January 29, 2005 - Quartzsite, AZ
Rain and sunshine. Never seen the desert so green and full of flowers. Too early for the cactus to be blooming, but when they do it'll be glorious. Got here on the 17th after an uneventful but exciting trip from Indio. Exciting because both of us really love the "Quartzsite experience." Seeing friends we haven't seen for a while, meeting new friends who are a part of the Life On Wheels conference, either as students or instructors or staff, enjoying the many vendors of all sorts of things both RV related and not, and just hanging out in the desert with some 700,000 other people all in one place. Yeah, that's a long convoluted sentence, but so's the Quartzsite experience!!
Meanwhile, back to the catch-up (Death Valley).............
Yup, we made it to the Eureka Mine. And since my sore leg muscles were still on strike, Barb did the hiking while I watched in frustration. The mine shaft is open some of the year, but not while the bats are hibernating. Don't want to disturb their sleep, you know. Those rails look a bit unused, don't they.
A lot of the mine stuff was still laying around here. Really sort of an interesting place, and the story goes that the fellow who had the claim lived here and raised his family and made enough from the gold to stay with it for 40 years. Amazing, when you stop to think about it and compare it to the way so many are living today.
No, those aren't salt crystals, it's snow. Yeah, the stuff some people are living in right now! And here we are in Death Valley, playing in (or at least taking pictures of) the snow. We're heading to Aguereberry Point where we've been told we can get a good panoramic view of the valley.
Whazat up there on the horizon? A pit toilet way up here? Yup. Exactly that. What a relief! ☺
Nice view. Can even see the pit toilet from up here.
The road wasn't rough......well, yes it was. But in a washboard sense. No steep rock climbing or narrow tight curves with boulders trying to rip off fenders or anything like that. About all the washboard road does is increase the noise level and make things inside the Jeep shift around a bit. The view made the trip worth while in other words.
And there were even patches of patched pavement here and there. And then it looked like snow over there on those hills. Isn't Death Valley supposed to be a barren, dry, desolate area?
Thick walls, too. And snow all over the ground!! And it was cold to boot!
Surely the builders didn't want to give this kiln a spiked hairdo now did they? A bit of whimsy perhaps?
And looking in the "chimney" and then out of it. Located on the side. Strange. At least to us who know absolutely nothing at all about making charcoal.
Taking pictures of each other -- our version of "playing in the snow,", and we're outa here! Heading to the warmth again. Sort of a strange experience being up there in the solitude, quiet, and almost eerie place, and having snow besides. Avoiding snow is a big deal with us these days it seems, but today it was downright fun.
Barb found some "flowers" and the long shadows meant it was time to head for home and the end of another interesting day in this wonderful place.