Thoughts of Burning Man 2013 - the way up.

Another year has somehow slipped away - the sands of time flowing like dust on the playa...

A stream of consciousness array of memories that marked the event for this year - first post, is just some pings of getting there...

* Getting our tickets from a friend that decided not to go this year - Thanks Scott!
* Planning meetings with our little Burning Man Community - which grew to almost 20 people!
* Shopping, clearing out the old, packing, repacking, re-repacking
* Collecting people to join our adventure - Mariette, Mike, Steve and Laura
* Finding people to watch Delilah as we were gone - Thanks to Sophie's family and Heather and Steve!
* Getting on the road with Mariette, and hooking up the trailer as Dean and Lisa joined up on the way up. Great travel companions all!
* Random snacks, drinks and talks along the way
* Driving the 395 - lovely stretch, even with the fire and smoke adding to the mystery
* The cassette tape adapter that Lisa had to hook up to my phone for music
* The awesome play list that I had assembled - Devotchka, Berlin, They Might Be Giants, Seal, Wagner, Belefonte, Bitoto, Triloc Gertu, Vangeles, Patsy Cline, Jazz, Blues, Classical, on and on...
* Chasing a cloud shadow down the road
* The fact that the RV barely noticed that we were towing a trailer
* Staying in Mammoth at Lisa's place with some of our camp peeps (Jade, Leah, Lisa, Dean, Mariette and us)
* The realization that the cabin was on Silvertip lane
* Great conversation with new friends - including a guy who's name started with X...
* Lisa saying that my driving made her feel safe
* Morning wanderings through the silver state
* Coasting down hill into Gerlach
* People sharing the cost and effort
* Everything getting to the Playa as it should
* No unnecessary stops, no incidents with law enforcement, maximum goodness of drive

To be continued... :)

Maker Fair 2013

Less than a week after returning from Europe and Eugene, Delilah and I were on the road to the Bay Area for the Maker Faire up there. Initially, I wasn't going this year, but Jack, Jan's son, was so enthusiastic, and Jan so interested in going, and when Delilah heard, she wanted to go again, and well, heck, it's always a bunch of fun... So, I agreed to do the RV thing up there again.

This year, we had the added bonus that Mike Floyd and his daughter Brianna were able to join us for part of it. They flew up Friday night, and we packed them away in the RV for the evening, then after the show on Sunday, we all drove home together.

The faire was amazing as always.  If you haven't seen more previous posts, do some research - it's a very noble and cool collection of passionate folks. Makers attend from a wide spectrum of humanity - Crafty, Artsy, DIY, Nerds, Hackers, Blue Collar, White Collar, Engineers, Teachers, Eco, Students, Kids... A booth on making your own kimchi, a demo of making Chinese noodles, programming the Raspberry Pi, home automation, aquaponics, soldering for newbies, robotics, electric cars, lock picking, wooden bikes, steam powered, steam punk, 50 booths relating to 3D printing, re-use, re-purpose, re-jigger, re-do...

Going with Delilah, it is a very different experience than going solo. She wants to deeply connect with each booth, I want to survey and return for in depth when I know what's out there. So, we figured a system that worked pretty well - she'd find something, and start looking, and I'd slowly stroll. Eventually, either she'd come running up, or I'd holler for her to catch up, and the cycle would repeat. There were TONS of free things for kids - I'd say close to half of the folks there were kids. Delilah made a paper rocket, terrarium, soap, windmill, coin purse from duct tape, wrote a letter with caligraphy, experimented with electricity, optics, made a doll house, sewing, sampled a dozen kinds of food, saw a life size mouse trap game, wandered in an inflatable forest, made music, and had a grand time.

The faire isn't really a "social hang out", since everybody has a different idea of what to do. So, instead of trying to all stay together, we split into "family units" and wandered around, meeting for lunch and end of day. Along the way, we ran in to Jennifer and her son and husband, and also Gregg and his daughters. It was great to see them - to reconnect with friends from college days.  We also bought a robot kit, which Delilah and I will be building together this summer...

Special thanks to Jan, Jack, Mike, Brianna, and of course Delilah for all the good times - driving, eating, camping, playing, et al.

Many "Burning Man" type elements there - such as this cool little trolley. 

 This art car, called The Sashimi Tabernacle Choir, was truly a wonder to behold. See their videos at their site http://sashimitabernaclechoir.org/
 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kYlSTvAW1Po&fmt=22

 A mosaic UFO for kids to explore

 Always fire - the Flaming Lotus Girls http://www.flaminglotus.com/

The R2 builders club (many different R2 and other movie robots)

These little Muffin Cars are a Maker Faire/Burning Man Staple. Delilah wants to build one. Maybe after we make the robot... :) 

A pair of mermaids - they were swimming with the Open Source ROV earlier in the day. 

And something from 20,000 leagues under the playa... 

Europe for Delilah's picts - past Paris

And more pictures from Delilah - the first from Tivoli, then into Norway and Finland