November 18, 2005

November 18, 2005

Pahrump, Nevada to Death Valley National Park, California & return

YEAR 2 DAY 154

 

Today was incredibly sunny, and hot. Joanne commented that she had never seen the sky so brilliantly blue. I guess that was partly, if not mostly, due to where we were.

This morning after regular morning routines and chores, and preventive maintenance, I phoned our contact at New Mexico State Parks about our campground host application / referral. She wasn't at her desk, so I left a message. For most of the rest of the day, we were out of cell phone range, so I'll phone her back again on Monday.

We headed off for a day trip to Death Valley National Park. First stop was Terrible's Casino, RV Park, and Gas Bar to refill with diesel. Eclectic business ! Following the directions given to us by the office here at Pair-A-Dice SKP Co-op, we drove a short distance north on Hwy. 160, then turned west on Bell Vista Ave. It was about 60 miles / 100 km. across the Mojave Desert to the entrance to Death Valley National Park. On the straight, flat road across the desert, I couldn't resist "flooring" it, and seeing what Dee-Dee is capable of. Whew ... wouldn't have thought that a one ton diesel dually could do 160 km/hr. / 100 mph..

We spent the day driving around the south loop of Death Valley National Park, sightseeing. What an amazing place. Death Valley is in the rain shadow of the Panamint Mountains to the west, which stop all the clouds and moisture. There isn't a speck of white in the sky over Death Valley. The temperature today was in the 80's, which is a lot more pleasant then its summer time average of 120° F.. From the park entrance we drove west on Hwy. 190, through and over the Funeral Mountains to the Visitor Centre at Furnace Creek. We went inside the Visitor Centre and got some information about the park, then drove a very short distance to an oasis filled with date palms, where we had a picnic. While walking Bo, I picked up some fresh dates which had fallen from the date palms, and ate them after lunch. Cool ! This was the first of two oases we saw today. What a strange phenomenon. In the very few places where there is water in the desert, oases occur. The other one was at Texas Spring, not far from Furnace Creek.

We drove about another 60 miles, 100 km. south from Furnace Creek through the southern portion of Death ValleyNational Park. On the way, we drove around an 8 mile loop called Artist's Drive to see an area called Artist's Palette. The mountain is a variety of different vivid colours, because of the different minerals. From there we drove to a dry salt lake called Devil's Golf Course. The surface is made up of crystallized salt formations, looking like miniature white mountains standing a few inches high. Next stop was Badwater, a saline pool where a small amount of ground water makes its way up to the surface of a dry salt lake. So named because horses and burros crossing Death Valley refused to drink there.

I was tired by then, so Joanne took over the driving. We finished our sightseeing drive through Death Valley, and exited the south end of the park, onto Hwy. 178 to Shoshone. At Shoshone we turned east on Hwy. 372, and drove about an hour back to Pahrump. We stopped at Ace Hardware and I bought the half inch quarter round moulding I need.

Back at the trailer at Pair-A-Dice, Joanne worked on preparing supper while I worked on today's accounting, and some other records keeping. After we had supper, I walked Bo and he got hurt. I think he bumped his nose into a Cholla ( pronounced "choya" ) Cactus in a flower garden. I worked on today's journal entry while watching TV. We're both tired from our day out in the intense sun. And I'm still feeling a bit run down from having a cold.

DSK