We got up early, packed the bus .. and went to Two Chicks for a great send off breakfast. From there we headed to the playa. Duane, Rebar and I were in Fluffy and Squatch, Marie, Aaron and Gizxo in the rental van. 

It’s only 90 miles to Black Rock City (BRC)  from Reno.. but it can take anywhere between 90 min and 11 hours !

The traffic g-ds were smiling soe we were in line to get in just 2 hours

 

A quick stop for fuel…. then we were off

the ride in fluffy was fun.. it was loud and hot.. but it was great.. I got to explore the stickers on her front

 

the lien to get in was about an hour.. but not bad as it goes.. we were surrounded by other folks eager to get in.. .The gate had been closed the last 3 days due to rain

(queue the spooky foreshadowing music.. I’m writing this on Sept 3.. after all the rain during burn week) 

We used the tiem to do stuff like put our campsite info on our phones incase we lose them

We got ready for the paperwork at the gate.. got our tickets and WAP (work access permits) together.. and finally pulled into will call to pick up a few more tickets.

 

Finally we got in.. our site location was changed… we got there and got to work.. The earth was like concrete after the rains

 

We’re camping near our friends with El Pulpo.. Duane Flatmo their leader is sitting this year out because he just got a liver transplant !

 

great to see the other builds around as well

 

Ae settled in as best we could.. and began unloading the clouds.. we didn’t have any place to put them.. so we layed them on the ground.. turned out not to be the best idea ! (it rained !)

 

 

We sat down for a yummy  meal then all found places to sleep. I chose to sleep under the bus.. turned out to be a great choice !  Here’s the view from there.

About 3A I woke to the sound of rain !  Our poor clouds !

The adventure continues !

nite all, nite sam

-me

Diane took me to the airport this mornign for my 6:15 flight to Chicago.. It was a beautiful morning 

 

 

FLight out to Reno took 3 hops.. but was uneventful.. which is nice in this day of major airline messups. 

I got to Reno about 4, took a quick nap.. then met four of my build week friends.. Duane, Squatch. Marie, Aaron and Rebar fora a quick shopping trip at whole food.s It’s a mini version of the gargantuan shopping trips the rest of the camp will make before they show up on Sunday. (heres’ what those are like)

We ended up closing whole foods down.. we opted to buy whatever we could and eat it there.. no pre burn feasts like trest of the camp will do

I had bad grocery sgtore suishi.. We all split a pint of Ben and Jerry’s Phish Food just for luck (and calories)

 

 

Time now to get soem sleep

nite all, nite sam

-me

TOmorrow I head out to Nevada for Burning man build week.. I’m part of the 6 person Fluffy build team.. Its the first time I thought about what to bring.. We’ll be camping in the open desert before our campmates arrive and set up some civilization. I sent some of my stuff ahead with Fluffy: a sleeping bag, a light weight cot, some tools. All i’m bringing with me tomorrow is a small duffle. That will be filled with electronics including a nw display console for fluffys lights and every tool I can think of to repair her while I’m out. I’ll bring  a few changes of clothes.. but I dont need to bring much. I’ll be working most of the time I’m there.. so no need for playa bling.. I’ll bring some just in case..

 

for the first time.. I’m actually excited about going …  I want to see this thing work after all the effort diane and I have put into it. 

nite all, nite sam

-me

As I was cleaning up yesterday I rearranged the computer room.. that meant unplugging and tidying a zillion cables and plugs.. 

Somehow in there I managed to do something that took down our internet..   I spent several hours trying to debug it myself and with the help of our service providers support folks.. no dice

It was soooo strange being wihtout internet.. no google, no alexa.. .. No voice  vontrol of the 40 or so devices we control including lights, doors, even a toy train.  No email , no slack !

I felt like I was heading back to the 1980’s !

Kinda nice 

anyway The really nice WCVT guy we know  came today and In 5 minutes found the root of the problem. He took a simple laser pointer with a cool fixture, shot it down the fiber optic cable that feeds our modem.. and Shazam !.. the litle red dot showed that the tiny peoce of glass fiber had been broken

 

such a simple  solution to a complex problem !

nite all, nite sam

-me