I stopped for a refuel in Baker; it's one of those odd places on the edge of the desert, just lots of petrol stations & a couple of food joints. Admittedly, I felt a certain sense of trepidation before driving into Death Valley. I had visions of conking out miles into the middle of nowhere, & no one discovering the desiccated corpse for a long time to come, like one of those old movies where the bleached bones of a skeleton lies alongside the road pointing at something long gone in the distance.
What kind of preparation do you do, for driving miles into the middle of nowhere? Top of my list was water. A 24 pack of bottles shoved in the boot, alongside my backpack. Some food to keep me going, I'm thinking survival here. Survival, with a bit of variety thrown in. I bought a bumper pack of granola bars. 3 flavours, 24 in the box, that should be enough to keep me going. Variety is important, so I also bought a box of chewy granola bars, just for to mix it up a bit...
Deep breath, & a left turn along the Highway 127 towards Death Valley Junction. 109 miles, 2 hours. Gloria's running really well, she feels content, just humming along at 60mph. It's not a fast road, a bit rough in places, besides, it's not like we're late for an appointment, so why hurry?
There's a really quirky opera house at Armorosa, run by an old lady who has been putting on performances since the 1960's.... It's right up there as 'only in America'...
It takes a couple of hours, with some stops along the way for pictures. When I arrive, the sun has begun to set behind the mountains, but it gives me enough time for a look around & some dinner at the cafe there. I met this kid, I didn't catch his name, but he was sporting a cool t-shirt & shades, a Bob the builder measuring tape & a plastic pump action shotgun....
I went over to the motel before I headed off for a quick look around, don't ask me why.... Maybe I'll have some oddball desert holiday.... When I was driving through the desert, there were loads of RV's pulled over in a group with bunches of people riding quad bikes in circles. Exciting stuff... Anyway, I bumped into the kid with the shades, he's looking serious...
'Do ya have a knife?' He asks...
'Nope.... I don't have a knife'
He thinks for a second 'have ya got a credit card?'
'No, I don't have a credit card, why's that?'
'I'm trying to break into this room...'
I made my excuses, & left the little desert boy to carry on keeping himself occupied....
The sun was going down, & I wanted to get going to Las Vegas, where I was going to stay the night, 112 miles away. Driving towards Vegas, I spotted these signs on the side of the road, a couple of local councillors were up for re-election. I had to pull over just to make sure I wasn't seeing things....
Followed by.......
Eventually, I made it to Vegas. I'd booked I to a cheap room down on Fremont Street in the old part of town.
Minding my own business as I checked in, a guy from a group I'd seen in the garage queue in front of me looked over & asked:
'You drivin' the Porsche?'
'Yep.....'
'Its a beautiful car.... Hey guys! She's got the Porsche, we're hangin wi' you tonight!'
So, that was my evening booked, hanging out with a professional softball team, plus their wives & girlfriends, of course....
Day one, in total, I drove approximately 430 miles over 7 hours. I slept well.
(Actually photos from our cross-country trip going from East to West in the fall of 2008.)
