A motorhome on the playa in Black Rock Desert, Nevada.

Black Rock City, home to Burning Man, is a pedestrian-friendly place. Most people get around by bicycle or on foot. The few vehicles that do exist look nothing like actual cars. Called art cars or mutant vehicles, these creations look more like pirate ships, or fire-breathing dragons, or Mad Max-inspired apocalyptic machines. 

An art car is defined as a vehicle that looks nothing like an actual car. Most still have four wheels. Many are gas-powered. They still transport people and things. But after that, the vehicle is a canvas for creativity. 

And yet, even art cars still have to travel on highways and roads to get to Burning Man. 

Last weekend, as travel ramped up for Burning Man, California Highway Patrol issued a warning on Facebook about "unusual vehicles" traveling on Interstate 80 eastbound toward the Nevada desert. The alert was talking about art cars en route to Burning Man, the Sacramento Bee reported. 

Vehicles destined for Black Rock City, home to Burning Man, are easy to spot on Interstate 80 in the days leading up to Burning Man and after. Look for vintage RVs with five or six bicycles mounted to the roof, for old-school Volkswagen buses, for caravans of trucks and SUVs packed to the brim with gear. U-Hauls are often carrying Burning Man cargo, too. (U-Haul sells decal kits to protect the exterior of their vehicles from the playa's dust and charges cleaning fees that range from $250 to more than $2,500.) 

Often, these rickety vans, RVs, cars and contraptions have trouble making the journey to Black Rock Desert, which is a 3-hour drive north of Reno in a remote corner of Nevada. Those traveling from California have to power their vehicles up Donner Pass, reaching an elevation of 6,200 feet, the Sacramento Bee reported.

"If you want to make it to Burning Man in your creative contraption," CHP wrote on Facebook, "ensure you are not over length, height, or width, top of your fluids, check your tires, and bring a spare tire and extra fluids. Also, make sure everything is properly secured so we don’t end up with any decorations littering our beautiful mountain pass."

Already, some art cars haven't completed the journey. One metallic contraption was captured on the side of the road, rolled over, in the middle of the sagebrush flats before the gates to Burning Man. 

Julie Brown is a contributing editor at SFGATE. She covers Lake Tahoe and writes about mountain communities throughout the West. Brown grew up on Tahoe's West Shore.