Death Valley experiences:

Our next stop was the small town of Pahrump, Nevada, nothing much in the town, a few small casinos and light industry, quite a few people trying to eke out a living in the mining industry but it was a good ½- way stop to our next destination. We stayed at the local Elks Lodge, met some friendly people and were able to enjoy a safe and inexpensive night.

Day # 91 – We arose with the sun and got on the road to Death Valley, we had heard that it had been about 103 degrees and windy the day before, so thought an early start would be good, get in our visit and get out of the heat as soon as possible. We were into the National Park by about 10:00am and enjoying some incredible sights. This area covers 3,336,000 acres; it is the largest national park in the lower 48 states (only Alaska has more park area). The variable terrain runs from the 11,049 foot Telescope Peak to 282 feet below sea level at Badwater Basin, driving through it, really was a grand experience. Our first stop was Zabriskie’s Point; boy what a view point, the amazing contrast in color of the peaks was like a post card. From there we went on into Mesquite Springs, a primitive campground down in the valley. Being the only ones there we took a nice big site with a great fire ring. After a bit of a lunch break, we headed out to see Ubehebe Crater, ½ mile wide crater formed 3000-5000 years ago when groundwater became trapped deep inside the earth and surrounded by molten rock was super heated. Instead of the magma erupting; the steam exploded forming a crater rather than a mountain. A pretty big hole in the ground! Scotty’s Castle was the next point of interest. This beautiful place really is named the Death Valley Ranch. It was built from 1922 to 1933 by the Chicago millionaire Albert Johnson as a winter retreat. The Mediterranean-style hacienda (not really a castle) is set on an oasis with a spring that provides more than enough water for the home and its grounds. The tour that we took gave us an overview of the Johnson Family who owned the property and the incredibly colorful character Walter Scott aka Scotty. We spent about an hour walking around and through the beautifully appointed “castle”. Certainly is amazing what a bit of money can buy you, in the 1920’s out in the middle of “No Where”.

We returned to camp and enjoyed the afternoon; the weather was unseasonably cool, only mid 80’s, dry heat and very little wind, by mid afternoon. Sitting in the shade of the MoHo we took in the beauty of the desert. We enjoyed the peace, quiet and the wildlife??? We saw at least 3 roadrunner birds; they looked almost like the cartoon characters jogging ziggy zaggy from one little patch of sage brush to the next. Many jack rabbits and their little ones were running about our campground, catching Guinness’s earnest attention. The SSSSSSSSSNAKES caught Karen’s attention. Right outside our MoHo door there was a 4 foot (maybe not quite that long?) long sand snake was laying in the sand, it quietly slipped away into the bushes and I thought it was going to be gone. So while Mike and Guinness were off exploring the desert, Nigel and I settled down outside. The boys returned from their walk to see Karen having some sort of hissy-fit: crawling under her chair and right next to Nigel’s butt was the SSSSNAKE!! OMG: too close for this camper. It kept going, to the bushes across the way and we all relaxed; sort of, kind of. Ok, ok, I know this is the desert; this is their place, but what about being more afraid of me? All was quiet for a bit, we all settled back down. Then to bring life back into the party SSSSSnake # 2 shows up, now this is getting to be too much. Mike bravely goes over and coaxes this critter back into the bushes, but as the slippery dude goes in, he climbs up 18-24”, now Karen thinks, oh jeeze it can crawl up on my chair, into the MoHo ------- Oh well as you can see I am not a real outdoors woman (even thought I was a Girl Scout), as much as I might try, give me clean, critter free cement. But we all survived and lived to write this tale. Seriously after all the excitement we (Karen) calmed down, it was a wonderful evening, great campfire, lots of stars in the clear sky.

We are really bringing this adventure to a close, heading to Reno for our last 4 nights, spending Memorial Day Weekend less than 300 miles away from home. It will be time to do some reminiscing of all of the great experiences we have had, and I am sure that Mike is already starting to plan the next great get-away.