I took off for a week of camping in my 2005 Magnesium Metallic E.

The first day we drove from Central Calif up through the Sierras to Reno, NV. We stopped in Reno on the way home too and by then my E wasn't looking to good. Went from Magnesium Metallic to white!

Before and After pics:

I had the E crammed full of my gear in tight boxes to keep dirt and water out. Essentials included a satellite phone (rented for $30 per week), power inverter to charge phone and camera batteries and a battery powered 60 MB hard drive for transferring pictures from camera to storage. Also had food, 25 gallons of water, BBQ, portable toilet, cot, chairs, four ice chests with regular and dry ice. Man this was looking like work but it can be painful to have extreme fun.

Holy Carp! What is that and where did you go?? :shock::shock: More pics please!!! :):):)

Nice MM pics.. Thanks for sharing and way to represent!:cool:
Check this link: http://www.elementownersclub.com/forums/showthread.php?t=26535 Great MM post!:D

East on I80, then turned north on 447 towards Empire and Gerlach. A narrow two lane road. I shortly found myself behind this motorhome so just moseyed along.

Stopped at the Empire Store & Deli for one more block of ice. Did I say, even a way overloaded E can still get mid-20' mpg if you drive slow. Thank you mister crappy old motorhome man in front of me.

Next stop after Empire was Gerlach. My first view of it was from across a dry lake bed.

Looks like Playa dust from Burning Man. Did you attend this years festivities?

After Empire the next town I hit was Gerlach. I had to snap this picture of the local color and their rides. Makes me feel quite upscale!

Past Gerlach I headed north on 34. Shortly after I came across this sign. Something was up and my little mag metal E was about to encounter some of her close relative and some very mutant aberrations.

Black Rock City - here we come.

As much time as I'm lucid I am going Element hunting.

Not much of a sign for the fourth largest city in Nevada.

Waiting in line with 40,000 new friends.

Finally heading towards the greeters. As repeat burners no bell ringin' butt paddlin' fandangos. Just head for your spot in the city.

Just driving in and setting up was a dusty mess. I had my Costco $35 tent and Kelty sun shade but anchored with 18" re-bar (the wind can howl). Unhooked my trusty cruiser, set up the chairs, relaxed a bit and went off E hunting.

Thought I saw one but it turned out to be some kind of electric vehicle called a Sundancer?

I knew it might be tougher to find an E than I originally thought when a picnic table with three people sitting at it drove by me.

A little black E from Utah. Houston - we are not alone.

What .....?

My feet and tent floor after 24-hours in Black Rock City.

Found a motorcycle (this one's a bit more non-conventional than my BMW GS),

a $400,000 Belgian Waffle,

and then, there it was - another E.

Great pics....I like the way your totes match your E.

BTW, did you meet Empire while you were in his town?

Great photos!!! Looks like you had a very interesting trip! Did you mean literally Empire's hometown, or because the place looked like Tatooine with all of the sand? :lol:

Did I see the millenium Falcon in the background?

just south of Gerlach, Nevada

no

no

If you're a geek - this place is of interest.

There were several Wireless networks available throughout the city. I ran across two telephones set up for use that must have been VOIP devices and as with everything here - you pay for nothing.

I liked the solar oven too, they were cooking a pizza.

Looks like a very interesting place to say the least!!!

She looked confused and scared, surrounded by these crazies.

Awesome play-by-play! Thanks for the effort of letting us go on your trip with you!! :-)

Morse, Each year I keep swearing that I'll go to Burning Man but never do. I am too afraid of the heat out there. How hot did it get? Could you bake cookies on the hood of your E? Maybe next year though, as were planning another EOC Tahoe Caming Trip for the week end after Labor Day. Tahoe isn't all that far from Black Rock. Might be able to see the last day of the festival, watch The Man burn and then scoot on over to Tahoe and go jump in the lake.

For some reason my last picture attachment did not upload? Anybody know if there is a limit on the number of pictures files you can upload into a thread?

I do have more.

thanks


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Miss Ellie

Burning Man is hard to put into words. One day or a week, whatever, it's an experience I'd recommend if you are open minded and tolerant and like art or neat technology implemented in practical ways. More and more people attend the full week while I'd guess most arrive by wed or thurs. The Man burns Sat night and the Temple and other art (like the Belgian Waffle this year) burned the next night.

There is a lot of preparation to get ready. Everything you bring in you take out (leave no trace). Portapotties are provided and you can buy for coffee and ice but that is it. Nothing else for sale. You want water - bring it. Food - bring it. Makes you plan your stay in advance. The city (of 40,000) is much bigger than you'd imagine. The perimeter is in the miles. A bicycle is a must. Once you arrive you park your car and don't move it until you leave. If you have an art car certified by the DMV (Dept of Mutant Vehicles) then you can drive within the venue. I tended to bicycle to an area, park and then explore on foot.

The cost to get in varies according to when you buy your ticket. This year I think it started at about $180 in Jan and worked up to near $400 at the gate during the event. For that amount you get in, no in and out. Not cheaper for less days. Just one amount.

Yea, its hot but not that hot. It varies. I think the highes this year were in the upper 80s, low 90s. At night the lows ranged from high 30s to low 50s. It's the friggin wind that can be a killer. Seems every year there is at least one White-Out. This year it was Wed afternoon. Utter lack of visibility. Even the people waiting in line to get in with their vehicles had to hunker down and not move for several hours. Things flying. That's why my E was white when I left.

If you were thinking about going I'd start planning sooner rather than later.

yak, yak, yak. I'll stop but you get the idea.

I was walking down one of the streets one evening (yes the city is mapped out with streets and cross streets in a very formal manner). Everyone is friendly and I started talking with this group. Here we are in the middle of nowhere, in a one week temporary city, and they had brought along their 100 gallon aquarium, filled with water and fish and pumps and lights. Just sitting in their camp. Typical. So much of it is totally unexpected. Tall bike jousting. Flame thrower game show. 300 gallon propane bomb. 50-ft smoke ring machine. One person cannot possibly see it all.

This was the first year I was going in my E and I was somewhat hesitant. No problems. The E is quite air tight (at least mine is). Hardly any dust inside it. I didn't open it often though.

There are theme camps, individuals camping and villages. I was in a theme camp. I ran across another camp that consisted entirely of VW buses. I used to have one and loved it so I hung out with them for a while.

At the end of the day I was really suprised by how few Es I ran across. Perhaps ten in total. I'll post pictures of them if I can figure out why I can't upload more files?

Morse

I was unable to post this before because even though the image met the size restriction it has too many pixels. whatever!

I added the strategicly placed red dots. This poor E was very frightened!

in Black Rock City. They all were doing different things.

Some art on the playa and then back to camp for some high bicycle jousting.

A very cute ***** cat art car and a couple of humungous playa ships. The smaller art cars would cruise the city streets while the biggie ones tended to sail the open plays.

I have no idea how they transported some of these big rigs to BRC?

Its too early in the morning after the Burn and I'm already all packed up and ready to go. The drive off the playa on the way home has a name - the Exodus. Took me maybe 20 minutes from camp site to back on main road heading south. Later in the day I heard others waited up to 7.5 hrs to make the same 20 minute jaunt I just did.

Most people are still crashed from the long night before so the streets are quiet. It's barelay past sunrise.

The final Exodus.

Heading back home over the Sierras.

Life is good. Another good trip. Tickets for 2007 go on sale at their cheapest price in 3 more months! The Belgians who constructed the 15 story high art piece (the waffle) have set a new standard for size this year. It will be interesting to see who can out do them in 2007. The Man is starting to look puny.

Very cool pic story log. Thank you much for that vicarious journey.:cool:

Wow, great pics! Only one pic of nekkid people?? :D:D I know some people who went, but havent heard from them yet... :rolleyes: