PAHRUMP, NV TO LONE PINE, CA (MOSTLY DEATH VALLEY)-- MAY 22-24


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Published: June 5th 2012
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Tuesday, May 22nd



Terrible Casino, Lakeside RV Park, Pahrump, Nevada 7:37 and already 77 degrees, blue skies. Starting mileage was 26604.

In looks, this is one of the nicest commercial RV parks we have been in. It was a real oasis in this desert with paved spaces, a small lake/pond in the center with a water spray/fountain, ducks and doves everywhere, and green grass and large shade trees for every space. Just too dang hot!!!

Because of our concerns about the heat, we left early for Death Valley National Park after filling our tank with gas at the Casino’s pumps---$3.859 per gal and took 21 gals. Our plan was to just cross through the Park length wise and drive as far as the Inyo/Owens Valley and stay at a BLM campground that night.

We left Pahrump on highway 372 which shortly became highway 178 when we crossed the border into California. We again climbed up and through a range of mountains, this time the Nopah Range—stark and dry with wind-sculpted folds, and evidence of volcanic action. At the small settlement of Shoshone we jogged west, but remained on highway 178 and proceeded to enter the Park boundaries.

My concept of Death Valley was of a broad stretch of flat alkaline, sandy desert with no or very little plant life. It is not that way at all. Most of the Park is mountainous and the Valley is very narrow. The craggy, rocky, high, stark, treeless, north/south mountain ranges contribute to the high temperature of the Valley by holding that heat in. After crossing through the Amaragosa Range, we quickly dropped in elevation into Death Valley itself and onto Badwater Road that followed and hugged the cliffs on the east side of the Valley.

We drove into the Badwater Basin which has the lowest point in the US at 282 feet below sea level. At this point, there are interpretive signs and a paved walkway out into the salt flats. Many tourists, without hats or any water, walked out several blocks to the exact spot that was the lowest---we thought they were crazy, as by now, the outside temps were well over 100 degrees. On a cliff, across the road, was a line painted at where sea level would be. Valerie took a picture of the line, but you may have to look hard for it unless she finds a way to point it out to you.

After taking some more pictures, we proceeded to drive to Furnace Creek, which is where there is a very small Shoshone Indian Reservation, a group of buildings catering to tourists---motel, café, shops etc.,---some of the old Borax wagons, and the Visitor’s Center. We went into the Visitor’s Center to show them our Senior Pass in order to get in free, and then we went into the theater to watch a film about the park. Since there were no closed captions, and the sound was funny sounding, we really just looked at the pictures as neither Valerie nor I couldn’t really understand what was being said.

Everyone entering the Park is supposed to pay a fee, however, you must park your car and go into the Visitor’s Center to pay it as there is no entrance kiosk that blocks the entrance road like most National Parks have. Guess any ranger manning such a place would die of heat stroke here.

We looked around and then left this area wondering why so many people would live and work here. Badwater Road intersects with highway 190 at this point and we continued north on it. After about 20 miles, the road goes due south-west and begins to climb steeply out of the Valley and into the Panamint Mountain Range. With the temps now hitting the 103-9 outside, we had the air conditioner blasting. The summit was at Towne Pass at an elevation of 4,956 feet which Rosie took ok. The road sign at the top point warned of a 6%!g(MISSING)rade going straight down from this summit. Since we had handled steeper grades before without any problem, Valerie put her in 2nd gear and started down.

About half way down, Valerie said, Rosie felt like she had a flat tire. Very fortunately, there was a very wide paved pull-out on the other side of the road which we quickly moved into and stopped. Both of us jumped out to check the tires. We found none of them flat, but the rear passenger side tire was seriously smoking and continued to smoke for about 15 minutes.

Since we were still within the Park boundaries, I first called the ranger station and asked if there was a mechanic nearby. He replied that there wasn’t one in the park and that the nearest service from where we were would be in Lone Pine about 79 miles away. He asked if we had water and if we were ok sitting on the side of the road, and I said, yes.

We then decided to call AAA since we were afraid to continue the descent straight down the mountain when we were not at all sure about the tire and the brakes. We explained to the person who answered from AAA that we had a small 24 foot RV and that we had to have a flatbed truck take us to the nearest mechanic as Rosie can NOT be towed. Her propane tank and generator are both behind the back tires and they would drag if the front end was hoisted into the air. Of course, the first truck that came, about 3 hours later, was a big tow truck used for semi’s. One of the young men from that rig scooted under the back wheel and said he thought it was possible that the oil around the wheel bearing from a blown gasket might be dripping on the hot brake/tire and caused the smoke.

We then really wanted to stay right where we were until a “proper” tow truck could be found. After a wait of another couple hours a flat bed tow truck made its way up the hill toward us. Driving it happened to be the man I had spoken with when we first started calling for the tow and I had given him our requirements then. He knew just where we were, as it so happened that we had stopped at the only place cell phone service was operational over a long stretch of land. His flat bed was a total of 17 feet and of course you can’t squeeze a 24’ vehicle of any kind on a 17 feet bed without a lot hanging over----like the back wheels!!! The unit also wasn’t heavy enough to haul Rosie’s weight to boot. He made some calls to his boss and then left us saying that his boss would be out to take care of us.

By this time it was dark and about 9:30, and we had been running the car and alternating with running the generator to run the air conditioner all afternoon as there was no way we could sit in the heat without doing so. The thermometer in the front window registered 130 degrees for awhile.

In between the tow trucks arriving, a highway patrol officer stopped by to make sure we were ok. He gave us the number of a wrecker company in Lone Pine that he said had the flatbed tow truck that we needed. The CHP officer used our phone to call to get the Lone Pine number as his cell phone didn’t work in the area. In fact, the small settlement 10 miles down at the bottom of the hill has to have a satellite phone.

The “boss” of course never did show, but we did get a call well after midnight from a different AAA lady stating we could either get a AAA approved flatbed out of Pahhrump (where we had started) or she would AAA approve the tow truck company out of Lone Pine. Valerie called there as we knew that if AAA didn’t cover the tow we have other insurance that would. The man said to call him in the morning at 9:00 and would give us a time he would be to us. Why that wasn’t done at 1:30 that afternoon when we first called, we have no idea. We settled unhappily into bed that night and neither of us slept well. Still hot, and very bothered.


Wednesday, May 24th



Wide spot in the road halfway down Towne Pass

At 9:00 the next morning, we called Lone Pine and Mr. Ken Miller said he would be there at 10:30, as the drive was that far away. He was right on time, knew what he was doing and put Rosie right up onto his very heavy-duty truck. He had to use 4x4 lumber cut to extend the angle to keep her tush from dragging as he pulled her onto the flatbed leaving about 4” on either side of the wheels. Valerie then rode in it all the way to Lone Pine. I chickened out, and rode up front with the driver---there were only two bucket seats in his cab so only one other person COULD ride up front.

The road to Lone Pine was a hairy, curving, with lots of switchbacks on the narrow ride and I was really glad we didn’t attempt it until we were sure about the back tire. Note from VM: It was exceptionally nerve-wracking from 5 feet above the flatbed; I took pictures all of the way so I wouldn’t worry so much about falling off the truck.

As we neared town, we drove along the now dried up , salt filled Lake Owens. Across the valley you could clearly see the sharp peaks of three of the tallest mountains in the US with Mt Whitney in the center at 14,494 being the tallest.

Once in Lone Pine, he pulled all of us into his shop and we then took a loaner car to the nearest motel which was a Comfort Inn, while the shop pulled the tire to have a look at the possible problem. With the cool air blasting in our motel room, we took naps. About 5, Valerie went over to pick up Rosie and pay the bill. They found a little wear on the back break pad, but said everything else was ok and had checked all 4 wheels. What most likely happened was that we had overheated the tire/brake going down the hill with a combination of the high heat of the road and air, and the descent of the hill being closer to 14%!a(MISSING)nd NOT 6%!,(MISSING) plus we had the air conditioner on high and blasting, and we should have taken it in 1st and not 2nd gear. None of the gauges on the dashboard had indicated overheating of the radiator or oil, so we had thought we were doing OK.

We got dinner out of Rosie and heated it in the Comfort Inn microwave and settled in for the night and slept fairly well in the finally cooooooooooollll air.


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