Boring, Boring, Boring !!! Well, I guess they have to have some
straight bits to link up all the wiggly ones !!! But the road from Death Valley to Las Vegas
will not go down in the annals of history as one of the “must drive” roads in
this world !! But considering that was the first boring bit I have encountered,
I will forgive it.
Actually it started out brilliantly. After another beautiful sunrise over the campsite, and a leisurely breakfast and pack up of
the tent etc (it is only 3 hours or less to Vegas), I went down to the Furnace
Creek resort to get on email and check the weather forecasts. Then got going about 10.30 am, and I had
hardly got into 5th gear before a sign said “Zabriskie Point”, and
from the number of cars there, it must be worth seeing. So had not even finished listening to my
first (and favourite) Van Morrison song
(Tupelo Honey) for the day and I had to shut everything down again and go into the car park !
Set off walking up the customary hill, and came up behind a lady
with a bike-meet logo on the back of her T shirt, so I passed the comment “You
don’t look like the kind of lady to ride a Harley Davidson”. The retort quickly came back – “Actually I do
!!!”. So we got chatting and it turned
out she has a Harley Trike, tows a small trailer, and has been to Alaska on it
!! So you can imagine that was all the
information I needed to start plying her with questions about road conditions,
and frost heave and all sorts of other things I can expect. Her name was Pat, and I shan’t mention her
age as that would be unfair, but she called me a “young pup”, so you can
imagine roughly which side of my age she might be !! She does Geocaching while travelling, which I
have never heard of, but when I mentioned it to a friend later it seems I must
be one of the few who hasn’t !! Will
need to get onto Google later and find out the details. I enclose a photo of Pat taken at the Bad
Lands of Zabriskie Point – I wish we had been travelling in the same direction
because it was great chatting to her. I
wish you all the best for your summer travels on the bike Pat, and hope we might
meet up again somewhere to chat for a bit longer. Just one of those short
meetings in time when you know you have met a very special person on this
earth.
Then a couple of girls came up and asked if that was my
car in the car park – because one of them was from Brisbane !! Over here for a
month’s holiday, they had hired a convertible Mustang for their trip – and
still had the roof up !! Needless to say
I set them straight on the Cooper roof protocol, and they soon sent on their
way topless and smiling !! Enjoy your holiday, girls !
Anyway, in addition to all the friendly people there,
Zabriskie Point was pretty spectacular I must admit. When I got on the road again, the road out of
the rest of the Park was pretty interesting with gorges and windy bits and lots
of hills. But once I got to Death Valley
Junction, and Hwy 127 north, there was NOTHING.
Just straight road after straight road divided up by junctions with other
highways. And the final 80 miles into Vegas on 95 was really supremely boring,
without anything to even look at or consider stopping for ! So I just turned up
my music and settled back and ate an apple, and cruised down the road at 65
mph. No point in hurrying. Cops went past me and didn't even look twice at me
! Yet to be stopped, but I know it will
come soon !!
The camp site in Vegas is pretty dismal, with permanent
trailer homes everywhere, and not the most delightful neighbourhood. But the weather is so gorgeous (now 6 pm and
sitting out by my tent leaning against a tree doing my blog) I just can’t stay
in a motel or hotel. I am starting to
really enjoy camping out, albeit I am not keen to do it in the rain. But it has been over 40 years since I was
last in a tent, and you forget how gorgeous it can be. The stars in the Death Valley sky were
unbelievable as there are no cities nearby to pollute the atmosphere with light
or smog. Sometimes in the rush of life
you forget just how many stars there are up there.
More pics here https://picasaweb.google.com/117739775480775657932/DeathValleyToLasVegas?authkey=Gv1sRgCMqv1JT6uri06gE#
A couple of the local Las Vegas Lotus lads have contacted
me and we are going out for lunch tomorrow, and then I plan to stay in Vegas
tomorrow night and look around a bit before going on to Zion NP and then a scenic
drive through the Grand Staircase NP on Hwy 12.
I don’t have to be in Colorado until the 27th, and Tom Tom tells me it is only 742 miles
from here, so an easy 2 day drive, so I can spend couple of nights here, a couple in Zion, and
a couple in Hwy 12, and still have a day up my sleeve. Will see what the
weather is like. It looks like about 120 more miles of boring freeway, and then
into the mountains which I can see in the distance, and I am SO looking forward
to. More on Vegas and all my winnings tomorrow !!!
