We had a pretty chill Sunday and Monday as I mentally prepared for the race. We climbed a scary tower, then a less scary tower. We magically ran into Rob and Omar in deep playa, and then made a bunch of friends at a camp called VICE. The week was off to a great start!

The drive up

This was the smoothest drive into Burning Man I’ve ever experienced.

I hoped we could be packed and ready to leave a bit after noon on Saturday, but of course it took until 20:00. We left home finally at 20:45. Alan got Taco Bell in Colfax, California, and I got In-N-Out and gas in Reno. We got some more gas at I-80 Smoke Shop/Pyramid Lake Gas.

Then we hit “Gate Road” at 3:35. Twitter said it was only 25 mins to the gate. We reached the greeters at 4:00 and by 4:32 got a spot picked out in open camping, right at the intersection of 4:45 and H. We got the tent, canopy, storage tent and solar all done by 6:00, and got to sleep at 6:30. The sun was up!

Chill Sunday

Normally I would be spending Sunday building infrastructure all day. Having basically finished everything before bed this morning, it was a relief to be able to take it easy for once. It kind of felt like the race was so far away!

I woke around 11:30 to the sound of a nearby generator, which was quite loud! Alan slept more, and then he worked on food and I on organizing. We ate English muffins warmed with bacon and hard boiled eggs. Then we went out to look at the playa.

I helped someone at Make a Wish Camp at 5:30/E get melatonin for her suffering friend. We tried to go to the Man, but it wasn’t open yet. So we looked at art and climbed a scary tower. Then we miraculously ran into Rob and Omar in deep playa! We learned from them Brian is doing open camping too, arriving Wednesday.

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

I liked how the artists stored the soil from digging these post holes in buckets right by each post, and used them to hold a light.

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

We found and climbed a somewhat scary roughly 40 foot tall tower while exploring the playa Sunday afternoon.

We found and climbed a somewhat scary roughly 40 foot tall tower while exploring the playa Sunday afternoon.

We found and climbed a somewhat scary roughly 40 foot tall tower while exploring the playa Sunday afternoon.

We found and climbed a somewhat scary roughly 40 foot tall tower while exploring the playa Sunday afternoon.

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

Alan and my 2024 Burning Man camp, in open camping right at 4:45 and H.

We went back, and Alan cooked rice veggies with fish. I ran 3 miles, put up rope lights and found they overload the inverter when it goes over 400 watts with cooker turned on, despite the inverter being a 2000 watt inverter. We took naps, worked on lighting for our bikes, and then went out for a bit. We made it an early night and were in bed by a bit after 2:00.

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

Exploring the playa a bit Sunday afternoon and evening

We used a 300 watt rice cooker for all of our cooking this time. It worked great!

Monday

Monday was pretty chill, too. We woke around 09:00 initially to the sound of new neighbors coordinating putting their RV in. Then I woke again at noon, and panicked a bit because I was going to try to get up earlier so I would sleep earlier so I could get up at 04:00 Tuesday for the race.

We ate rice with celery and cherry tomatoes, though some molded since they must have gotten too moist in the cooler. We went out to check in at Pink Lightning for the race at about 14:00, and then went to Vietnamese Iced Coffee Experience camp for tea and coffee.

We ended up staying at VICE for quite a while. First we got tea and coffee, and I saw Kevin serving but didn’t chat with him much. We got into conversation with some other folks from the camp, and then they invited us back for some reason, I think just to see their setup? Anyway, we met half a dozen more of the camp mates, and also a guy named Matt who ended up being in a camp just down the street from where Alan and I set up. We learned the annual naked bar crawl was apparently still happening, even though I couldn’t find reference to it in the event book and the camp who normally hosts it, Comfort and Joy, wasn’t there this year. I was a bit skeptical, but they said it was being hosted by Celestial Bodies and would end at the BRC Municipal Pool. Since that was across the street, I went to ask. The guy there said it was true, it was happening, but he had no idea when it starts or ends. Well OK then! I’ll get through the race Tuesday first, and then see about everything else later.

Exploring the playa Monday with Alan.

Stopped by Pink Lightning Monday to pick up my timing chip, which was just a wristband with a barcode this time, and drop off the cookies I made for a race snack to give out.

Stopped by Pink Lightning Monday to pick up my timing chip, which was just a wristband with a barcode this time, and drop off the cookies I made for a race snack to give out.

Exploring the playa Monday with Alan.

Alan and I did some more exploring. We hung out at a giraffe camp with another tower, tried some cocktails made with pop rocks at Center Camp and went to the BRC Piano Lounge, where Alan danced a bit. We went back to cook rice, and I tried to wind down for an early sleep. I spent the evening working on my light hood, fixing all the broken LEDs. I got it working again, but it was clearly going to be way more fragile than I hoped. I got ready for the race and was in bed by 22:00.

Exploring the playa Monday with Alan.

Exploring the playa Monday with Alan.

Exploring the playa Monday with Alan.

Exploring the playa Monday with Alan.

I took some time Monday night to fix my light hood, which involved identifying about five segments of the LED strip that were broken and needed to be replaced. I soldered in little strips of lights to replace all the broken section, which introduced a bunch more areas I needed to worry about bending.

Entries in this series

1. Preparing for a simpler Burning Man (August 23)
2. Off to a great start in open camping (August 24-26)
3. Faster Burning Man Ultramarathon than predicted, than ever! (August 27)
4. A fabulous end to Burning Man 2024 (August 28-September 2)