First of all, I heartily applaud your decision.
IMHO, it's really hard for people to get from Philly out to the playa.
I'll defer to anyone else, because I've only gone once, but my suggestion is to hook up with Green Tortoise. You can fly into San Francisco and they take care of meals and transportation to/from the playa.
www.greentortoise.com/adventu...val.html

I've no idea what it's like to camp with them.
I would go to BurningMan.com and read absolutelyfukn everything. There's a survival guide, there are forums. There's so much to know, it's really unlike anything else I've been to. You still won't really know what to expect, but one could write a book on essential stuff. Right now you might not think of bringing 4 dust masks and goggles with you, but when we get back, you'll know.

Best of luck. I was going to suggest that you buy a motorcycle & trailer and make 3 months trip out of it, but then I saw that you're not driving.

Hi Leon,

I'm the Philadelphia regional contact for Burning Man. Check out the resources page here:

mysite.verizon.net/~playa19...burn.html

Let me know if you have any questions.

Andy