Before you depart on your trip take the time to make certain all the system are working correctly. Also, do a walk around with the sale person and note EVERY flaw you see. You will be charged for damage if you do not document old damage. Bring it back clean, it helps all of us. Leaving Black Rock, there is a truck wash in Fernley. I think it cost me $35 last year. It does a wonderful job cleaning the exterior. Allow at least a FULL day for final cleaning for your party of four. It will take at least that long. Fill the fuel tank in Gerlach on your way in. You will have fuel for the genny and not have to wait in line on exodus. I have been in an RV for several years now and it the only way I can get my wife to go.

Hi Lisa,

I have some thoughts for you. I've rented every year since 2000, always with El Monte, but from Oakland, Los Angeles and Vegas, depending on the year.

I've never had any major issues with El Monte, although they're pricey. But you get what you pay for, and since you can't really afford to have equipment problems, I think it's worth the extra money to be sure you won't have any. That said, Jack is absolutely right about checking ALL the systems before you leave the rental site. Also, if you can afford it, rent a day early and stay near the rental agency so that you could come back first thing the following morning and have them fix anything that wasn't apparent. One year, my oven didn't work, and that's not something you can test in the lot. Along those lines: make sure there's a glass plate in the microwave. You'd be surprised how difficult it is to find one on short notice.

Another thing to keep in mind: it takes several HOURS to rent the vehicle, especially at Burning Man times. You have to sign a contract, watch a training video, inspect the vehicle, get anything you may have rented (bedding, kitchen equipment, etc). and load your stuff. All of these things happen in slow-motion right before Burning Man.

If you're renting in Oakland, I think you'll find they get testy about cleaning. They rent a lot of vehicles to Burners and many come back in pretty disgusting shape. It would be far better for all of us if you could clean it before returning, just so they don't assume that EVERY Burner is going to trash their vehicles. (Plus, the cleaning fee can run into the $1,000s). I find it takes 7 person-hours to clean a small Class C, but sharing with four people might mean a little more work.

I cover all the cushioned furniture (beds, chairs, driver's seat, etc). with sheets and blankets. The upholstery traps Playa dust, and even if you clean everything else well, you'll have trouble with second-hand dirt if you leave it exposed. Some people also put paper down on the floor, the kind of thing that movers do.

Also, I rarely open the windows, only when there is absolutely no wind -- and even then dust gets in.. Make sure you close them tight if you do open them.

If you do clean, you want to work from the extremities of the RV toward the door and from top to bottom. That way you are always pushing the dust in the right direction. Use paper towels moistened with a liquid cleaner (a green one is nice) and aim to touch every surface with them. You can spill a bucket of clean water in the cab area and then just mop it up to do the floor there (the overflow spills out the doors...oh, and open the doors!).

If you have an extra day or two at the end of your trip, find a nice quiet RV park and do your cleaning there. You can finish off your leftover food and decompress rather than hit the default world immediately.

I get my exterior cleaned in Nixon. They open up the high school on Labor Day (and I think the day before) and the local people do a good job -- it's also a way to leave some money in the community.

On your way to BRC, you should stop at an RV supply store (all the big campgrounds have them) and pick up extra toilet chemicals and one-ply toilet paper (like the potties, RVs need fast-decomposing paper). Also, buy some extra fuses. If you blow one and you don't have a spare, you won't be able to use some of your appliances. They're cheap, like $4 or $5 for a set of assorted sizes. Also: figure out where the fuse box is.

Cooking stuff: you'll think the refrigerator isn't working at first. It takes about a day to cool down, but once it does, it works really well. You can rush it along by filling it up -- water bottles work well, both in the freezer and the main compartment, and you can take them out to replace them with food as you stock up. The water cools down and aids in the cooling (air doesn't cool as efficiently and it rushes out every time you open the door).

When shopping, smaller sizes are better. Large containers are less flexible and stuff tends to go bad once it's opened. So you're better off with 4 quarts of milk than one gallon. Make two or three shopping trips so that you can fill the fridge entirely.

It's good to buy things that you can put in the fridge over the course of the week. So I buy canned (or boxed) juices and as the perishables get used up, I put them in. Naturally, you can do this with beer as well -- just start off with a few in the fridge and add more as the week progresses. Also, small bottles of water in the freezer -- the water freezes solid and then melts from the outside, so you can walk around with ice water in the heat of the day.

I always try to buy some nonperishables for the end of the week that if they aren't used would be good to leave for the DPW people. They don't want anything that's opened, so you have to leave full packages, cans and closed jars. Trader Joe's has a lot of stuff that is fun.

Washing dishes is the single most water wasteful thing you can do, so eat off paper plates (burnable) cook on aluminum foil in the oven and paper towels in the microwave. BTW, you'll want a LOT of paper towels -- you can always take home any extra, so err on the side of too much.

You can also buy wooden or bamboo cutlery and burn it. Expensive, but water saving.

Your class C will probably have only a 35 gallon fresh water tank. So you'll need to bring more water than that for 4 people, assuming you plan to shower. I bring extra water in 5-gallon jugs and use a garden pump and clear plastic pipe to get it into the tank; you can also justs buy the pipe (at Home Depot), haul the jugs up to the roof, and let gravity do the work.

You'll also need at least one and possibly two pumpings. It used to be that you could sign up and ask them to come at a specific time, but now you just have to flag down the trucks if you can find them. It's better to get pumped a little before you need it than hit the limit, even if this means paying for an extra suck. It's also not the smartest idea to leave with a full black tank...think about what's in there, think about it sitting in 100 degree sunlight, think of what happens when you start moving a vehicle that hasn't moved for a week...

The gray tank tends to fill up much faster than the black tank (which is usually the same size). So in a pinch, you can take a bucket (make sure El Monte gives you a bucket!) and empty out the gray tank a bit, then empty the bucket into the toilet. Oh, and the indicator lights that tell you how full the tanks are tend not to work that well on the Playa.

If you aren't camping somewhere with a generator, be sure to fill up your gas tank in Empire or Gerlach. If you plan to use the air-conditioner a lot, you should probably bring a couple of extra gas containers along as well. Store them in the outside compartment when you're driving, not inside the RV. BTW, air conditioning doesn't work all that well, and if you have it on in windy weather, the outside filters will get dusty. I think there's a thread here somewhere about ways people have tried to protect the filters a little, but even in optimum conditions, the a/c only works so-so. (OTOH: the heater works great at night, and you couldn't use all the propane they give you in a week if you tried).

Hope you find some of this useful.

1. Avoid RVs with the electronically-activated dump valves on the septic system; had one leak one year and it was GROSS!
2. Kiss off your refund for nonfunctional stuff; I think we got something like $10.- back for the dump valve malfunction and the aggro was worth a LOT more than ten bucks.
3. Kiss off your cleaning deposit too
4. Be prepared for "special event weekend" fees that can TRIPLE your daily rental charge; they won't spring this one on you 'til you go to pick up the unit; i.e. when you don't have a choice any more.
5. Make sure the toilet works and make sure the smoke detector doesn't: they're very noisy and if it goes off at random it's an indicator that you've got a bad battery; not the little 9-volt kind but the truck's main 12-V system should be suspect.
6. Make sure you've got adaptor plug so you can connect to a grid if it's an option. Had one outfit give me the adaptor and it had the wrong gender so it was useless
7. A smile and a handshake don't mean squat; get a contract and have it with you when you go to get your RV.

Hi Lisa,

The El Monte in Oakland (thinking you are in the city) is a great place to rent from...

I did for 3 years, and they were wonderful to me,,,

That truck wash in Fernley is GREAT! Best $30 spent for the exterior wash. Bonus: They also washed the bikes that were hooked up to the rear trailer hitch.

For the interior, the rental place secured down plastic runners over the carpeted areas, and I got old sheets from Goodwill and put them over the couches and beds to keep the dust off. It worked very well.

The best thing I found was those 3M anti-static dusting rags. These are AMAZING for cleaning any and everything inside the cab. The playa dust will be on everything, and these anti-static rags wipes every surface nook and cranny completely clean with a simple wipe or two. WARNING: do NOT use water or any liquid on the dust, or it will turn to instant mud and be difficult to remove. Trust me on this....

I've been RV'ing to BM for the last 5 years. I always travel with 9-10 folks down and back (about 1500 miles RT). Most of us set up tents outside for sleeping, gear storage, and privacy...the RV becomes party central at the very time you'd like to sleep... :-)

Also, no poo poo's...EVER! Use the porta potties. Pissing is OK, but don't flush with tank water, just open the flush valve. Brush teeth, wash faces with small amounts of bottled water. No dish washing...use disposable plates/flatware...occasional pot/pan OK. No long, luxurious showers...put a garden sprayer in the shower stall. You'll do just fine spraying down, soaping, rinsing...on the last day we still have plenty of tank water and holding tank capacity for everyone to take a nice hot shower before the trip home.

Keep cooking to a minimum. Who wants to spend time cooking anyway? Make salads and sandwiches. Use ice chests/coolers for beverages. Use the frig for perishables. Stuff the freezer with Popsicles...mmmmmmm!

You will need to run the generator daily to recharge the house batteries. Crank it on during the hot part of the day...you can run the AC and recharge the batteries at the same time. Try to park the RV with the exhaust pipes oriented toward the street. That way you won't be polluting your camp's living area with exhaust. I also take along a 10' length of dyer hose to slip over the exhaust pipe to redirect exhaust that otherwise might be a problem.

Make sure everyone knows how to retract the awning if it's deployed. The dust storms can spring up without warning. You stand a good chance of having it ripped apart if it's not retracted. Close everything before you leave the RV unattended. One year we came back to find an inch of playa on everything because the windows were left open!

We never lock the RV. The keys are placed in the glove compartment and stay there for the duration. I warn everyone NOT to leave their valuables laying around unsecured...other than money, cameras, and other expensive electronics who the fuck wants to steal our moldy, playa dust covered crap? They'd be doing us a favor!

I've never had a problem cleaning the RV. Everyone gets assigned a section inside and out. We start at 7 AM and turn it in at 11 AM...never been a problem...usually gets turned in in better condition than we received it. YMMV....