The great migration of the muddy footed burner
8 Likes
Some years back, they instituted a policy of ‘pulsing’, letting you shut off your vehicle for ~15 minutes to an hour at a time. Makes it a lot less onerous. (The times I’ve been I always planned on getting out either before or after the rush, so I haven’t had to wait more than 2 hours to get to the highway.)
As they say here, only so many cars per hour can get on that road and there’s no way to change that.
9 Likes
9 Likes
I’ll see you on
the bright side
of the moon…
4 Likes
… paint tuning pegs at the end 
4 Likes
4 Likes
I was thinking of something different
3 Likes
They go camping because they don’t face systemic hardship?
3 Likes
Preparing for his follow up chart topper, “Rich Men West of Richmond.”
2 Likes
Just saw a story about it on yt - it took drivers over 9 hours to get out, but the pair of cyclists they interviewed said it took them half an hour!
1 Like
You might think they could organize some kind of staggered assigned times for people to head out, controlling the number of cars on the road at any one time and maintaining a smooth flow of traffic.
3 Likes
the ultra-wealthy infiltrated anti-capitalist Burning Man
Yep. The kind of people who are accustomed to having others clean up the messes they leave behind.
5 Likes
That would go against their tenet of self reliance, clearly the rugged individual is the best at determining a departure time.
2 Likes
The Burners are quite aware of the size of the Exodus line before they enter it. They can choose to wait until it dies down to strike their camp. The line itself is pulsed, so at least those waiting in the line move in spurts rather than sitting there idling, wasting gas and overheating the engines in their vintage RVs.
7 Likes
Probably about the same amount of fuel burned in the twice-daily traffic jams around major cities like DC and LA, except no one bats an eye.
I was up on Cape Cod a few weeks ago. Because all the summertime rental properties there inexplicably start and end on same day, the collective migration of the tourist tide makes massive backups like this every weekend during the summer months. And it’s been that way for decades.
7 Likes
The rain in that area drains into the playa, with very little absorbed because of the soil type … half an inch over the entire drainage area turns into several inches in the playa and that turns into a thick layer of mud.
Thick, gumbo mud that is slippery and adhesive. Coats your shoes and tires, has near zero traction, and can be churned into a quagmire.
All you have to do it wait for the water to evaporate … but telling people to stay put, miss your flight, miss work, and go on short rations of food and water … sure, that always works.
2 Likes
My parents live on a lake that has similar effects, and it’s referred to as “the snake dance of idiots.”
2 Likes
as someone who was actually there, this is the experience i had, too. it was people hanging out, letting the playa dry out, but also continuing to help each other and just laughing at the absurdity of it all. only people inexperienced with rapidly changing desert conditions (and pampered stars, apparently) turned into Panic Ponies and tried to get out. the rest of us just chilled out and had fun with it.
13 Likes
tldr, three attendees were profiled. One spent $1500, one spent $5-7000, and one spent $8000. All thought it was worth it.
4 Likes
This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.
