Motel 6 Beattydeath Valley

... The fact that it had once held a lake which has now almost completely disappeared gave it an eerie atmosphere.

As the more learned of you will already know, Death Valley is 282 feet below sea level and consequently the hottest place in the Western Hemisphere… We had thought it was hot on the afternoon we arrived but that was nothing to the temperatures we experienced the following day… 110oF or 44 C… We attempted a short walk ...

... ude mit gesamter Einrichtung....Und auch für mich war es noch interessant, habe einiges vergessen oder damals nicht gesehen.

Nach diesen beiden Tagespunkten ging es für uns wieder ins Auto zurück und wir fuhren Richtung Death Valley nach Beatty. Die Strecke war fantastisch (Maxi). Der erste Teil war wie Achterbahn fahren, ein auf und ab auf gerader Strecke. Echt wie wilde Maus ;-) Im ...

... is 86 metres below sea level, the lowest elevation in the US. We had a look around the National Park Museum and headed out to the sand dunes. We then drove onto Bakersfield for the evening.

We are then heading up to San Francisco and Los Angeles for our final week in the US.

... view compared to the surrounding desert. Green grass, huge tropical trees, and a set a Spanish-style houses.
A quick jump to the visitor center and you learn that Scotty was in fact a daring gold seeker, who established his house above the gold ore present in the area.
Having no time to loose on a quirky gold digger, we quickly carried on toward the south with the idea of finding some gas in StovePipe Wells.
Before our eyes was the dead but ...

... the wagons that the 20 mules used to have to lug to the nearest rail station 125 miles away. And they paid their Chinese workers £1.30 a day - no real change there then! Onwards we turned off before Stovepipe Wells and up through Death Valley Wash with the Grapevine Mountains to our right. Just before Scottys is a Ranger station and a booth (was unmanned) for checking if you have bought your DV entrance pass. The pass (small green piece of paper you put in your ...

... as we were up so early. Even with the aircon on full, the temperature inside the RV did not drop below 80F. At 5pm we ventured out to the gift shop to have a look at the local tourist tat for sale. We then headed off out in the RV (I even remembered to disconnect the electrics and water connections first) and we went up to Zabriski Point a few miles south of FC for sunset. There is a car park with a short walk up to ...

... was men behoorlijk anti-Obama, uiteraard hebben we wat stickers als 'Nobama' meegenomen. Het was echter best interessant om te horen hoe men in de VS tegen wapens aankijkt, wij en die jongens bleken hetzelfde idee te hebben over het stellen van kritische vragen...dit is een slecht plek om het te vragen :P...Alfred wilde wel eens voelen hoe zwaar zo'n machinegeweer is, nou heel even mocht 'ie het vasthouden (officeel mocht dan namelijk niet). Terwijl we zo praten over het ...

... Given there was nothing else we tried our luck at the restaurant. Good it was cheap ($20 for both of us) as the food was "crrrrrrrap". Our initial idea was to stay at the camping at Death Valley for the experience of camping at a desert....but as expected we chose not to given the experience consisted of bloody lots of heat, not shade and no showers. There were a few tents there but it dd not attract our "enjoyment factor". Cheerio for now

... not sure why and I don't think the driver of the car did either, because as "remain in the vehicle with your hands on the wheel" boomed through the megaphone, he almost jumped out of his skin. That night it was back to the casino and "Rita's Cafe". As we walked into the restaurant, I overheard one of the waitresses who was there the night before whisper in a loud voice that she bet we were about to order a diet coke each. Even though that was the drink I wanted, I felt obliged ...