Sunday.....

(CLICK ON PICTURES TO ENLARGE)

6:56 am - PDST - Monday -  65º F, 31% humidity, wind 2 mph out of southeast.....feels like calm.....forecast high for today is 86º F.....a break in the heatwave and time to head to Death Valley!  A side note....there is some WiFi available in Death Valley, but only in the campgrounds with hookups of which there are few, so I have no idea if I will be able to get online until Thursday when we leave Death Valley.

I started off the day with an 18 mile bike ride into Shoshone and back in which I averaged 15.5 mph, burned 1158 calories, and did it in one hour and 9 minutes.....a very good day.....nothing like a windless day to up the averages and totals!

I went up to the hot pools around 10 am to take a soak, and was back before 11.......then it ws time to take a 130 mile round trip into the southern end of Death Valley......we drove SR-127 north to SR-178 and then westward into the Valley of Death......from the turnoff it is 55 miles to 'Badwater', the lowest elevation point in the Western Hemisphere.......first stop of the day was the old Ashford Mill Ruins.....yes they did mine gold at one time in Death Valley.......

........the road in the southern end of Death Valley is rough, windy, and extremely narrow so the posted speed limit is 45 mph from Ashford Mill to Badwater....by the time we arrived at Badwater the temp had slowly climbed to 111º F......

......the parking lot was packed!  If you click on the next picture to enlarge it you can probably see the SEA LEVEL sign way up on the mountain side........

Very windy....had to hold onto my hat!

.......it's only a short walk down a concrete ramp to view the namesake of this iconic location......Badwater.....

......at 262' below sea level this lowest point in the Western Hemisphere.....and it is less than 60 miles as the 'crow flies' from Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the Continental USA.......

I'm sure it seems like a long way to drive to see just a couple of sites, but that is how we roll......I needed a break from wall to wall NCAA March Madness, and this was the perfect diversion.  We were back by 2:30 pm and I was back in front of the TV.  USC lost their very close second round game, but UCLA won their game handily to advance to the 'Sweet Sixteen' which starts next Thursday.  One shocking loss was Duke losing to Southern Carolina....I didn't see that coming.  So here's to cooler temperatures and a fun three days in Death Valley......where we will be parking the Newell I have no idea.....we will make it up as we go.....there are literally hundreds of dry camping opportunities and only a handful of hookups available for which you must make a reservation months in advance to get......that doesn't work for us so here we go......"see you in a few days" if there is no WiFi.

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