Luanne Survives Death Valley

Today, June 7, 2012, we checked another thing off of our bucket list!   Left Pahrump around 9am, and headed west for Death Valley.   Death Valley is very interesting because it's a big, flat dessert sitting between very high mountains.   We stated at Dante's Viewpoint, which is 5000 feet above the floor.  From there, we looked straight down to the lowest point in North America, Badwater, which is  282 feet below sea level.   The last half mile to Dante's Viewpoint was challenging on a motorcycle.  It increased to a 15% grade, with a series of 10 mile per hour corners.   Trailers were not allowed on this section, but we decided the rule didn't apply to us because our trailer was small.  
After eating lunch at Furnace Creek, Ernie convinced Luanne to go to Badwater, where the temperature was at least 105 degrees.    We were able to walk out on the salt flat there. 
We took lots of photos of desert today.  Through it all, we were sustained by our cooling jackets and large quantities of water, supplemented with pretzels for the salt content.  
Getting out of the valley was also quite a road.   We climbed straight up to 5000 feet, back down to sea level, up again to 5000 feet, then back down to 2000 feet.   There was one stretch of 8 miles of 9% downhill grade with curves.   Overall, riding through the desert (whether Mojave, Death Valley, or other deserts without names) is hot and windy.  



Dantes View

Badwater



Bad Water Salt Flats