Bathroom Beacon Project

[dragonpilot]

I hope this gets the attention it deserves...

I thought the BRC Bathroom Beacon Project was absolutely brilliant! Lots of playa projects get Kickstarted and they are all worthy to some degree, but the direct benefit of the lighted porta potties had to be felt by anyone that needed to find a place to pee ASAP!

I don't know what it was that caused those two widely spaced dim blue lights to stand out so much in all the confusion and brilliance of the playa, but all I had to do to find the pots was to simply scan the horizon and...POW!...there they were!

My thanks to all those that put this thing together!

[Shambala]

It was a great project and I scanned for those blue lights more than once. I'm surprised that the Pershing County Sheriff didn't try to write a $500 ticket for using the color blue!

[stew]

I absolutely loved those. I called them the purple points of pleasure.

[illy dilly]

Agreed!
I hadn't even realized they were there until last year when my sister pointed them out to me. I think in 2011 it was only 'open' Playa bathrooms that had them, but that is also where it is hardest to find bathrooms.

In the city is pretty easy to predict that there are bathrooms at E and H.

[Bounce530]

I read the title as Bathroom BACON project...
Don't know what I was expecting but it wasn't about lights...

[maladroit]

[Milayna]

Those blue lights saved my life many a time out there! For some reason almost every time I had to pee it was an emergency situation, and seeing those blue lights was such a relief!

[Elorrum]

On Sunday night when most of the signs were down, and so many tents and cars were gone that gave the outer streets their shape, those blue lights were a real help for showing which way the streets went.

[maladroit]

Is it usual for the city to be so emptied out Sunday night? Woke up Monday in a wasteland, wondered if it was just because burners were trying to beat Exodus because of last year.

[Savannah]

Is it usual for the city to be so emptied out Sunday night?

Not in my experience. I traveled all over the playa on Sunday, and I had never seen the city empty out so fast. Never! It was sort of depressing, but I understood why. It took me 6 hours to get out last year . . . and that's better than the 8-9 hours it took others.

Woke up Monday in a wasteland, wondered if it was just because burners were trying to beat Exodus because of last year.

I believe so. There was a steady trickle of exiting Burners that one of my friends at Gate said began earlier than he was accustomed to, and a fire under the tail of all my friends to get out in a very studied manner.

I added to the weirdness by waiting to leave until Tuesday, something I've never done. Exodus was nil, and I'm glad I got to bum around the city on Monday and say goodbye, but I was so tired by the time I left . . .

[maladroit]

I was expecting and almost looking forward to a few hour exodus, one hour neighborhoods and all that...we drove straight up to the highway, starting around 3pm Monday. I refuse to believe any sort of central planning could manage that feat, so it must have been people shipping out early. I know most of our camp was broken down before the Man burn, and about half of us left that night. Just didn't know if that was typical in theme-camp territory versus the main city.

[MacGlenver]

Agreed that the bathroom lights are fantastic. I noticed it last year, and this year I told all my virgin campmates about it. That said, I started to find that, when you're in the middle of town, there can be several blue lights that compete. Someone mentioned to me that the rule is there is a portapottie at C on all of the hour roads, and D on all the half-hour roads (or is it the reverse?). Just need to memorize the layout patterns for future so I won't need any other guidance. Also need to memorize the locations on the promenade...