Live Oak - Drying Questions

[Ews]

Perhaps against my better judgment, I am making a sandbox for my kids out of live oak (Q. virginiana). I also am going to try to do something with the remnants of that log, and finally plan on re-decking my trailers with some 6/4" at a later date.  A couple questions.  The first two are really the most immediate, the others I'll know the answers in a year or three anyway even if no-one has them now.     

1) Is its rot resistance predicated on being dried down before being placed in ground contact? I am planning to cut some 3" x ~8-9" x 7' sections, sink them 2" with the flat dead edge (all heartwood) down and a live edge up (maybe an inch of sapwood), and fill with 4" sand. I've seen live oak branches in the woods, but I don't know whether those died and dried on the tree before dropping to the ground; if it were rot resistant in all cases, I would actually expect to see more live oak skeletons in the woods. 
2) If they do need to be dried first, does anyone have pictures of what has happened to live oak they've kiln dried or just allowed to dry in an exposed location? We're talking about a sandbox and trailer decking, so I don't care about major checking, but I've read descriptions of the wood "exploding", which I take to mean being rendered useless (plus it sounds like it involves lots of splinters - not good for a sandbox). 

3) On the remainder of the wood from this piece (2" and 3" x 12" - 22" x 7') I am just going to end-seal, sticker, and stick in a dark corner of the warehouse, maybe even drape with a canvas tarp. Is that the best approach? I assume even after that time it would still require additional drying to really get it down. Is there a MC threshold at which thick-cut live oak can be put in a conventional dry kiln without significant damage? If so, what is that threshold?
4) For 6/4" x 6"-8" trailer decking - again, don't care about checking.  Air dry for a year then install, or would immediate installation be acceptable given appearance is not a concern? 
5) My mill mainly focuses on heart pine flooring and, again perhaps against better judgment, I can't help but be curious about live oak flooring.  Has anyone has successfully dried 4/4" x 3" or 4" live oak into an finishing-grade board?  Is the process the same - long slow air-dry, or can it take kilning right from green?
6) For those with experience drying live oak, how long does it take for the wood to give an indication of whether it is happy with it's drying conditions?  I've had some other pieces of live oak I was just playing around with (~3" x 7" x 6') sitting around the warehouse for a month or two and there has been zero checking.  Haven't checked moisture recently, but it's been there long enough that I would have expected it to start to come down a bit on the surface at least.
7) Experience drying w/ solar kiln or dehumidification kiln (neither of which I have, but am curious about)?

Many thanks.