Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

[Deviant Ollam]

There's been talk of it for a while now, but i thought it would be good to make an official poll vote here (combined with my emailing folks who have attended the shoot in the past, etc)

Many people don't get into town until very close to DEFCON, so Thursday morning has historically been the time of the DC Shoot in recent years. (Long ago the event was actually Saturday morning because people didn't arrive early at all for DEFCON.)

However -- both due to the early hour as well as the encroachment against the rest of Thursday happenings -- we've been discussing the potential for something to happen Wednesday around dusk. Since we pay for the table and tent rentals on a 24-hour basis, i could have them set up around 3 PM and let the Wednesday shoot happen maybe around 5 or 6.

I'm starting this forum poll to see people's interest in either time. PLEASE take note of the two types of categories, since i'm trying to gauge who thinks Weds or Thurs is simply a "good idea" versus who would actually pay and attend on either time slot.

You can vote in multiple columns, since it's alright to show your support for both options even if you'll only attend one time slot, or support one idea if you're personally planning to attend the other, etc.

Let's see how thin shakes out.

[wrøng!]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

Good idea. I cast my votes.

[RoboHak]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

I think both days would be good, if possible. The downside to having it on Wednesday would be that some people may be coming into Vegas Wednesday night, but not arrive before dark. The Hackbus would be one good example of this. I plan to drive from the SF Bay Area as well, and it is about a 9 hour drive. I would have to leave very early in the morning on Wednesday to be able to make the shoot at 5pm. I think an evening shoot would be a lot of fun, but I'm not sure if I would be able to get there in time.

I may also be interested in camping out there Wednesday night as has been discussed here on the forum. Is that something that might happen?

[Zorlac]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

I`d sign up for both options, and have voted such...

[xor]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

Being from a flat mountainless region, how quickly does it get dark in the canyon?

xor

PS Rides offered as usual

[TheCotMan]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

Being from a flat mountainless region, how quickly does it get dark in the canyon?

xor

PS Rides offered as usual

Google Maps to point on road where you lake a left turn to park=http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Hotel+Rio+Dr&daddr=Lovel l+Canyon+Rd&hl=en&geocode=FRYUJwIdaWIi-Q%3BFWbEJgIdkJwc-Q&sll=36.116054,-115.187584&sspn=0.004394,0.009538&vpsrc=6&mra=dme& mrsp=0&sz=17&ie=UTF8&t=h&ll=36.080182,-115.355072&spn=0.281355,0.610428&z=11 or if you trust me to shorten this URL: http://preview.tinyurl.com/88wfccr

Google maps (with that route) estimated about 51 minutes. If I recall correctly, this is pretty close to what I've experienced: from 45 minutes to 1 hour to get there, and roughly equal time to get back.

Construction on their highways and surface streets pretty much makes any pre-planning for route to take to get there, difficult to plan in advance. If you have a GPS device, try that. If your GPS device replies on phone data carriers with G1, G2/Edge, G3, etc. don't expect reliable data service out in the desert, though availability will vary depending on which service provider you use.

[Edit: Ah, it looks like I did not answer the right question.]

The large backstop that exists to the west of the firing line may cause "sunset" (behind the backstop) to happen several hours before sunset in Las Vegas.

This Site says for July 25/26, 2012 that sunrise (from the east) is 5:43/5:44am and sunset 7:51/7:50pm. If you consider the backstop will take several hours off of this, depending on how close the line is to the backstop, I'd take away 3 hours from sunset to yield a sunset time of about 5:00pm when the sun "falls" behind the backstop while looking west from the firing line.

Even with an "earlier than normal" sunset, it would probably remain bright enough to keep shooting for another hour to hour-and-a-half, then present "sunset-like" brightness until the sun would no longer be visible, even if the backstop was not visible.

[wrøng!]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

if you trust me to shorten this URL: http://preview.tinyurl.com/88wfccr

Google provides their own URL shortening for the Maps products in case you didn't know :)

The "official" shortened URL for the map you posted is: http://g.co/maps/pfvju

[sintax_error]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

I'm casting it out for Wednesday. That's not, however, saying I wouldn't do Thursday. A few hours to kill is usually easier to come by for me on Wed than Thurs, and mornings and I have a long standing history of hating eachother.

[FirmWarez]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

I said both. No matter how Deviant plans on running the show, ShortGrrl and I are going to camp.

To be honest, I'm glad I'm not in his shoes. It's a tough call. Thursday means folks will be facing the long badge wait and possibly missing some events. I bet a lot of people come in Wednesday night, so that option is out for them. The altruistic path is "both", but that will be a lot of work.

Since this has been a public discussion, I'll toss out the question -- anyone else interested in camping? Feel free to pm me or start a discussion in a more appropriate location.

[wrøng!]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

I'm definitely interested in camping, however my group from KC has yet to decide mode of transport (air vs land) so I'm not even sure now if I'll be in LV before Thursday .

I guess we really need to figure out how we're getting there before I can speak on this.

[xor]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

Middle of no where, in the desert, darkness, guns, beer, all we needs is a giant effigy of a human to burn. Hmmm BurningCon, Defman, I like where this is going. Always wanted to combine Defcon & Burning Man. Night vision and tracer rounds for everyone. :-)

xor

[FirmWarez]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

. Night vision and tracer rounds for everyone. :-)

That's nearly a weekly thing around my place. There's a company out there that loads some great subsonic dim 9mm tracers. You want the dim ones; standard tracers really light up NV.

To make this more on topic, yes I will bring tracers for the Uzi.

[Bbox]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

That's nearly a weekly thing around my place. To make this more on topic, yes I will bring tracers for the Uzi.

I Bet you throw one hell of a party!!!!!!

[wrøng!]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

Party with tracers- That's the best kind of party. Just don't do it in the tall, dry grass.

[KingRat]

Re: Thursday morning or Wednesday night?

I really like the idea of the Wednesday night shoot. Making it there might be difficult. I'm lucky to get off the Thursday and Friday. I really like the idea of shooting on Wednesday though. That leave Thursdays mad rush for badges, DC101 and so forth available to attend. I have a lot of pros or cons to consider but I'm leaning towards Wednesday.