49er Day's at Death Valley

November 3. We left Las Vegas and headed for Death Valley. Got fuel before we left for $2.95. That was the first time in over a year it was that cheap. Stopped at the post office in Pahrump for our mail, lunched at Terrible's casino, a little gambling and arrived at Sunset Campground at sunset. Our neighbor's the first night were a young couple from Switzerland touring our country for 10 weeks before heading onto New Zealand. Ivo came inside to see what a "big" motorhome looks like.

We have lots of WIN's here and they are parked nearby. We also went to the Solo's hugs and social hour. We got our tickets for the 49er days and then went for a short drive (that turned out to be 3 hours) on the dirt road that the 20 mule team used to run.
We came upon this wagon train heading into the 49er days for Friday's parade. They teased us that there wasn't any water to launch our kayak's. They are right. Don't know who looked funnier. Them or us. We located Richard and Doreen and had a nice visit with them in the evening.

Brad dropped by on his morning walk and informed us the Wins were going to have hugs at 9 so we went.
Some of us decided to hike Golden Canyon.
Bob and 4 ladies.

It was an easy 2.5 mile hike and was very pretty. We found desert holly along the way. At 3 we went to listen to Kerry Christensen sing & yodel. We met our neighbors for cocktails and a visit then went to Fiddler's Stage for more music.

Thursday morning after hugs we took a long drive. I have always wanted to see the "moving rocks" so we went to the "racetrack". It was an 82 mile drive and half of it was on a dirt road needing a high clearance vehicle. It was quite a washboard road but we discovered if you go fast it isn't as bumpy. The race track is a dry lake bed. It is unclear how they move but it is surmised that when there is water and wind present they get pushed around on the slick mud. As you can see by the pictures they make tracks and even shift directions when the wind changes.
Neat huh! We are at both ends taking pictures of each other. Bob paced it off and he figures this track is 150' long.

It was 7 hour drive and we came home a different way for a total of 155 miles. The road was more challenging but beautiful. We went up to 6700' elevation from -190'. The temperature was 56 instead of 82 and there was even a forest. We met 4 jeeps that were kind enough to get mostly off the road by going up the side of an embankment. We were so tired when we got back we had a lovely dinner at the steakhouse (we had shrimp) and then rested instead of going out to the music.

On Friday we attended the Hootenanny breakfast, saw old friends and listened to music.
There were two parades we watched.
The first were the wagons arriving that we had seen on our Tuesday's drive and that was followed by the trail riders. In the evening there were two musical events we attended.

Saturday was a breakfast again at the date grove followed by a parade. We joined the Solo's in the parade.

We then went to Stovepipe Wells for the Cowboy poetry and lunch. Afterwards we drove Titus Canyon.
It is a one way drive and you can see why.
We did it two years ago in a ranger led caravan of 30 cars and all we saw then was dust. It was nice to be able to stop along the way and take pictures.

We stopped at Leadfield ghost town and another couple pulled up from the same little town in Florida where we are residents.
Meet Richard and Kathy Kennedy of Wauchula. Small world.

In the evening there was more music. Chaparral played. At the motorhome we sat out and visited with Jim and Joyce our neighbors from Ohio.

During the night the wind picked up. Bob put in the awnings. By morning we were in a full blown dust storm.
Two of our solar panels were destroyed. We even had rain.
And snow on the mountain tops.
But to remind us of our blessings God gave us this beautiful sunset at the end of a trying day.