While its still fresh on your mind, what improvements do you think are needed for next year?

Louder sound system.

Possibly some other type of fuel.

More direction once at the event. After getting through the front gate, everyone just went where they wanted. I'm not sure where the restrooms or concessions were, but they weren't on my path to stack.

On a positive note, the buses were absolutely wonderful. 1,000,000% improvement from last year.

Most of the glitches this year were weather related.

Water soaked logs dont burn to well....however, more diesel, let it soak longer, and grey pots with a throwing arm

I'm just glad I drove out Friday to get a look at the surroundings before tonight. I saw where it was, how wet it already was, and then when the weather got worse I bought my rubber boots and tucked my jeans inside of them. This was definatly the dominant strategy tonight.

Improvements, direction would be good nobody had any idea where they going once past the gate.

Other than that the only thing I could think of would be to tell people to bring canoes and rafts in case it rains again. Dear lord the mud was AWESOME, but only because my feet were dry.

Louder sound system for sure! Mabe have an Aggie Band CD playing since we cant have the real thing.

Flamable liquid for sure! (And a working gas pump)

On site parking (I guess thats just the rains fault).

I think Im going to break out my old baseball cleats next year. Although that canoe was a good idea to.

yell leaders march in with torch

good job yall...you perservered despite th elements

I thought the yell leaders did march in with a torch. Maybe you mean for both of them to have one.

Good job guys. I'll agree with getting some greys with a throwing arm.

Not much to be done about the logs getting soaked for three days, but hey, it didn't fall before midnight.

Busses were so much better this year and scurity guards didn't act like jerks.

The girls behind me thought it should have been made out of ply wood but they wouldn't shut up during The Last Corps Trip and felt like shoving their faces in the mud. When people would tell them to rest they would jsut yell at them that you couldn't here anyway.

Overall, great job. Stack looked awesome and there isn't a whole lot you could do about it not burning.

P.S. There was a grey pot that was talking to some people on the edge of perimeter that said the reason the pump wouldn't work was because when they first started to move the trailer they kicked up mud all over the engine and the spark plugs wouldn't go.

The stack itself was GREAT and I had a good look at it for about 4 hours. I got there in tow with my 3 kids very early based on what I read people say about last year. My only request is to PLEASE be very specific about burn time so that those of us with families don't stand around for 4 hours. After waiting so long, we left right after it was lit because my kids were exhausted and missed all the good stuff.

Diesel is not a fast burning fuel, and we use diesel because it doesn't evaporate very quickly. Also, with the rain, we had to "soak like hell and light" before it would rain again (and wash our fuel away). I know they used jet fuel in the past, but that isn't a financially viable option at this time.

Definitely be more specific about what time it will burn. I had my 7/yo sister with me and after an hour and a half it was hard to keep her interested. We just kept telling her it would be worth it and then bribed her with going to see Spongebob Square Pants if she kept acting good (it worked too!) We had been standing there three hours before it was lit and had to leave soon thereafter like an above poster because my sister was exhausted.

We must have chose the right path because we found all the concessions, etc, but we got lucky. So yeah, better directions once on site would probably be a good thing.

And I agree, transportation was MUCH better.

Overall, great job guys. I didn't get to help with stack, only cut, and I'm looking forward to doing both next year!!!

The "jet fuel" on the old Bonfire was a myth. It was a mix of diesel (slow burn) and gasoline (quick to ignite).

A fish on hobbes was talking about "dirty" jet fuel used to ignite Bonfire. A.) That would be INCREDIBLY expensive B.) That stuff burns so fast it wouldnt do much of anything.

Amazing that an 08 kid is still buying the story.

In the 70's it was "jet fuel". Of course, that just meant kerosene...

as far as announcing an exact time, with our situation we are only able to be vauge. last year the time was announced and everyone figured an hour before at the mall to ride the bus was plenty. with our Dark thirty advertisement and the press knowing 9:08, we were able to tell people at the mall in line that 8:30 would assure watching the light and have no worries of a cluster fhk worth of last minute crowd demanding to see the lighting.

the fuel that was used on Bonfires of old was JP8. This was donated by the fire school who recieved it as a donation from the railroad. It was contaminated fuel which could not be used.

IDMA

The pump got lots of mud flung on it since we were already behind from earlier pump troubles and the direct route (the west exit to the bowl) was blocked by the property owner's pickup (who I couldn't find). We went around through the pits (thanks to everyone who whooped at us on the way). One of the firefighters on site gave us a hand and we got the pump running again. The fuel we pumped onto stack burned just like diesel should, but the sheets shouldn't have been nailed on so early and allowed to soak in the rain.

At the '89 bonfire, I could smell kerosine before it was lit. But, then again, I don't know what a mix of diesel and gas smells like.

I would probably favor the latter.

for a while it smelled kinda like kerosine last night too...

I remember that in one of previous Bonfires there were rolls of cloth soaked in fuel stuck in between logs. I think using these helps the stack ignite more quickly. It also seemed to put the fire on the outer logs.

If it is at Hot Rod Hill again next year maybe could put down lime to reduce the sloppiness (I know this was done after '94) and maybe gravel the parking lots. Everything seemed a lot smoother getting there and back was a breeze.

Find cut site before the fall semester starts!

Everything was great, but here's a couple...

1. Remind everyone that the traditon is that we want centerpole to stay up until AFTER midnight, so stick around. Just because the outhouse has burned off, doesn't mean that it's done.

2. Have the buses run past 12:00. See #1



Scott Coker '92/'95

Seeing how the weather would not cooperate at all, it was nice to have the firetrucks there with running water to wash some of the mud off, but i've still got mud from Hot Rod Hill in several places. O well, thats bonfire.

BTHOB! See you when it burns!

Direction would have been improved if we would have gotten to use the programs (included a map of the site) that I made that are still sitting at copy corner and were rendered useless due to the bottom of the sky falling out.

Glad to hear positives and know that the negatives were pretty much assoc w/ the rain. Other things like I have said are able to be fixed in one step @ a time.

I'm with Cokeman on this one, it would definitely have been nice to have the bus system running until at least 1:00 so there's not a mad dash to catch a bus before midnight.

I'd consider trying to divide the Burn-Day activities and the actual "Bonfire" duties between two groups.

Seth looked like his head was about to explode trying to manage both ends on Saturday, and though he did it well, it would probably be good for the future to have those duties split up (so someone isn't going nuts over something they shouldn't).

Plan. Plan. Plan.

There should be a master Gant Chart with Name/Task/DueDate put together for most major and minor tasks - for construction and the burn event - by next April.

Oh, and the "light it a more specific time" comments? C'mon, that Bonfire. It gets lit when it gets lit.

BTW, I'm and old fart with kids now too, so don't throw that at me.

Scott Coker '92/'95

The only comment I have would to be get rid of the dorm flags. There's no need to gloat about who built it. There's a reason dorm logs were turned into stack. Bonfire is bigger than any one dorm. That's why you never saw the names of dorms. The flags just seemed like cocky show-boating.

Instead of mud next year how about we fill the grounds with chocolate?

I second that Godot, and the girls have to wear bikinis when they grode.

why wear anything

YP97, the perimeter poles with dorm flags on them are a sort of reward for the dorms who have showed big improvement from the previous year or were badass in general. That's how I understand it, at least.

So we will get one next year then, Right Brown Eyes?!!!

Hell yah!

OC is going to kick ass more than it already does.

That's cool if you want to reward dorms, but do it during stack. Give dorms perimeter poles for stack, but clean up the site for the burn. That night is about the fire and all aggies, not any particular dorms. Besides, no one should have to be rewarded to work on Bonfire. Working on Bonfire is a reward all on it's own.