I left camp about 2:30 AM.. and drove slowly around  the radial road “I” towards center camp.  (Black Rock City is set up like a clock with radial roads at the 30 (and  further out 15 ) minute intervals  we were at 9:15 and I) .. It was hard to see since there was a minor sandstorm going. I found the turn off to the access rode and followed the tattered flags to the greeters gate.. It was easy to loose the way as there really is no road to speak of., no other traffic and . and the blowing sand made it easy to loose the flags. Once past the gate  it got a little easier.. but the 5 miles ot the highway took me over 30 min. From there the road to Rneo was pretty empty.. I listened to podcasts (wait, wait dont tell me, this american life) to stay awake.

Aroudn 3:30 I got to a n all night carwash in reno.. I spent the next hour cleaning the car inside and out to avoid the mandatory $250 you-trashed-our-rental-car-on-the-desert fee.

By the time i was done it was after 4:30 am.. long after my hotel reservation had been forfeited.. Luckily the nice clerk made me a deal and for a few bucks they let me use a room to shower and get about 45 min of sleep before I had to leave for my 7 AM flight..

I got to the airport tired but clean and saw folks still leaving for the playa .. or lookign for ways to get there.

I got on the the first of 3 flights heading home.. and thats really the last thing I remember until getting  to Vermont.. I slept the whole way except for changing flights

 

 

diane picked me up just before midnight.. it was SO good to see her..   I really missed her this trip. she’s been such a part of the project.

she drove me home.. and I slept for 11 hours !

it’s so nice to  be home !

niote all, nite sam

-me

It was so great waking up with friends all around and the camp already working smoothly . Duaneswhirld is a really awesome  camp.. great people and great organization..

Flatmo came buy to check in on us.. We showed their fire guy frank  around our fire setup and got his approval which was so great to hear.

Despite all the fun distractions, For some of us.. Today was all about assembling Fluffy’s lights fire,. sound and overall making her playa worthy . We had to get everything on her in order to get her DMV day and night licenses  and her Fire certification.. I wouldn’t be around to help after today so I chose to dedicate my day  to working on fluffy..

it was intense work.. and kinda hard to concentrate with EDM music, naked hippies , old friends coming by.. but despite  appearances I loved it.. I had so many people come by and tell me to relax.. .. but I didnt want to relax.. I love this.. making beautiful technical  things..for peoples enjoyment..  it’s one of the things I most enjoy  in the world !

Rebar did the assembly of the fire..a nd that came together really smoothly..  H’es so amazing. He took these pics of the samstone at the business end of our poofer

The lighting was really tough work.. the distraction, the dust, the heat all made it even harder than it was.. and it’s still too complicated..  It is a complicated dance of Steins wood rok to hang the clouds, Maries placement maps to find the connectors and my cabling and software to tie them together.. This is only the 2nd time we’ve assembled completely..and each time we do it I see ways to simplify. Diane is interested in helping us further simplify.. that will be for next year ..

we worked all day and night and by midnight we had the passenger  side working pretty well..and the driver side about 1/3 done.

Max and Becky came by jsut as we were lighting things up !

 

Just as we got things going.. believe it or not.. it started to rain !..   Rain on the playa is never good.. the playa dust turns to cement. Tonight,  we heard stories of gale force winds and torrential rain coming so we quickly found tarps to cover fluffy.. She’s not that waterproof..

Max and becky had to leave before I got the sound set up.. I said goodbye to them.. seeing them out here was really special for me..   It’s the main reason I actually decided to come.  I’m glad we had at least a couple of hours spread across the two days to hang out.

The  threatened rain never came.. so I kept working to make sure the software , lights and audio were working.. Believe it or not.. I only took two  video.. and here they are.. I hope other folks get some vids

By this time it was about 2AM.. Drew handed me a grilled cheese.. (yum) .. I said good bye to everyone.. got in my rental van and headed back to reno..

SInce it was already ‘tomorrow’.. i’ll write about that for tuesday

nite all, nite sam

-me

Today was my first// and likely last  full day on the Playa this year and I made the most of it ..   I woke up early-ish and worked with Steven to fix up a couple of bikes.. I thien went off in search of max and becky

 

I found them at the fear beast.. a work led by Tigre.. and amazing artist / maker from Santa Fe. They were friends with many of our friends from Meow Wolf so it I was great seeing them.. I ran into Taz, Cathy, and a few other folks.  It was so great being able to work with and hang out with max and becky. Thsi was a really nice project they were drafted in to help late in production. max dfi a bunch of fab and welding for them.. while Becky worked her project management and artistic magic

 

I  worked with max and becky on and off through the day doing odd jobs, mostly clean up around their build.  I also helepd max wiht the dmx mapping a bit. A couple of time i headed out for a few hours to look at art and find firends..

I visited Illumination Village (Ill-Vill) to see if any of my freinds were there.. it’s my favorite flame makers group… I didn’t know anyone there.. but had fun seeign the art and talkign to soem other fire folks

I visited my good freinds at thunder gumbo and saw my good freinds Jac and Bruce.. and got to climb on my old freind BOOGA the 6 wheel beast thats part of their art car.. I

(here’s what Max and I once did with booga )

 

 

I enet and visited Duane and Micky at el pulpo  to see their brand new El Pulpo Magnifico !. Diuane has been so helpful to us in building our flame effects.. THey are so great !

Early afternoon the truck showed up with Gizzo and Rebar and others started showing up.. our camp was beginning  to come together

 

Our friend Kane did a masterful job of organizing all of us around putting up camp

We took a few moments to watch the amazing sunset…

We kept building past dark..   and watched our neighbors come to life.. Flatmo’s  El pulpo magnifico..  Is just down the road from us .. and it is truly magnifico !

AND THEN ….  !

at 10pm … we were wonderfully surprised to see Duane and Fluffy driving in..    just  5.  days  late   

FLUFFY MADE IT !!!!   We were so happy.

We immediately started to unload her and get gear ready for putting her together tomorrow.

 

Once all the stuff was ready to go, a bunch of us went out on bokes to check out the playa.. it was crowded now.. just like burning man is supposed to be !

I got to bed around 3.. super excited to begin gettign Fluffy ready to roll tomorrow

nite all, nite sam

-me

LOng complicated day with a good ending.. for me at least

I wokle at Sue and Jims and got to admire the view from their house !

I hurried back to the sierra to meet everyone for breakfast.. Because it was starting to look like I would not make it out to the playa this trip, I had an early flight ohoemn on Tuesday to make kevin and marges wedding.. If we/i didn’t get on the playa today, it might not be worth making the trip

For that reason, i’d agreed to give two sets of classes.. Light School and Fire School.. in case I might not   be there to help with set up and operation of the fire and lights.

we started with Light school where we went  through   all the assembly , wiring and testing of the nearly 1100 led strips, the ‘cluthulu’ pixel controller (a pixcon 16 MKII if anyone is interested). Our sparkling new Onlogic K800 ruggedized fan-less computer, the Entek Light mapping  (ELM) software, the wireless access point that linked in the iPad to control the software and two levels of back up devices in case that failed.. ..  We (marie, aaron S, rebar, gizzo and jack)  went through  all of Maries beautiful maps of the lights  , schematics, player screens.. ..stuff like this..

 

That took about 2 hours then we did fire   School ..  I  had to prep  the fire folks for the registration process at the department of mutant vehicles (DMV) where they safety inspect the fire elements. I’ve built a bunch  of fire devices, but never had to go through the approval  at burning man. They can ask you anything about the component ratings, fires protocols, failsafes, etc.. i have heard many horror stories of cars being turned away for not passing their fire safety tests.. and didn’t want that to be us !

we (rebar, gizzo, .. who else ?) went through all the safety docs that James and I had put together (I’ll be forever grateful to James for all the work he did  in  helping us write the safety docs !!!!!).  We went through the set up (which Rebar already new well).. testing, start up, tank changes and most importantly  the emergency procedures. Even though fluffy only has a sing simple poofer, we carry 200 pounds  of propane and shoot 10 feet of flame.. safety is a big deal. There has to be a sober person with her/his hands on the control at all times the device is running. Here are some  of the docs we went through.. Again.. a ton of stuff

Im happy to see the peoples did wonderfully and the classes went well. After my room light score the rest of us headed over to the storage container again with all of our crew had turned off for the actual packing for the rest of the camp.. it was so great seeing everyone

while we were packing I had sort of an epiphany.. I realize if I got out to apply today I could actually go work with Max and Becky other project and still see a little bit at the Bernie name before I had to go. It turns out that Duane had to drive to Black Rock to pick up some will call tickets not just for me but for a bunch of other people who have to go the next day during Introdus. Getting them today before the pie was officially open which save countless hours the next day… So Duane seen my eagerness to go and see Max and the benefit of picking up these tickets agreed to take me to 90 miles to the choir and drive back on his own. What a guy with all he has on his mind. Anyway I quickly gather my gear I  borrowed a  sleeping bag  and other essentials.. and we took off for the playa..

a completely different day than anyone was expecting !

I really enjoyed the drive out with Duane.. he’s such an amazing man.. It was fun  getting to hang out with him  for a bit.. I felt like I was riding with the King !

the ride out to the gate was amazingly fast… About an hour and a half from Reno… But then we got hung up at the gate temporary closed the entrance. We got our tickets and Duane very  kindly drove me in to our camp. That was no small tasking given the sandstorm… But eventually he was able to drop me off say hello and then head straight back to Reno. That’s a long hard drive back especially  with a sandstorm blowing.. but he did it and  will always appreciate that given all else he had on his mind !

I quickly set up a makeshift camp thanks to Lara (PingPongs) grai=cious lending of a hexayurt tent. It was great getting to know her boyfriend Stephan and his sons Silas who just turned eight. They were so nice… Green spaghetti and then I head out in search of Max and Becky

It was great being out on the playa before the crowds… It was a little like my own private burning man..

 

Eventually found Becky but never ran into Max at night…. beres the peice they were helpign with.. it’s called the Fera Beast.. and its amazing.. made out of steel and tires..

I deffintely felt “home”

I got back to campe around 3 and slept great !

more from the playa tomorrow !

nite all, nite sam

-me