Today was a car day. We were up at 6.45 to make the round trip to the airport to return one rental car and pick up a new one........
One hour of driving later we were back at base Erica Court to pack all our gear ready for our third road trip. The first week we took the bikes but not the camping gear; the second week we took the camping gear but not the bikes; this time we needed the bikes, camping gear and since we were planning on a 3 week round trip all of our clothes. We managed to get everything in but it did mean that we couldn't both breathe out at the same time......
Next hard job was saying goodbye to Sherry and Rich for three whole weeks; they both very kindly assured us that we could come back at any time if we wanted to.
The rest of the day was spent in the car. The first hour and a half wasn't too as we drove east on 152 past Pacheco State Park and the massive San Luis reservoir but once we got onto 5 heading south it was incredibly boring and I found my eyes continually closing. I dozed on and off until we reached Bakersfield at around 1pm where we made a brief stop for coffee and a sandwich.
Another couple of hours driving and we arrived at Red Rock Canyon State Park where we had planned to camp overnight. The first negative factor was that the visitor centre was closed so we had to do self registration which meant paying with cash, and our cash reserves are getting fairly low. Secondly there was absolutely nothing there. We knew it was going to be basic, i.e no showers and whilst I can quite happily make do with the hole in the ground variety of toilet, I'm not too keen on not having any method of washing my hands, not even cold water. For this luxury California state charges $25 a night, more than half the cost of a pretty decent motel room with en suite, wi fi and breakfast.
We made the decision to drive on and "see wot 'appens". As we drove on up 14 heading north it soon became apparent that our lodging options were sparse. I had not been prepared for quite how isolated and desolate this area was. We would see a sign for a "town" but when we got there it would just be a gas station, maybe a store or a cafe and a few scattered houses.
When we got to the junction with 190 - the turning for Death Valley National Park - we had to make the decision whether to take it or continue on another 20 miles or so to Lone Pine which may or may not have somewhere we could stay. We decided to take 190 with the fall back plan that we could stay at Emigrant Camp in Death Valley if no other solution presented itself.
As we drove towards the mountains with a huge salt pan to our left there didn't appear to be anywhere for the road ahead to go but eventually we came to a junction and turned south to head into Death Valley. We were now on the route (in reverse) of the infamous Badwater Ultramarathon and as we descended over a 1000 feet in a couple of miles we were fairly thankful that we weren't climbing up the other way, on foot, in July, when the temperature reaches well over 100 degrees. It was a spectacular drive with hair pin bends taking us around and down into the valley and dusk just beginning to fall.
We were hoping that we could find somewhere to stop soon because we didn't want to do this drive in the dark and miss the scenery. Fortunately we reached Panamint Springs where there was a store, restaurant and motel. The motel rooms were way over the amount we would normally pay but camping cost an incredibly cheap $7.50 (proper toilets, showers and hot water!) so we booked in and just got our tent up before complete darkness fell.
The only trouble with camping at this time of year is that there isn't much you can do once it gets dark. We resigned ourselves to a very early night and resolved to get up at first light to compensate for it.
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