Yosemite to Death Valley

We were planning on making it to Bakersfield and then to Phoenix but as mentioned we toured thru Yosemite and then decided to go on to Death Valley.

Again, there was a downhill and Toyke couldn't resist. Onto his bike again. This was a little less steep but he got going up to 40 mph this time, averaging 30. I got a little more on video as the sides weren't as steep. We drove to Stove Pipe Wells and drove about 5 miles passed and noticed some sand dunes on the right but it was getting dark. We wondered what we would miss if we drove to Furnace Creek so we turned around and ended up staying at Stove Pipe Wells.

The next morning we looked around and there was the hotel with a pool, bar and restaurant and a general store across the street...that's it. The waiter was oriental so I asked him how he ended up in Stove Pipe Wells...Poor kid...he was from Korea and here on a work visa. He was doing the "exchange"thing and was working for three months. I wonder who was the "agent" who set this poor kid up to work in the middle of absolutely nowhere for 3 months...you get to see the country, meet lots of people traveling around...what a liar. Wow...I still feel for the kids.

My turn to ride my bike. I started off from SPW and headed out into the desert. It was 104 degrees and I found it very hot and dry very quickly. I rode for about 7 miles.

We took our time and drove through the valley. _____Canyon was cool. We drove through Artist Way and then down the 40 miles of dirt road through the desert. We stopped to pick up some rocks for Hayden as he collects rocks...Grandpa Toyk had to pick up a couple of them as they were too big for me...can't wait to give them to Hayden!

Once we got through Death Valley Las Vegas wasn't far away.