Pismo on the 4th?? You crazy. Bring ear plugs, a strong sleep aid, tourniquets and splints, some sort of blood clotting agent for deep wounds, a shotgun, natural ice (i.e. currency), tow straps, bullhorn, spotlight, tazer, rope, condoms, astroglide, chains and padlocks, shovel, at least two bags of lime, ice pick, hydrogen peroxide in a spray bottle, latex gloves aaaaand I guess that should do it.
Should about cover it.
OP, 'busy' doesn't cover a holiday weekend at pismo. it is fucking chaos.
Which pretty much means elbow to elbow camping on the beach for say the first 1/2 mile up into the dunes... But its a blast, where else will you see a few million dollars worth of assorted RV's and vehicles parked in salt water? Always funny is the RV bus buried above its axles and 2 or 3 trucks all hitched to each other trying to pull 40klbs out of wet sand.
Grab a roll of yellow plastic emergency tape - it's useful for stringing a fence around your camp to stop people just riding through it (they do). If you think you can make the haul up into the dunes a little, you get out of the crowds for a little more space. Note this is exactly when you need that tape!!
Always windy during summer at pismo - a couple of pieces of thin plywood placed on the windward side of your rv/truck wheels helps stop the wind moving sand from under the wheels - this effect is funny, I've seen rigs buried up past the axles having not moved an inch all weekend. Also get used to sand in your burgers/coffee/etc/etc.
Tow straps. Make sure you have em. Everyone gets stuck down there at least once. Guys like me will hook up my truck and tow you out for a smile, others want cash, I always used to go with 2-3 families so we took care of ourselves mostly.
You will need to air down to get off the hardpack/wet sand near the water. aim for about 12-14psi. You will get stuck if you don't air down. Don't over do it, you don't want the tire off the rim, that creates another set of problems. Having a short bottle jack and pieces of 2x4 is useful for a tire change. Oh, and a couple of those folding camp shovels.
If you have a decent compressor, take it. Otherwise there are guys on the beach who will fill you up for $.
Please don't bring glass containers and note that burning pallets on the campfire (or anything with loads of nails in it) is prohibited - we don't need all the nails left behind on the beach.
Been about 3 years since I was last down there - the 'river' you need to ford on the way in/out can range from 'meh' to
[youtube]7MZUw7irlmc[/youtube]
depends on the tides - if it looks gnarly just grab a cold one and wait a little.
Lastly have fun and ride safe, remember you will be sharing the dunes with drunks, assholes and many newbs in rental rails. Riding at night under a full moon is insanely awesome fun, just remember fresh wind cut dune faces tend to drop off, vertically wheeeee
. Seriously though, not airing down enough is the #1 reason peeps get stuck. Keep you momentum up on the sand, look ahead and plan for large turns, try not to make tight turns on the sand. g'luck.
j/k/j/k I wish you the best.
so I usually just put a little fresh water in to run the sink and then use the grottypotties on site.
