Fluffy is still at the shop.. and the shop is not giving us any clue on when/if she will be able to drive on her own. Seems her catalytic converter and some of the sensors around that are the problem

not much the 7 of us  can do at this point other than wait…

even though most of the duaneswhirld  crew doesn’t come in to tomorrow, we headed to our groups storage bin to pull out some  of the stuff we’d need if we do manage to get out to the playa to catch some  of the early admittance build week

Our srargae container is right next tot eh Grand Sierra.. a  minutes drive or a very hot 10 minute walk .. I chose the walk

Its always exciting and a bit horrifying to open the door to the container..  It’s always jamed full of a tnagle of bikes, hexayurts, coolers, camping gear and other left behinds. THis time it was much cleaner as soem of the team had come out for a cleanout over the winter..

even still its a chore to find wha you need.. but the smell of the playa dust is strong and reassuring as we pull the stuff we need out and put it in the trailer.

Aside from that .. I spent the time finishing the fire docs and printing all the lights and fire stuff out for the fluffy manual.. the stuff is about an inch and a half thick at this point !

We’re now 3 days later than out plan .. and i’m beginning to wonder if Fluffy is gonna make it..

but hope springs. eternal..

the hotel is now filling up with dirty hippies (like us).. so there are no rooms. I called our friends Sue and Jim   who moved out here over covid. Jims out of town, but Sue let me camp over there.. It was great catching up with her and seeing their beautiful new house in the hills over reno.. I also got to know their cats !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Yesterday we learned that the bus had broken down in Salt Lake.. luckily some friend of PingPongs (laras’) lived in Salt Lake.. they came down and helped duane and left get fluffy running again.. the issue was a mx of clogs.. fuel filter, catalytic converter etc..

Thanks to the help Fluffy made it a good many more miles until breaking down again about 190 miles  East of reno..

We all started calling around.to find a diesel mechanic who could work on the bus ASAP..

long story, Duane ended up gettign the bus towed to Reno where a cash only diesel mechanic named Bernie promosed to take care of her..

All that happened while we hung out in the hotel in Reno on our 2nd ‘bonus day’. I say binus day because it was a an unexpected day of sleep, food and AC.

I used it to continue workign on the fire docs and light install plans..

We did get out to do some  more playa shopping.. look how welcoming the wallmart was .. Party on the Playa ?

SIngle burner..    soudsnlikeasadshortstory

Luckily  just after dinner Duane and Stein arrived from the tow in.. We took care of them

nite all, nite sam

-me

I had learned a few days ago  that Fluffy wasnt due out to Reno until Thursday.. not Wednesday as our original plan.. well.. no worries, there was still much to do. And the Grand sierra wasn’t any worse than any other weird gambling hotel in the city.. it had food, running water and AC.. three things the desert doesn’t have.. so I was OK>

I took a run outsied in the 100 degree dry heat.. not bad.. I even noticed that Gabriel “Fluffy” Iglesias was playing the hotel.. SO I took a picture of the sign.. A few minutes later a hotel security in a four wheeler chased me down while I was running and ordered me to stop and ordered me to give him my phone… I just as politely told him NFW !.. You cant see my phone. I’m a guest here .. I asked why he thought he had to write to see my phone. He explained that they were watching me on security camera and the fact that I was taking pictures of things like the sign made it likely that I was some sort of master criminal taking pictures of patrons cars to steal. I didn’t see the logic but I understood he was just trying to do his job. Anyway I finished my run

A bit later Rebar had to go get the Budget Truck (or Budget F**K as it was called)..

THe rest of the day we spent eat, sleeping and for me at least… Working on my flamed documentation and copies of all the installation documents, part specifications etc. that might come up in our department of mutant vehicle questiong..

Max and Becky got into town late last night like we did.. THey came to see me for a short bit with one of their friends. It was fantastic to see them even for a few minutes. I was really excited to be working with them out on the playa.

Anyway.. it was an unexpectedly quiet and peaceful day..

more to come I hope..

Uh-oh.. we just heard that the Bus broke down in Salt Lake City.. .. now what ?!

note all, nite sam

-me

Todays the day.. I said good bye to sweet Diane.. who’s been an amazing help on the fluffy project and drove off to meet .. Aaron (Rebar)  at the airport for our flight out to Reno. The idea  was to join Fluffy on the Playa for ‘build week’ .. its like your own private burning man just for the folks setting up the camp and installing art and art cars..

The flight out was busy. I spent it finishing up the Firre Safety documentation ofr our Art Car .. we did get a few hours for me to teach Rebar the lighting software a bit more..

We had a stop in Denver that allowed us to see
“Blucifer” the haunted horse  of the Denver airport (It’s a “thing” see here)

we got to Reno about 8 pm .. I was happy to see a picture of Aqueos.. a piece max had helped on in the airport exhibit of burning man art

Rebar and I picked up our van and drove the 2 miles to the grand sierra for what we thought was just one night of prep before we hit the desert

that.. it turns out.. was not going to happen… stay tuned !

nite all, nite sam

-me