It was raining and cool in the Valley of Fire when we woke up and it remained stormy the rest of the day changing from rain to snow as we drove into higher elevations.
Back on I5 we crossed a corner of Arizona and went into Utah where we stopped at a coffee shop in St. George to buy plane tickets for our upcoming trip to Asia. As always, when using public wifi, we also used a private VPN service to keep our information secure. Continue reading Snow in Jacob Lake 11.04.2015
We went to the Furnace Creek Visitor Center to check on road conditions and the camper just barely fit under the covered parking. Most roads were still closed from the flash floods including CA 178 south of Badwater where 10 miles of pavement and roadbed were destroyed. The damage was so extensive, it took almost a year to repair. Continue reading Badwater, Dates & Tecopa 11.02.2015
We took a last hot shower and soak then washed some clothes at the communal sinks. We were sad to leave but needed to move east again. Saline Valley was a great experience with friendly campers, informal disbursed campsites, exceptionally clean vault toilets, and eccentric art. There is no potable water or trash removal. Continue reading Texas Springs Campground 11.01.2015
We went for a dawn soak in the Sunrise Pool, the upper pool at the lower springs, and met four people there who entertained us with stories of petroglyphs, local history, and clothes stealing donkeys. We were one of the few newcomers at the springs where many campers had been coming for more than 30 years. Continue reading Halloween in Saline Valley 10.31.2015
I dreamed that the wind kept blowing for days and we were trapped in the camper and laid in bed reading books. The wind did stop by the morning and we awoke with a wild donkey braying outside our window and a naked man taking a video of it. This must be hippie heaven! Continue reading This Must Be Hippie Heaven 10.30.2015
The wind was still howling when we woke up and we were grateful that the damp dunes reduced the amount of blowing sand.
Our destination was Saline Valley and since the north road was still closed we drove back down to Big Pine then south to Lone Pine and the Eastern Sierra Interagency Visitor Center to check the weather report and road conditions (there is no cell service in Death Valley). From there we took CA 136 to CA 190 into Death Valley National Park and the south road to Saline Valley. Continue reading The Long Way to Saline Valley 10.29.2015
With the perfect vehicle to explore the hundreds of miles of unpaved roads in the huge and varied Death Valley National Park we headed for Eureka Dunes. Our choices for backcountry travel on this trip were limited by the recent 1,000 year rains and subsequent flash floods that washed out many roads including paved state highways. Today we passed the closed Fish Lake Valley and Saline Valley roads and the Big Pine Road was closed just beyond the Eureka Valley turnoff. Continue reading Eureka! Dunes That Is 10.28.2015
We arrived at Capitol Reef National Park and secured one of the last campsites in Fruita, a former fruit producing homestead. The campground has spacious level paved sites but felt crowded and too civilized after spending last night alone. Continue reading Capitol Reef Wow! 10.17.2015
