May 19 -Back on the Road!

A LONG Day! We rose before our 5:30 am alarm to get ready to fly back to Las Vegas. We had no issues in the morning, and we appreciate Riley taking us to the airport. The flight left just a little late and we arrived in Vegas on time, 9:50am local time, but 12:50pm EDT.

From there we caught a cab to the Grandview where we had left our car in the parking deck. There were no issues there and we were off towards Death Valley around 10:30 am.

Our first stop was Pahrump, NV, where we got a charge to top off our range in order to make it through Death Valley National Park and to our next charging opportunity. It was right next to a Burger King, and Pahrump was really small, so we decided we would eat at BK. BK wasn't as bad as we thought, and we were on our way. 

We headed to Death Valley through Shoshone, CA so we could hit many of the main sights on our way to the Visitors' Center to keep from backtracking. We didn't see anything really interesting until we reached the basin - the true Death Valley. It was a surreal landscape with the valley covered in white salt. We reached the stopping point and had a walk out into the valley. Temps reached as high as 105 while we were in the park, but as they say, it's a dry heat (which I like to point out that ovens are a dry heat, too!). It was similar to a 95-degree day back in NC since the humidity was so low.

Badwater Basin and the Salt Flats

Leon walked a long way out onto the salt flats, but I was sensible and retreated to the car pretty quickly.

We continued on to drive through Artist Point. It was cool to see the many colors in the mountains.

These 3 pictures are different views of Artist Point, which gets its name from the many colors that it displays.

From there we headed to the Visitor's Center where we watched a movie and got more information. 

We made one last quick stop at an old Borax processing area. We were hot and tired, so we didn't stay long. From there we made the long drive east and south out of the park.

Our next stop was Trona, CA for a charge and possible dinner. There was nothing worth eating there, so we just hung out during the charge and then headed to Ridgecrest for dinner. With a long drive still ahead of us, we got Arby's to go and got back on the road (I can't remember when we have ever had fast food for 2 meals). During the next drive we could see all the renewable energy in California as we saw acres of solar panels and hundreds of windmills.

We made it to the Kern River Campground just after dark and immediately set up the car and went to bed. We could hear the river near us but could not appreciate it in the dark. Our day ended 17 hours after it started!