Burning Man - Getting Ready

A couple of weeks ago, I wrote about getting a ticket for Burning Man. I got the ticket at 8:45 PM after being booted out of the queue twice. I finally got back into line shortly after noon. There were more than 27, 000 persons in the queue ahead of me. Over eight hours later I had my ticket. The first hurdle was jumped.

My friend, Bill, a veteran Burner, gave me a copy of his Burning Man checklist. It has been a godsend! I studied that list crossing off items I don’t need, then I retyped and reformatted the list several times. I then panic and cross check it against Bills original list fearing I’d deleted something really important like that rubber mallet. Why the hell would I need a rubber mallet? Bill’s checklist comments are clearly inadequate on this detail.

I crossed off the extension cord for the RV. I am not getting a 30-foot RV for Burning Man. Perhaps next year but not this year. So I added a tent to my list with a checkmark in the “To Buy” column. I found a sale at Big 5 Sporting Goods. I picked up a 3-man tent for $40.00! It was more than 50% off and it’s a great tent! Score! I put a check mark in the “Have” column and dutifully record the cost in the “Cost” column.

A couple of days later, I’m telling my friend, Ron, about my incredible tent deal. “You got only one tent?” Ron asks. “One? I need more than one tent?” naively says the Burning Man Virgin. Seems you need a sealed tent INSIDE the main tent to sleep in. It’s about the only way to ensure dust free sleeping. That RV is looking good.

On Craig’s List, I had found a Huffy Beach Cruiser and it was my first acquisition: a single speed bicycle. It’s a woman’s bicycle but no one would hold that against a 62-year-old man, would they? After all, it is painted a manly forest green. With whitewall balloon tires. Another Burner veteran asked how I was planning to personalize it. What? I can’t just write my name on it??? With over 40,000 old bikes on the Playa, you need to be able to find yours without reading every one of them. Who knew? Something else to think about!

I’m actually having fun pulling together everything I need for my week in Black Rock City. Oh, and I need to figure out how to take a shower & get rid of the water after. You can’t just dump it on the ground. Damn! That RV is looking better and better!

While I’m obsessing about Burning Man, I‘m also offering a couple of special deals on my artwork. I have pricing for most budgets – check them out here: http://dld.bz/KxWff. Contact me if you see something you like and please visit the rest of my website while you are there. Take a look at my artwork. And, while you’re checking things out at http://dld.bz/KxWf, sign up for my Newsletter. Add some spice to your reading life….

Contact me if you want to buy one of my pieces or if you have any questions about a specific piece. My contact information is on my website or you can leave a comment on this blog site for me to contact you (include your contact info!). You can e-mail me at JeryL@JerryLHanson.com or you can telephone me on my studio phone 760-992-3157. You can call me. I won’t mind!

Thank you for listening,

Jerry L. Hanson