Tuesday, Sep 4: Drove through Death Valley.  Okay, that’s out of the way.  It’s unusual and very desolate.  I first backtracked south to get on the Badwater road.  Navi did not want me on that road.  For 20 miles she kept telling me to make a u-turn.  But it was a nice drive.  For 37 miles I saw no one, passing no cars.  Apparently, other Navis had the same idea.  Upon reaching Badwater (elevation -282) I encountered many people driving south to get there.  It’s a weird place.  Lots of warnings about the heat.  Lots of the visitors are foreigners.

Continued my drive as the temp rose.  Helped a couple who had dropped their bike.  I was able to get out of the Valley by 11, so the hottest I saw was only 100.  Overall, it was sweepingly large, but nothing I’d not seen elsewhere.  It’s not going on my list of places people REALLY should visit in the USA.  That list holds at five.

The rest of the drive was routine.  At Mono lake I saw a flashing sign warning of the road being closed at Bridgeport (my destination) due to fire.  I had this image of my hotel going up in flames. But no.  There’s a fire north of town.  I’m not taking that road tomorrow, so I don’t care.

My hotel tonight is also haunted.  My room number is the same.  Spooky.  No opera house, but it does have a restaurant and bar.  Hooray!

Badwater

It’s translated into several languages. I was there at 9:30, but I still didn’t walked out there.

Way up the cliff is this sign, which reads . . .

This is supposed to be a beautiful colored rock formation. Not today.

This is a one way road. Didn’t learn of this until the end. I was terrified at every turn.

This looks very strange. I didn’t appear so odd when I took it.

I love these comical historical signs.

My room is top left.