Death Valley didn’t do much for me. Even when I had the chance to search for some good morning or evening light shots, I couldn’t get up for it. Misfortune had struck again, which took time and money, and I was feeling disgusted.

In spite of that, if you are ever in the area, you should plan to pass through it. It very likely is like no place you’ve ever been.

I was surprised at how many cyclists I saw out in Death Valley. I guess that’s because it’s flat, there’s not much traffic, and the roads are like perfect.

 

This is rush hour at the main junction just west of the big D(V).

This is the Visitor’s Center at the old rusted car exhibit.  🙂  I crack myself up sometimes.  Seriously, if this looks like a bunch of porta-potties out in the middle of nowhere, that’s exactly what it is.  You just never know what you’re going to see.  You will see these along the way.  This is in Stovepipe Wells, a gas station and tourist trinkets must see.

God takes care of fools.  My flat tire was a good news/bad news thing.  The good news was I had my flat just outside Shoshone, CA, and not 40 miles out in the Valley of Death.

Cannons to the left of them, cannons to the right of them, into the Valley of Death rode the Six Hundred.  From The Charge of the Light Brigade.

And so, back to the flat.  Grateful that I was near Shoshone, but I still had to wreck the tire limping to a spot to switch it out.  Meaningful help for replacing it was thirty miles east in Pahrump, NV.  My spare, although serviceable, was not the same size as my other two tires.  Shoshone looks like a bit of an oasis when you’re coming into it,  but the sum of all the parts is one each of an RV Park, a Post Office, a gas station, (no air compressor), a bar, and a closed museum.  But my camper got dry and fixed, and I drank a couple of Death Valley Pale Ales at the local pub.  Oh, one other thing I learned about Death Valley.  It goes good with Pink Floyd music. 😉