Bungees: a couple of bungees are nice to strap stuff to you bike.
Car: Depending on your vehicle your care may be suffering after a week of dust storms. I like to bring an extra new air filter and install it after I hit the blacktop on the way out. My car thanks me every time.
