BRC in pictures

[gfish]

On the way down, I was stopped by an actual cattle drive


Getting close!


This was the sight that greeted me outside Gerlach. At that point, having been in the truck for 18 hours, I was wondering what the hell I was getting myself into.


Waiting in line before the dust storm hit.


Waiting in line AFTER the dust storm hit. It took me 4 hours to get from the highway to my eventual campsite.


Sunrise the next morning.


Looking along Impala, where I was camped. Out in the 'burbs.


Looking down 7:30. Hello, Man!


Looking along the Esplanade towards Center Camp


The Man


Center Camp seen from the top of the Man's base


My camp. I had a tent, but I ended up sleeping inside the trailer. There are 2 100W solar panels on the roof, plus the 400W Air-X turbine. (Thanks again for helping me get that going, ionan!) This powered an adorable and sturdy 12/120/240 volt safari fridge/freezer, plus lights, fans and an inverter for charging my camera. Worked out quite well, and I was only getting about 80W max from the panels, since they weren't angled properly.


I didn't get as many pictures of the crazy art cars as I would have liked. Turtle!


Yes, that bus is furry. And it glowed at night, thanks to a layer of LEDs underneath the fur.










This was the best art car, hands down.


The Purple Palace, one of two articulated city buses on the playa. It has a roof deck and a cantilevered poopdeck on top of that.


Utter insanity.


Thunderdome!


Thunderdome being used at night. This was taken from halfway up the dome. They use boffer weapons, of course, but some of the fights still get pretty vicious. I saw biting.


Most overkilled hammock frame ever.


Fire spinners on a stage out on the playa with the giant propane jets blasting. Everything had propane jets, even bicycles and helmets.


The Temple, which burned Sunday night after I had left. It was a surprisingly moving structure to explore.


This was a steel tower out on the playa with a throne at the very top. It's one of the things that really drove home just how raw and potentially unsafe this environment is. None of the rounded edges of modern society.


Giant tetrahedronal Menger Sponge!


These kites appeared at dusk one night. There were more than you can see here. They were beautiful and terrible at the same time, like some mythological army on the march.


A bike-powered fire-breathing dragon. (Seats four.) The head was fully animated. They claimed there was an interlock to prevent the jet from blasting when it was pointed down. I sure hope so.


A steel cage with burning logs inside, spun around by a long crankshaft and two burly-looking guys. Absolute madness.


Saturday brought another dust storm. It got much worse than this, at times getting dark and limiting visibility to a few meters, but I didn't dare use my camera when it was that bad.


Ah, Burning Man irony.


The Man burns!

Comments

[niac.livejournal.com]

Tell me about your experience with the Temple, please. Here or email, whatever you prefer.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

Not much to say, really. I was out there Thursday night with some AEZ people. I found the raw expression of that much pain and loss, untempered by ritual or liturgy, very moving.

[ivy]

It is beautiful from a distance.

[darlingfreak.livejournal.com]

I'm so jealous. I've wanted to go for years.

One day....

[ionan.livejournal.com]

I am disappointed to not see any pictures of myself, because I'm terribly vain and egotistical.

[gfish.livejournal.com]

For some reason I didn't take pictures of people. Which is odd, I'm usually all about that.

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Oh, like anyone wants to see photos of bunny sympathizers. ;)

-B.

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Oh hey, I was wondering what your lj was.
(\_/)
(^.^)
(I had to do a search for a bunny emoticon, having never encountered the need before.)

[ilmarinen.livejournal.com]

Sock monkeys are obviously the superior emoticon too. (:(|)

[ionan.livejournal.com]

Yeah, if you wanna look like a butt. With a side of eyes. I mean, sure. Kung Fu Sock Monkeys kick ass. But bunnies get ass. Lots of it. All the time. It's kind of something we do.
Added you to my FL, though it'd be more fitting if LJ had a "frenemy" list.

[tfabris.livejournal.com]

Walrus is good too...

(:3=

Goo goo g'joob.

[sistawendy.livejournal.com]

None of the rounded edges of modern society.

Word up. I never deliberately let go of my ingrained caution, and I still came out of there with some non-trivial injuries.

[np-radical.livejournal.com]

Wow, looks like a really great time. I especially like the kites at dusk pic... pretty beautiful.

The Purple Palace is totally my kind of party...

[technoshaman.livejournal.com]

OMG. The Apollo Mobile Launch Platform.. FTW!!!! Dude, you got a bigger picture of that?

[gfish.livejournal.com]

#1 (http://www.cyphertext.net/images/Erato/Groups/trips/Burning-Man-2008/1220931675.JPG)
#2 (http://www.cyphertext.net/images/Erato/Groups/trips/Burning-Man-2008/1220936108.JPG)

Large versions of all those pics and others I didn't bother posting can be found through some basic URL hacking. :)

[neuro42.livejournal.com]

now i totally want to make a scale crawler/sts art car. with real rocket motors for the final burn...

[rollick.livejournal.com]

I also am jealous, and profoundly happy about pictures. Since your first report, I've been reading up on the site about things and projects and people there. I don't know that I'd survive the heat or the privation enough to go there myself, but I do enjoy the field reports.

[bakeme.livejournal.com]

re: the dragon car, yes, the flame jets would only work when the head was tipped back. the dude showed us how it worked saturday night. there was a little nipple-type thing that the tube running through the mouth of the dragon head would mate up with only when the head was tipped way back that supplied the gas.

pretty crafty. that dragon car was fucking fantastic. i have an incredible shot of it in full flame, and you almost can't see the dragon for the flames.