Trip Report: Las Vegas, Yosemite, Death Valley – October, 2003 Part 2. Yosemite and Death Valley Next on the travel agenda was a day trip west of Lee Vining to Yosemite – steep, winding roads precluded taking Tuzigoot into the park for an overnight stay. Neither of us had been there before and we were truly awed by the sights. You can’t see them in the pictures, but there were climbers on El Capitan and Half Dome, two of the prominent promontories in the valley.
Next we headed south for Death Valley. Not far from Lee Vining, though, we passed through the pleasant town of Bishop, CA. Caught a glimpse of an interesting bakery and delicatessen, then a nice-looking campground. Then, about five miles down the road I said, why don’t we go spend the day and night back there? We’ve got no rigid agenda or schedule to meet. So we turned around and went back, after a grueling two hours on the road. Great lunch at the deli; some sightseeing at the nearby Laws Museum, commemorating an early days railroad in this area; pleasant campground in a grove of cottonwoods. All in all, a nice spontaneous stop.
Death Valley Road in to Death Valley was exciting – very steep, winding descent, then a long, steep climb over a ridge – we disconnected and Susie drove the PT to ease the load on Tuzi – then another descent in to DV. Very austere, magnificently desolate scenery, but the heat, 100 deg even in mid-October, was probably the most memorable part of the trip. I was determined to spend the night there, so we pulled into a large, sparsely populated campground. This was dry-camping – no electricity or water. We had ample water on board and could run generator until 9:00pm; after that we sweated. Susie spent the night in a seat up front, trying to catch any breath of air that might happen by. It was a good thing that the night in Bishop meant that we would spend only one night in Death Valley. The night’s highlight, though, was that we discovered that one cluster of campers was a regular group that came year after year, and their thing was bluegrass and gospel music. They linked various generators together to power amps and speakers, then put on a great concert. Turns out they were rehearsing for a benefit concert in November, when this campground fills up. The concert is to raise money for an Indian tribe in the region. In chatting with one of the singers, she mentioned that her husband, the keyboardist, was just recovering from a heart attack. Weren’t sure they would make it out this year, but here they were. Susie asked, What happens if he needs medical attention? Well, they’d probably fly in a helicopter to take him out. The show must go on!
From Death Valley it was just a short jaunt back to Vegas for another football game, then home. In our Christmas letter we noted that while New Zealand was spectacular, there were great sights here at home – like Yosemite, Death Valley, and the Las Vegas Strip, all within a few days and miles!
Cheers. Rob and Susie

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