Cargo Van

Booked, but $100 more than planned. It was 9 days, not 8.

You get a weekly rate (2 days off) when you book for 7 days. They are letting us pick-up on Friday for the same cost b/c they are closed on Sunday.

69.99/day times 7 days + 40 (tax) + 20 (CA fee) = 550.00

Set-up of Structures

Below is the new design without the gazebo - and with the tent area. Tarps & the camo net can go where we need them. The pic has a compass and shade representing 7am. Shade moves right to left.

Figured out a way for us to do the center support without Ian needing to bring his steel structure. The idea just has one more pole in the center with a padded PVC square that slides over the top of the pole.

Drove a steel pipe 2' into the ground last weekend. It took some bangin, but wasn't hard. Read up on articles for bungie secure lines and tested on the pole. Seems strong.. though one never quire knows what the playa gods will have to say! :P

Shade Structure.

This structure seems to be a nice solution to our needs. 

My only concern now is that we have at least one tarp we can attach as a shade for the sun-up side. I would say an second tarp to be put up if necessary would also be a very good investment.

We currently have an unopened 10x12 tarp that can be used for this purpose.

My other 'only' concern is tent sizes. Our tent is about 7x5, plus rebar on the edges which means you can't belly up tents right on each other (although they can be very close). Of course the edges of tents can sit a little outside the shade structure proper, but we need to keep in mind that not everyone will be in mountaineering tents.

For others out of the loop: dimensions: ~15x15 Can be anchored anywhere we want, probably at one end of monkey hut. Seems like it would fit ~5 tents.

This route could then break down a few ways:

$33 each for a four person camp, or

$22 each for a seven person camp.

First things first

It seems to me like a round-robin style e-mailing has benefits but risks losing people from the loop.

I propose using a blog where we can all throw ideas up and have more of a forum based interaction than catching e-mails.

If you guys don't like it, thats fine I'll just delete it. Otherwise I think you have to sign up for a free account to be able to post.