2008 was a watershed year for Exodus. We had what could arguably be called the best Exodus ever, with wait times rarely exceeding 4 hours. Additionally, Exodus joined Gate and Perimeter to create the new and improved Gate, Perimeter and Exodus Department.
Why was Exodus so smooth this year? Very simply: YOU. Participants decided to leave Black Rock City in a steady stream from Friday through Tuesday, rather than most everyone trying to leave Monday morning, as usually happens. Perhaps this was due to the year-round efforts to educate participants about Exodus dynamics, or people leaving early because of Saturday’s brutal weather conditions, or it may have been a combination of both.
And while the Exodus team does as much as possible to make everybody’s exit smooth and safe (e.g. highway flaggers, evenly-spaced lanes and cones, constant traffic monitoring and status reports delivered to BMIR), the reality remains that we all have to leave via a rural Nevada Highway with a limited carrying capacity. No matter what, we’re still emptying a bathtub through a straw, and thus the quality of Exodus is most affected by people spreading out their departure times. The community did that in 2008, making for a great Exodus experience, and we hope to see people doing it again in 2009!
The biggest challenge that we face with Exodus is that we are always light on volunteers, making it very hard to run a smooth operation. We continue to encourage interested people to contact us with comments or suggestions. Your Exodus team is also working on ways to “Green the Exodus” in 2009. Those interested in helping with this effort can email exodus@burningman.com.
Submitted by
Seth Schrenzel