Tuesday October 26th (Scotty’s Castle)

Tuesday October 26th (Scotty’s Castle)

Stovepipe Wells Campground

Today we left Cassie at the campground and drove north to Scotty’s Castle a famous land mark in Death Valley. This castle was built in the late 1930’s, and it is amazing piece of engineering for its time. We took 2 tours of the castle, one of the interior and one of the basement and that was to view the mechanical systems that were being used to keep the castle cool. The interior had several pipe organs some wonderful furniture, with lots of interesting stories.

We toured over to look at Ubehebe Crater, which we walked part the way around the rim. There was also a trail that leads to the bottom of the crater, but the concern there was the thought of climbing back up to the rim, as the path was pretty steep. We drove on back to Stovepipe Wells and Cassie for the evening.

Monday October 25th (Dante View)

Sunset Campground Furnace Creek to Stovepipe Wells Campground

30 Miles  

We got up early this morning to go for a 25 mile drive out to Dante View with an Elevation of 5475ft, this was meant to be the place to capture the sun rising. Unfortunately today was not the day to be there as it was very cloudy. The views we got from there were amazing, there was a cold wind that blew through you and we weren’t dressed for it. The last ¼ of a mile to Dante View the road had a 15% grade, there was a water tank beside the road that was to fill your radiator with, and fortunately we didn’t need it. On the way back to camp we did a one way road, called 20 Mule Train Road, it was a narrow and windy road. We stopped and looked at the famous Furnace Creek Motel at Sea Level Elevation. It is an old motel with the exterior build of stone.

While we were being tourists the wind really came up at the camp, the camper a few spaces away from us noticed that our awnings were been given a hard time by the wind, so he was kind enough to pull them in for us and secure them under Cassie.

We arrived at Stovepipe Village and noticed that the price of gas was 75cents a gallon less expensive than Furnace Creek, so we filled Chevy up here.

It was very hot here, but we are in the desert, the wind came up late in the afternoon while we were visiting Mosaic Canyon. We did a short hike here, so far our favorite place in Death Valley. The rock in the canyon appeared to be like polished marble, we didn’t get all the way into the canyon as it was getting late. 

Sunday October 24th (Bad Water the lowest Elevation in the States)

Sunset Campground Furnace Creek

We did some driving to scenic spots today. We went to Golden Canyon this morning and went for a 2.5 mile hike to the Red Cathedral. This was a beautiful canyon hike, with a cool breeze following us up the canyon, and cooled us off coming back. We had to scramble a bit towards the end of high, but it was worth the effort. .

The next stop was Devil’s Golf Course; this was some real rugged salt flats, then onto Bad Water the lowest elevation in the States, 282ft below sea level. On the way back to camp we did a little detour on a one way road to Artist Palette, some colorful rock formations.

We had more live music this evening, being Sunday the music by the 49ers had a gospel theme, more musician had arrived. 

Saturday October 23rd (Death Valley)

Barstow Calico K.O.A. to Sunset Campground Furnace Creek

160 Miles

We drove thru many miles of desert landscape, turned off at Baker to get to Death Valley and set up in Sunset Campground at Furnace Creek. We walked across the road to the National Park Service Information, where we got a lot of good information and saw a slide show about the history of the area, about the Borax mining on the salt flats, and about the 20 mule team which took the Borax 160 miles to the railroad at Mojave. We walked around Furnace Creek in the afternoon and enjoyed the museum there. In the evening we went to a writer’s workshop which really introduced us to the area. When we went back to our campsite, there was live music at the Campground. A group of people called the 49ers meet here each year. Don’t know too much about them but they like to have a good time. The actual event they come for doesn’t start for a couple of weeks. Sunset campground is below sea level.  

Friday October 22nd (Mojave Desert)

Kingsburg to Barstow Calico K.O.A.

220 Miles

Another days driving along straight roads, we drive thru Bakersfield. We then up into the Mojava Desert, climbing to an elevation of nearly 5000ft. The farms we saw in the Mojave Desert were windmill farms, miles and miles of windmills along some of higher elevated mountain ridges, all spinning up electricity. The campground we stopped at is very nice and clean, and they do have a swimming pool which is open, so this afternoon we both went for a swim. A lot of people were arriving at this campground today with their dune buggies and most popular buggy seem to be old much modified VW Beatle 

Thursday October 21st (A longs day driving)

Richardson Grove to Kingsburg (south of Fresno)

420 Miles

Today was a day of making miles, many miles, as we have decided to head inland and south.  We got an early start, and followed Hiway 101 to Hiway 20 then onto I-5 to Kingsburg. Leaving a sparsely populated coastal area to and get into the Sacramento Valley was quite a change. We traveled from the coastal redwood forest where the roads are winding and interesting with little traffic to a farming region where the roads are straight and congested. All I can say about the camp at Kingburg it was nothing special close to the hiway and place to sleep.

Wednesday October 20th (A day in the Redwoods)

Village Camper Inn RV Park Crescent City to Richardson Grove

160 Miles

We left the campground about 11 this morning, drove along the coast from Crescent City, and there was a lot of heavy ocean fog.  In Crescent City there is a fog horn blasting continuously night and day, honking several times a minute, now we got a little idea why. We did a couple of detours today one was when we left Hiway 101 to get onto 99 and drive thru the Humboldt State Park. We took a short walk to see the Big Tree. Humboldt is another red wood forest.  Next to the hiway, and close to the coast we saw a couple of herds of Elk sitting in meadows, 1 stag in each herd surrounded by his harem of does.

Our next detour was to “The Avenue of the Giants”. We left 101 to take the scenic route about 30 miles of driving between giant coastal redwoods; I don’t think I could ever get tired of seeing these magnificent trees. Richardson Grove is about 70 miles south of Eureka. All that seems to be here is a campground, a few cabins, a gift shop, a wood carving shop and a couple of gas stations. This is another nice campground, among the trees and next to a State Park. Note don’t camp under an acorn tree, as they have a habit of dropping onto your rig all night.