Burning Man 05, any Prius going?

[GeekyDragon]

The Man Burns in 60 days...

Are there any other Prius owners taking their car out this year?

From where and where are you camping?

We're from Santa Cruz, will be heading out Sunday 8/28, staying overnight in Reno and heading out to arrive on the playa at firstlight. Camping around 7:30ish and 5-6 streets back.

If anybody's interesting in caravaning out, let me know.

--GD

[BobA]

Hahahaha.... I would leave my Prius IN Reno.. and bike out... if I were going..and I'm NOT...

but just a warning....... BEEN THERE DONE THAT!!!!

I was on the Black Rock in both 1995 and '96 with Craig Breedlove and the Brits, when the LSR was set... still have sand in my truck that I just can't get rid of... if it rains and it will... the playa turns into a lake ... or worse quicksand... know if it starts to rain... you have 5 minutes TOPS to get off the playa....

Go, but think twice about your Prius!!!!!!!

Bob Andersen

[BobA]

The area would make for a GREAT calendar picture..

Bob Andersen

[GeekyDragon]

Heh heh.. Yeah, my Civic's been out 4 times and it'll never be the same again. I'm not to worried about the Prius though... as long as you clean it up really well and re-grease everythiing aftrewards it should be ok. I didn't do that with my Civic and the performance suspensions werenb't ever designed to go off road or get so overloaded. Won't make the same mistake with the Prius.

As for the quicksand issue.. Lots of taps..

--GD

[danoday]

We usually take two vehicles out to the playa... the 39 foot diesel pusher RV and a backup car. In previous years, this has been a Jeep Grand Cherokee, but I might take the Prius out this year just to save on gas. The windows are generally kept closed on the Jeep... we try to keep dust out of it. I gave up on keeping the RV clean years ago.

A couple of suggestions: RV places sometimes sell plastic carpet protectors. These are basically sticky strips of thick plastic that can be cut and applied to the carpeting inside of an RV. If you've ever been to an RV show, you've probably seen them on the carpet of the 'show' vehicles. You might consider picking up some of this and covering all the carpet in your Prius completely... playa dust is a bitch to get out of carpet. You might want to consider keeping your windows shut for the duration of the event too.

The Prius actually makes a decent generator for low power needs. I wouldn't suggest trying to run a room air conditioner on it, but if you need power for a couple of lamps and a radio, you might consider getting a small inverter and hooking it up to the 12v lighter socket on the dash (this required leaving the ignition on). I often run a computer and a powered telescope off the Prius... it starts the ICE for three or four minutes automatically every hour or so to boost the battery, but the flow of power to the inverter is constant. You might be concerned about dust buildup in the battery vent... this might be a problem.

For those that haven't been to Burning Man... it is a lot of fun. We've been going since 1999, and are doing a theme camp this year called (Campsterdam! If you are out on the playa, drop by for a drink and ask for Mayor Dan. And if you are still looking for somewhere to camp, let me know... we can always make room for a tent and a Prius.

Dan