Build 2025

• Build Plan 2025
• Early Build Team - Sequence - 2025
• Early Build Team Food
• Early Build Team Orientation

Build Plan 2025

Early Build Team

We have 12 tuesday SAPs:

	builder	arriving Reno	Transport Reno -> Playa
1	Joel	Mon Aug 18 1pm flight from NY	Turtle RV
2	Beam	Mon Aug 18 1pm flight from NY	Turtle RV
3	Basil	Mon Aug 18 1pm flight from NY	Turtle RV
4	Madame Vivien V	Mon Aug 18 1pm flight from NY	Turtle RV
5	Dat	Mon Aug 18 1pm flight from NY	Turtle RV
6	Gary	Mon Aug 18 1pm flight from NY	Turtle RV
7	Klajdi		Jeremy's car (from SF - there from July 24)
8	Jeremy		Jeremy's car (from SF )
9	Alex H		Jeremy's car (from SF - SFO flight Mon Aug 18 2:15pm)
10	Ed		Jeremy's car (from SF - SFO flight Mon Aug 18 2:15pm)
11	Neptune		own van
12	PB		own van

Here's the tentative calendar for 2025. See also the Early Build Team - Sequence - 2025 for details.

Date / Time	Early Build Team	Food Team
Mon Aug 18 1:00p	Meet in Reno   Pick up RV Shop for build team food Get RV ready Fill up diesel Buy DEF if needed for generator  Overnight at GSR Fill water Last minute shopping and prep Jeremy's car will arrive in Reno 9-10 pm Transfer excess luggage to RV
Tue Aug 19 6:00 am	Entry Drive from Reno Enter playa Call placement Get placed Measure positions for delivered vehicles Call: Peik Construction Empire Storage  Generator Water Prepare first night shiftpods
Wed Aug 20	General Build   Team A: Shade Structure Team B: Interactive Pavilion Team C: Utilities (petrol, music while working, water, power)
Thu Aug 21	General Build continues
Fri Aug 22	General Build continues	Enter playa
Sat Aug 22	Furnishings and decor Turtles arrive

Early Build Team - Sequence - 2025

We have a big build team this year so we're going to split into three groups!

	Leonardos	Donatellos	Michaelangelos
Arrival	Park RV temporarily where the food fort will eventually go MOOP Sweep	Make breakfast	MOOP Sweep
After Placement		Survey for Empire Deliveries   Measure and mark fire lane   Flag locations for Empire Fort, Moving Truck, Water, Shower, and Generator. Call Empire 828-406-5099 Sierra Site Svcs 888-458-8777  Generator World 916-668-0605	Survey for Peik Deliveries Measure and flag for Tool Fort, Bike Fort, Pillow Fort   Call Peik 775-674-9207
After Deliveries	First tarps   Lay down six tarps as numbered on schematic (enough for the initial outpost and Shiftpods for build team) Turtle event sign   Build and light the sign listing our events at the street corner	First EMT structure ("sticks")   Follow Leonardos building sticks for initial outpost: the Kink Fort, and, time permitting, enough to protect six shiftpods for the build team.	First Shade Follow Donatellos adding side and roof tarps to sticks. Kink fort first, then, time permitting, enough to protect six shiftpods.
	First Shiftpods Follow Michaelangelos to setup first six shiftpods	Make dinner	Set up two tables, some chairs, and air conditioners in the Kink Fort so it can be our home base   Set up big red floodlight
	Personal setup.	Personal setup.	Personal setup.
Wednesday	Remaining Tarps Continue laying down tarps	Get bluetooth + big speaker working for music   Remaining sticks   Follow Leonardos building sticks	Observation Decks Set up and anchor ladders for observation decks   Build pipe structure on observation decks Pavilion Measure and survey.   Assemble mast on ground. Include sails, guylines, Turtle sign and its power cord along guyline, and two paracord pulleys on each face (allowing things to be pulled up to the top later).   When mast is assembled, all hands gather to raise it and secure guylines.
	Remaining Shade   Follow Donatellos adding tarps to sticks	Remaining Shiftpods   Follow Leonardos setting up Shiftpods	Pavilion   Anchor all the sails and perfect
Thursday	Electrical grid   Generator, all banded cables, distribution boxes, and spider boxes   Initial power up and test	Amenities   Lounge furnishings and lights Kink Fort furnishings and lights	Observation Decks   Connect wire guardrails   Utility Lighting   String lights for dining area and camper shiftpod area
	DJ and Audio Gear   Setup and wire all speakers   Setup and test all DJ gear (booth may not have arrived)	Amenities   Bike parking signs   LED rope lights to separate between bike parking areas and street   Lotus Belle Tent and its Furnishings (including ACs)	Dining Room Setup   Tables, chairs, camper cubbies, signs and whiteboards, snack area
Friday	Water setup    SSS water connection for food fort SSS grey water connection for food fort Water filling station in dining room Set up backup pumping mechanisms (fresh / grey between Food and Gayflower)	DMX Lights   Connect and test everything on the ground Then mount it in final locations   Whips Light whips in bike parking area	Pillow Fort Setup   Empty remaining items from Pillow Fort to storage Set up the pillow fort

Early Build Team Food

Team Size: 12 builders
Food restrictions: Jetpack (no pork or shellfish), Jeremy (Pescatarian), Scott (No Dairy, allergic to Macadamia Nuts)

Shopping list (spreadsheet)

Meals

	tuesday	wednesday	thursday	friday
continental breakfast	danish fresh fruit	muffins fresh fruit	cinnamon rolls fresh fruit	croissants yogurt instant oatmeal
lunch	full breakfast (eggs, hash browns, veg sausage, bacon, biscuits)	smash burgers (tuna burgers available), grilled veggies	pancake breakfast (eggs, veg sausage, bacon, berries, syrup)	make your own sandwich bar, brownies, apples
snack	pears, brie and crackers	guac and chips (make double, for dinner)	quesadillas (some with avocado instead of cheese)	hummus and pita chips dates and almonds
dinner	chicken thighs (salmon steak available), Greek salad, baguette & butter	crispy taco dinner (beans, ground beef, all the toppings) more guac & chips	chicken gyros (quorn option)	fajita dinner (chicken, halloumi, mushrooms avail) pie

In stock

Coffee
Tea
Milk
Oat Milk
Cinnamon Toast Crunch
Multi-grain Cheerios
Frozen Burritos (Bean and Cheese)
English Muffins
Eggs
American Cheese
Non-dairy sliced cheese
Bagels
Cream Cheese
Salted Cashews
Salted Almonds
Dried Turkish Apricots
Kosher Dill Pickles
Pretzels
Individually-wrapped assorted chips
Cliff Bars
Peanut M&Ms

Early Build Team Orientation

Take care of yourself, first

• Don't work on build when you're not sorted out
  • food
  • bathroom
  • rest
  • shade
  • sunscreen
  • water
  • electrolytes
  • gloves
  • hat (wear hat at all times)
• Work at 75% speed; it's hotter and difficult than you're used to. That could mean 15 min break per hour or just work a little bit slower than you think
• Take a pickle / nap break at any time. No penalty. Don't be a hero
• Hopefully we have Gayflower or other water by Wednesday end-of-day for first shower
• Don't work on EMT without gloves (your hands will get chapped and not recover all week)
  • I actually like three layers: moisturizer, nitrile gloves, then work gloves

Work smart

• Set up tables and chairs in the shade for detailed work
  • don't "save time" by squatting in the dirt to do something
• Set up tool stations first so everything is at hand and you can always find things
• When setting up lights, DMX, DJ gear, etc, set up a bunch of tables and lay it all out first. Get it working on the tables before dragging it up and installing it
• One of our first priorities is to set up the kink fort - a shade structure that is well protected against wind and dust - and get some AC, lights, tables and chairs in there. This will serve as our hangout and refuge, where we take meals and cook, etc. until more infrastructure is assembled.

Work clean

• If something is out and not being used, put it away before doing anything else
• Assume wind storm at any minute. Nothing is ever lying around that won't survive a windstorm. 
  • The only things that survive a windstorm: milk crates of hardware and closed black & yellows
  • Anything else should be out if and only if you can carry it inside by yourself in one trip
• Always keep all the tool battery packs charging up
• Carry a moop bag at all times
• Don't just have random milk crates of shade hardware lying randomly around the camp
  • This results in people walking around for hours looking for, say, a lag screw
  • Just keep a single, neat row of milk crates with the hardware you need next to where we are building shade right now.
  • Take the time to get a new crate from the Empire Fort if you run out
  • Take the time to move the crates when the place where you are working changes
  • Take the time to move empty crates back to the Empire Fort

Save water

• Clean dishes using a paper towel first instead of rinsing them
• Use the RV dishwasher instead of running a lot of water to wash dishes

Work safe

• Never attach a tarp to anything other than a fully anchored & ratcheted EMT structure.
• Use two people on two ladders to bungee tarps, so they don't turn into sails
• Always bungee with gloves on or risk injury 👹

Team Vocab

• "Sticks" - EMT
• "Hangers" - EMT anchor things
• "Lag bolts" - Lag Screws
• "Black & Yellow" - one of those totes from home depot
• "Have a pickle and a nap" - you're cranky, take a break
• "The bus" - the RV

Hard EMT Lessons From Past Years

• Five-ways must all be oriented the same way: so that you can look at the man through the hollow pipe
  • otherwise they won't line up
• Take time to line up sticks by eyeballing them carefully with a friend moving them to align them, before you drill them into the ground
  • Errors will compound and eventually something won't work
• Measuring exact ground tarp overlaps shown in the plans is not optional
  • It is important that the sticks drill into the tarps to anchor them to the ground properly
• Don't even think of attaching a tarp until the EMT structure is complete
• Wrap each ratchet around its stick twice so it won't twang in the wind
  • but not so many times that it doesn't provide tension
• Wrap up excess ratchet slack and tuck away so it doesn't make a dune collector / tripping hazard
• Sloped tarps facing the wind must be fully tensioned, so they don't become sails
• Sloped tarps should be anchored to the ground via bungees, not just drilled directly
  • to prevent extreme noise in the wind
• Don't over tighten eye bolts. Fingers are enough.
  • they will snap off. Eye bolts are not for strength, just for keeping things in shape until the tarps go up.
    
• If we get sand dunes blown up on the tarps during build week, don't try to blow them off with a leaf blower.
  • this will take all week. Instead use a broom and brush bulk sand into pans and remove.
• Use the same size bungee cord along each edge of a tarp
  • otherwise the longer ones will just fall out
  • we have different size bungee cords and the color is not a code.
• Secure bungees on all four corners first (and nearby holes if possible) to balance tension and avoid tearing or overstretching bungees.
• Use red bungees in public areas. They're pretty.

Weather 

• We're likely to have heavy wind at some point during build week.
  • While it is possible to put down ground tarps and put up shade tarps in the wind, it's 10 times harder. Think about whether we can do something else instead.
• The afternoon is super hot.
  • Look for things you can do in the shade in the afternoon.
    
• Rain sucks
  • We'll have to stop everything and wait for it to dry
  • Walking in the mud is a disaster, resulting in churned up playa that is bumpy, collects moop, and becomes dust dunes. Don't walk in camp if the ground is wet.

Build Schedule and Cadence

• My dream schedule would be
  • waking up at 6 or 7 am,
  • having a light breakfast,
  • working a lot in the morning while it's still cool,
  • having a big lunch
  • having a little bit of a siesta in the shade during the hottest part of the day
  • quitting by 5pm or 6pm
  • enjoying a leisurely dinner
• If we are fully on track and have caught up with the day's plan by dinner time, you can use the evenings to meet neighbors, explore art projects, and just generally enjoy playa and recharge.
  • Celestial Bodies has "bartender training" Friday and Saturday night
  • It is fun to take a field trip to see DMV inspection (Saturday it opens at 1pm)
  • Art projects may be in the weeds and really appreciate volunteers
    
• We should only consider working after dinner:
  • on the first night if we don't have a place to sleep and eat set up in time, or,
  • if an external dependency requires it (e.g. a delivery arrives) - rare, or,
  • if we are more than a day behind
• We do want to finish the public pavilion, DJ gear, and lights by Saturday midnight for our first party
• That said, if we get behind on everything else, most turtles will arrive on Saturday and with all that manpower we can finish things quickly.
  • As things fall behind just say "leave it for the turtles." They need some experience building anyway.

Teams

• I've attempted to divide the schedule into roughly three teams and each team will have a leader for the day.
  • Leader may change
• You can switch what team you are working on, or go help another team, if that makes sense. 
  • Sometimes a team is blocking on another team and they should just help the team they are blocking on. Use yer brains
• Every night we'll go over the plan for the next day and assign teams.
• We'll also assign chefs for the meals. Most of our meals are pretty easy to prepare but some take a few hours so those chefs may leave work early.

Turtle Spirit

• If you see a turtle doing something, just help them
• At the end of every meal, everyone swarms to clean up and nobody stops cleaning up until the dining area and RV kitchen are restored to their original glory
• Nobody should come into our camp without being greeted
  
• Keep the music going!
• Let's line up and cheer the arrivals when the bus gets in on Saturday