Wednesday night – tales from the Playa

So busy now.. it’s 12L15 AM and I’m just finishing up my work day.. tired byt happy..

Max is in town and it’s wonderful to see him. Haven’t really spoken with him much since his trip out to burning man. He told us about 3 hours of storied=s about his epic trip out west, the burn and the trip back.. Just getting there in their 5 ton 6 wheel surplus troop carrier was a novel in itself.. it included

the alternator frying a few hours into the trip
a new bout not perfect alternator jury rigged in with a hand made mount
driving with an average top speed of 55 mph
the engine burning out in Wyoming
getting help from the ‘Steel Soldiers’ online forum to find a new engine many hours away in utah
arraigning to get that engine to Wyoming and fitted in to the trukck
meanwhile renting a Ryder truck to take max, most of the crew and their belongings to black rock Nevada
the compressor failing between Utah and Wyoming (all the breaks and controls on this thing are air powered.. ) they did rolling stops for the last full day of driving.. no real breaks
the truck finally making i to black rock on Thursday night and running out of diesel 100 yards form the entrance
maxi running around at night trying to find diesel. ultimately siphoning it by mouth from a friends truck..
running out to the truck just before it got toed, filling it with fuel, but taking an hour to bleed the now air filled fuel lines
getting it started,.. but having no compressor to release the 6 wheels disk breaks
max coming up with the brilliant idea to use the air in the spare tire to pressure the brake controls .. which released the brakes,
by that time the folks had changed at the gate, and wouldn’t let them back in.. though they finally persuaded the to..
between the gate and the camp, the thing overheated again because the brakes had reengaged and it was fighting them,
re-pressurizing them with the tires, getting to camp and sleeping for a whole day
getting just enough of their LEDs functioning to get a night drive license from the department of mutant vehicle (the DMV out there)
having all the light electronics shorted out by an ill aimed Champagne spray…
throwing dummy Christmas lights all over the thing
.. and having a wonderful two nights at the burn after all that !!!
driving it triumphantly around the playa