Postby susieclue » Wed Jun 19, 2013 5:56 am
Hi Newbies!
I'm camp mom for the Black Rock Fun Jet Camp and a long time burner. When I first ventured forth to the desert, I didn't really know what to expect. Granted, that was 14 years ago when the BM population was approaching 20,000, but it was a bit overwhelming, to say the least.
Because of that, our camp is set up to receive participants from all over the world. We are not a plug and play camp, by any means, but we are set up to assist Virgins coming in for their first or so playa experience. In our themecamp, we take people on vacation all around our Wheel of Destination. It's silly, it's goofy, and it's slightly twisted. It's also a great way to meet people because they come to you.
The themecamp experience can be a family affair or a free for all, depending on the camp. Ours is a drug free/drama free zone. We have been known, however, to imbibe in the delights of boat drinks and bloody Marys at odd hours because it's always 5 o'clock somewhere.
What you see when you pull into camp, is a shaded conclave, 30'x30' made up of 4 10x20 covered carports set in a square. The hole in the middle becomes our covered hot water shower area, very private and, for the desert, luxuryous. One end of the structure contains the kitchen, another houses Sweden and England, another serves as the airport entrance and waiting room and the fourth contains Pirates Cove, the Jungle, and Paris. In the front of the structure is Memory Lane, the Inner City, and we may erect a stripper pole and call it Amsterdam, in honor of our English guest, Bloody Mary (named after the drink), who uses the pole as her gym. She and Monkey Pot Pie, who met in camp several year ago, are renewing their vows so we'll be doing a wedding, feast and reception in their honor this year. I digress.
At the back of the camp is our BBQ, the generator, the bicycle corral (we bring them for those in need), and our individual RVS, tents, and the like. We have full shade, chairs, tables, the freezer!, and yes,even the kitchen sink. We bring three 55 gallon water barrels for showering and wash water (the core group is there for 12 full days. You're welcome to stay till Tuesday, too,, and we can hook you up with folks wanting to band together to get to/from the playa.)
The way our group works is that we each put in $xx (we can't post camp dues in the public forum) to help cover the costs of the infrastructure (storage, transportation, and fuel for the event) which also covers all of your food for the time you're on playa, all your soft drinks, plates, forks, knives - bring your own cup for bar hopping, a bicycle, all the coolers for the kitchen, all the cooking equipment (we shop and haul but you cook for yourself), a hot water shower, use of a bicycle - please bring a lock, chairs, and shared use of the 15+passenger artcar! You bring your own personal drinking water and your own alcohol.
So that's an option for you. Our core members vet all the newbies ahead of time to try to make sure that we'd be a good fit. We're all good people in the default world, tolerant, fun loving, and only slightly twisted. (Think of the logo from the movie Airplane). Like the Motto for the Black Rock Fun Jet says "Always Fun. Slightly Twisted".
If you're interest, send a reply.
Susieclue
We'll be pulling a 1950's caravan (camping trailer) but as it's the beginning of a long trip we'll perhaps have some slightly different challenges to others e.g. we can't collect up too much stuff that we won't be using the rest of the trip. We're also hoping we won't be picking out too much souvenir playa dust from various parts of both our persons & our vehicles for the next couple of months of our trip but that may just be inevitable... 
)
That dust is as fine as baby powder, and the wind just hurls it at you. 
