The first two pictures in this post are very interesting. The first is a pic of the Los Angeles Aqueduct Cascades, just east of the I-5 Freeway near the north eastern San Fernando Valley. The Cascades are the terminus of the Los Angeles Aqueduct, which brings water 338 miles (544 km) from the Owens Valley to Los Angeles. The second photo is of U.S. Air Force Plant 42. It shows another ‘aircraft boneyard’ with dozens of planes just sitting by the runway.
On to the real subject of this post, our trip to Death Valley. This route was in fact a last minute decision as we were originally going to stay in California to visit Yosemite National Park but a change of plans directed us through the Eastern Sierra Nevada mountains towards Las Vegas.
At this point let me say that the hues in the photos of these mountains is not enhanced but as usual the camera has diluted the true colours. The contrasts in earth colours is astounding as is first seen in the 3rd and 4th pics of Red Rock Valley and in the remaining geologic formations posted in this gallery.
After a hectic week battling L.A. traffic and guiding Karen and Stuey around the city sights we had to get away to somewhere more our speed. This led to a two day stopover in a poorly maintained RV park at Orlancha near Lone Pine that actually had tipis as a lodging option. Poorly maintained but restful for us. The weird thing about Lone Pine is that it is a western entry to Death Valley, one of the hottest spots on this planet yet standing in the street on a grocery run there was snow on the peaks just to the west of the town. Anyway after two quiet days we set off for Death Valley.
From this point in the gallery I have managed to label some of the photos and another interesting pic is of the interpretive sign displaying the mountain range and the height of the peaks within the range. I have labelled this with a reminder about our ‘Mt Kozzie’.
Now I don’t know about you but we always pictured Death Valley as being a flat featureless plain. Wrong! (The word “Valley” should have given it away.) The trip from here was one of the most spectacular journeys we have EVER taken. The very steep winding road down into the first valley and Panamint Springs was so steep that I had to pull over at one point due to the car’s brakes starting to overheat and smoke. Thankfully, (stand by for some modest, self-promotion here) my superior driving skills got us down the valley, over the next range and to our RV Park at Longstreet Casino in one piece. Thankfully it was a cold day by Death Valley standards at 106 degrees F (41 C).
Before reaching our RV Park we passed numerous sites of interest from the old abandoned Harmony Borax Works, the Mesquite Sand Dunes and an assortment of crazily coloured rock formations. In one photo there you may notice a bunch of temporary shade ‘huts’. These are from the USAF who were delving into the recent fatal crash of a Navy FA/18 fighter in the “Star Wars” valley. For more information read the story here.
Next group of photos are taken at the Longstreet Casino and RV Resort which is a not too big but pretty place in the desert on the border of California and Nevada at Amargosa. The two photos after the selfie of Shane and I with the moon in the background are taken from the steps of our RV. It’s a remarkable part of the country really. Next day we retreated back to Death Valley (without the van in tow) to take a closer inspection.
From the “Badlands” to the salt laden Badwater Basin, 85 metres below sea level, I cannot stress enough how beautiful the whole region is. Not the least pretty is the 9km loop through Artist’s Palette a most spectacular road where every bend reveals another ‘palette’ of brilliant hues. Then just when we thought it couldn’t get any better we drove up to Dante’s View, 5475 feet over the same road we had been on an hour earlier. WOW! What a view. I have run out of adjectives to describe this particular location. The long winding road up to the lookout was ‘challenging’ as is demonstrated by the photo showing 3 or 4 Hyundai/Kia cars (couldn’t tell which as they were disguised) being test run around the region. It was a glorious finale to a fantastic day.
Back at Longstreet we had one last swim before heading off to our next destination, Las Vegas. Only 17 miles down the road we filled the fuel tank at the famous Area 51 Alien Café. The pink business next door does a roaring trade but no word on which world their clients come from.
It was ‘thought-provoking’ from here through to Las Vegas that despite the US Government’s denial of anything strange happening in Area 51 that for the first time we could see towns that were not on our maps or GPS and as we passed one of these settlements complete with weird towers, landing strips and other non-recognisable structures our car radio lost all reception on an otherwise strong commercial radio station and we didn’t recover that signal for some 10-12 miles. We even spotted a large UAV (Drone for the non-military readers) taking off as another landed alongside the highway.
Anyway we reached Las Vegas and our new digs in plenty of time to set up and go shopping for long needed necessities. Pity was that that day (Thursday 15 August) was one off the hottest days this week and the forecast wasn’t really any improvement. More on that next post. For now I’ll sign off and post this blog to get as up to date as I can.
Cheers for now. Watch for the next post on Las Vegas.
Garry and Shane
Now you mention it after weve blown all our pension on the new wheels ……. Hmm Lotto this Saturday, hold the thought……………. Mates have ribbed me as to why the Jeep and not the RAM 1500, I have told them its an interim vehicle since the RAM would slug me $100K here I have to wait for a 2 yr old second hand one……
Well playing catch up on the last 2 and I certainly OD’d on pics for sure, some great shots as usual, will throw them up on the big screen so I can really enjoy the aircraft, love Phantoms and Chris will get sweaty palms with the cable car shots ………… Having lved near a coal fired power station years and years ago I would opt for the wind farms myself even though they blpt the landscape at least they don’t stink……………… Changes last week here saw a Yank take up residence in our Garage in the shape of a Grand Cherokee, our third one and replacing our Colorado tray back.
Mate, you are one of the few who would appreciate the offer but we will be ‘hibernating’ the 5th wheel & vehicle from (approx) Dec 2nd to June/July. It will be in storage at Las Vegas for that period. If you & Chris wish to use the rig for a holiday just let me know. I know you have the skill levels to handle the outfit so you are welcome to take it for a spin. There’s a few ‘admin’ things we’d need to sort (insurance etc) but for you there’d be no worries. Being at LV it is ideally positioned for a mid-west/californian holiday. just let me know.
Gaz