Day 9 - Lone Pine to Kingman (through Death Valley)

When we woke up this morning the dust storm of yesterday had cleared to show the mountains either side of Lone Pine. We were on the road after breakfast at about 8.00. Despite the Government Shutdown the main highway though Death Valley remains open so we headed that way. The scenery was great from the off despite not reaching the Death Valley region for about an hour. The wind was still blowing a little creating cool little swirls of dust all over the road. I can't believe how vast this country is. We've been driving for about 1,2000 miles and seen coast, mountains and desert and we'd not even left California!!!

We were about 1 mile above sea level before we started our descent into the Valley. We were pretty much restricted to the main highway, but we pulled over for pictures and a few stops when the opportunity presented. One stop was the sand dunes. This was the softest sand to walk on and a nice place to stop for a little break from the road.

We left Death Valley and crossed into Nevada. We stopped for lunch in a place called Tharump which is about an hour or so outside Vegas. Our next stop was the Hoover Dam which is about 45 minutes past Vegas. We saw Vegas approaching and passed it by for the time being. Lake Mead then came into view and we were soon turning off for the Hoover Dam. The Dam was open and we had tickets pre booked for the Visitors Centre and Observation Deck. After the Dam we stopped off on the newly built bridge which bypasses the Dam. My fear of heights returned as I imagined stumbling over something and falling over the side :)

Our base for the night was Kingman which was another 80 or so miles down a super straight highway. I can't remember turning the wheel at all down this road. Before reaching Kingman we were reminded the Grand Canyon is closed. We have a helicopter tour booked which I called to confirm is still on yesterday. The helicopter tours are privately run and take off from outside the Park, so wind permitting we should be able to see the Canyon from the air tomorrow.

 

Posted with Blogsy