A better exodus plan

bradtem · Post by **bradtem** » Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:41 pm

Somebody did that to me once. I leaped up on their hood. I didn't leave a dent, but it would have been fun to see them sue me for the dent. "Judge, he left the dent when I tried to run him over..."

EB · Post by EB » Mon Sep 13, 2004 9:23 pm

I'll go with what my mom used to say when she taught me how to drive:

"Don't be dead right."

Ranger Genius · Post by **Ranger Genius** » Thu Sep 16, 2004 8:08 pm

The reason I "just appeared" on the scene was because the shockwave hadn't caught up with me yet. I'm pretty sure I broke the bipedal land-speed record there. I saw the SUV start moving and started running. Between the adrenaline from the dash and from "non-confrontationally" confronting the asshat behind the wheel, my brain didn't do a very good job of committing her liscense plate to memory. I looked at it (several times), but for some reason the numbers just sort of slid out of my brain (like when you look at a clock in a dream). Hell hath no fury like a Ranger who's really fucking pissed.
I think my YOU STOP, NOW! at that point would pretty much have stopped anyone in their tracks. By the time I calmed down enough to think "Holy shit, that was an assault!" she was already on her way to the back of the line. With any luck, she'll take having been called a "bad, bad, bad person" to heart. I know it would give me pause for thought.

Sunflowergrrrl · Post by **Sunflowergrrrl** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 10:02 am

i have a better exodus system than what you have experienced...

take this time to extend your bm experience. get to know your neighbors... share some gatorade... smile, laugh,... spritz people with water... sing,... dictate into a recorder your entire bm week for memories sake.... dance in your seat..... breathe deep... eat lunch.....be thankful that you are sitting there and lived through your week in an inhabitable place... count cars... count people... take a poll of how people spent their week.... you could do all this and more from the comfort of your sweaty hot vehicle.... and when the wait is exceptionally long,..you could take brief moment outside the vehicle to meet someone new,.learn where their from.... jump back into your car... inch up... get out... get a little bit more of their story or share yours. be creative.. enjoy your last moments on the playa. they very well could be your last moments. ever. savor each one,..rather than being frustraded that you cant rush back into the world at top speed. :) Just my Humble opinion.

waltsnipe · Post by **waltsnipe** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:26 am

.....or just limit ticket sales to 25,000, thus removing 10,000 drivers from the choke point (and who knows how many more than that in future years as the exponential growth continues).

bradtem · Post by **bradtem** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 11:52 am

Yeah, you can have a party in the exodus line, of sorts. (Some years they had exodus lots that didn't move, making that easier I suspect, I didn't go during the crash those years -- did it not work?)

You can also have a party in the city, and it really makes sense to wait in the city, not in a line burning gas.

zeigen · Post by **zeigen** » Fri Sep 17, 2004 4:03 pm

Goodness, great picture Brad, glad I missed that.

This was my fifth burn, and most years we leave early Monday morning, around 9 or 10. Usually about 15 minutes of waiting, tops.

This year we left at 3am Monday morning (we had aimed for 2am, but it took longer to get the final few items packed than planned). There were no delays. We saw maybe four or five other cars leaving.

On the highway, we saw plenty of encampments of BM vehicles, off on the side of the roads. But hardly any other drivers.

The biggest issue is keeping the driver (me, in this case) awake. For me, I rarely drink coffee, so the iced coffee from Center Camp kept me up and wired for the six hour drive back to the South Bay. (The coffee, along with really bad singing to the mix CDs...) The three passengers slept, and they arrived home pretty refreshed, all things considered. Gave 'em a jump start on decompression.

I'm getting astray here, but the folks in our theme camp who left on Saturday and Sunday didn't have any trouble.

My view is: You're leaving between 11am and 7pm on Monday? Bad choice, unless you like to wait.

Monday is, to me, a little depressing -- all the fun stuff in BRC that was there two days ago has been pulled down, packed up, going, gone, say goodbye. And I'm usually pretty much finished with tent sleeping in BRC after Saturday night. In years past we'd get up at 8, pack, say goodbye and be gone. This year we packed up pre Temple Burn, enjoyed the Temple Burn, some dancing, some socializing, and then got to duck out while BRC was still thriving and humming. That seemed better to me.

Did I mention there was NO WAIT at all at 3am?

Nipper · Post by **Nipper** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 1:47 am

I am one of those exodus people. I look forward to doing exodus every year. It is great fun. I wonder why everyone decide3s to leave at the same time. Why is it that at 11 am Sunday or Monday people decide to take off. We tell everyone this is really a bad time. People leave to line up. Their cars over heat and we then have to clear them off the road creating more of a back up. Now mind you. It gives me a chance to say goodbye to all my friends and meet a lot of other people. There have been many plans over the years. None seem to work because everyone wants to leave at the same time. The Black Rock radio station broadcasts the wait time pretty much constantly during the peak traffic hours.
IF you must leave at peak times do me a favor… prepare to wait in line. Visit with your neighbors and when I walk by reach out and give me a hug and a kiss. I am the one in the bright color best that has Exodus printed on it….

Guest · Post by **Guest** » Sat Sep 18, 2004 2:20 pm

During BM 2000 Sunday night I couldn't sleep and finally at dawn decided to break down my camp. awake my friend, and we left at 7 Am Monday. Thereafter I pack everything I don't need to sleep after the temple burn and wake at 6AM. One hour later we are starting our engines and leaving, with practically no waiting on the way out. By the time I am laying in a bathtub of hot water in Grass Valley I think a bit about those still waiting in line at that moment and wish them well.

Flibidyjib

abelow · Post by **abelow** » Thu Apr 07, 2005 4:18 pm

AntiM, What you did was stupid but someone had to do it. Your a hero. Logically speaking almost all heroic acts are stupid.

burningflyer · Post by **burningflyer** » Fri Apr 08, 2005 9:22 am

An impromptu gathering of early risers around sedna and 6:30 this last year on Sunday night, converged with a like minded goal of moving out at the crack of dawn on Monday. Peeps vehicles came together during the night for wind protection and in the early hours we all sort of rose together, waked neighbors, shared coffee and food and then moved out at about the same time, as the sky began to brighten. Couple dozen of us hit 447 without waiting and drove together to 80 at the limit. Shared a great sunrise along the way and waved to my new friends as we passed on 80.

meandthemissus · Post by **meandthemissus** » Sun Apr 17, 2005 4:23 pm

Turn Right

Post by **AntiM** » Mon Apr 18, 2005 7:47 am

I often find stupidity is my forte.

evacado · Post by **evacado** » Mon May 16, 2005 11:54 am

Wow, I was surprised to find this on the E-Playa (Duh, the biggest year-round BM forum 'wasn't' going to have people talking about exodus?!?) and excited to hear both new ideas and feedback about the experience. I'm the Exodus volunteer coordinator and as such, love to hear how we're doing and how we can improve. I hear a lot of "I left at an odd time and I had no trouble" and "we need to have an eco-friendly solution" and "nobody likes to wait in line." So, this year, we're going to focus on informing the masses a bit better about peak exit times, turning off their cars while waiting, and the general Exodus process. For example, there are some people who are so antsy-pants to get away from Burningman that they sometimes cut in line, or even cut through the fence and enter the pavement a bit north, requiring the Exodus flaggers to stop the entire line of thousands of cars entering the pavement so that they can pass. This is shameful behavior, but may stem from ignorance, so mass information in the Piss Clear, Survival Guide, Black Rock Gazette, and BMIR will hopefully help.

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:00 pm

evacado
You're going to have to adjust your media strategy to account for the absence of the BRC Gazette.

But I hadn't thought of the problems on the road.

evacado · Post by **evacado** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:07 pm

I also wanted to put in a brief plug - some of you talk about making a system of cards, something similar to the DMV. It's an interesting idea, certainly worth exploring further. However, I can see several barriers to this system, not the least of which is a lack of staff. It's true that we have a staff of about 50 hard-working volunteers who routinely stand out in the dust and sun for 8-10 hours waving 'goodbye' and gently facilitating a smooth flow of traffic. However, spreading 50 tired volunteers over a half-mile of playa and miles of pavement and thousands and thousands of vehicles and the few and unfortunate irate/road-raging/antsy-pants/line-cutting/ungrateful/bratty participants is never even close to enough. Burningman is required by law to provide Nevada State Certified Flaggers on the highway and in Gerlach to help keep everyone safe. There were about 5 consecutive hours last year, I think, when I actually had enough flaggers on-staff to fill all the positions. To sum up my grouching, Exodus needs more volunteers! We need to inform people about turning off their cars while waiting, listening to BMIR, leaving during slow times, and being patient and respectful and trusting that if traffic is stopped... It's either because it would be unsafe for traffic to be flowing at that particular point, or some rude person has decided to interrupt things with some rude behavior.
\soapbox
Please post more ideas on how we can improve! What did you like? What worked and what didn't for you? It's really really nice to hear some good things about my hard-working volunteers - I'll pass it on!

theCryptofishist · Post by **theCryptofishist** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:11 pm

How long is an exodus shift?

evacado · Post by **evacado** » Mon May 16, 2005 12:21 pm

Ideally, we'd like to have shifts be 5 hours with one-hour overlap for changeover time. (7am-12pm, 11am-4pm, 3pm-8pm) But we often don't have anyone to replace the flaggers at shift change, so they graciously volunteer to stay on until we can find someone to replace them, and that can end up being 8 or 10 hours. Exiters - the people on the playa generally stay around until they get bored or have to leave, so those shifts are generally more variable (2-6 hours).

mo_corleone · Post by **mo_corleone** » Mon May 16, 2005 1:33 pm

geekster wrote:If there was some kind of indicator ... maybe on a tower ... something that can be seen from everywhere in camp that indicated the length of the exodus line, that might help. Just a single color panel ... or flag even.

i just wanted to draw attention back to this statement. it may have been lost in the shuffle of the exit cards and vehicular assault discussions, but i think it's a great idea. it also doesn't seem like it would take much effort and/or labor power to make it happen. provided the flag is visible enough, it would be a cool alternative for those who only listen to the radio when they're already in their cars.

A better exodus plan

What exodus system?

a modest proposal

Kiss an exodus member

early rising=a quick departure

Line Jumper

Early Risers Unite

Turn Right.

The Exodus Queen

More from the Exodus Queen

Exodus Shifts