Page Contents

Path
Sights
Food
Bird
Birds
Tunes
Runs

16 July: Bishop to Las Vegas

  This segment of the trip had several special features. Not the least of these was disocovering that we could visit the Bishop facility featuring Galen Rowell's photos. Seeing Death Valley again was pretty cool; Pat and I remembered a time we'd been there during college (probably about 1971, visiting with an English-major pal of mine and his friend, when we had forgotten to take utensils and, so, ate campfire-cooked food with our hands and drank a fine 1964 Buena Vista special label cabernet). I also remembered the time I'd visited DV with high school chums, Tom and Bob, and we had to panhandle to get money for gas so that we could get to a gas station that would take a gasoline company's credit card (remember those?).

  Driving through the Nevada desert was pretty impressive, too. We were able to make some time, just by keeping up with traffic. Also, it featured dramatic landscapes.

Path

  We got a late start, but that didn't deter us from making our appointed path. We left Bishop close to 1 PM headed south on US 395 until we reached Lone Pine for lunch. Shortly before reaching Lone Pine, Pat caught this view of the Sierras. South of Lone Pine, we turned eastward on CA 136, and followed it until we could bear east on CA 190. We took 190 into and across Death Valley, switching to CA 374 so that we could get to Beatty, NV, where we turned south on US 95. We stuck with 95 through Las Vegas to the southeastern part of that city, where we finally located a room at--where else?--a casino.

Sights

   As mentioned, one of the highlights of this segment was our visit to MountainLight, a gallery devoted to photography by Galen and Barbara Rowell. The Rowells, who both died in a aircraft accident 12 August 2002 when returning from an expedition to document the migration to the calving grounds of an endangered Tibetan antelope, were reknowned for their photography of wonderful places. Most anyone who's leafed through a few copies of National Geographic has seen examples of Rowell's work. Anyway, we spent a couple of awe-filled hours in the facility and, with the able help of Rochelle, chose a couple of prints for our house. If you're ever within range of the place, alot a half a day for a visit.

  Death Valley, for those who've never visited it, is a uniquely odd place. We didn't stop to visit Badwater (283 feet below sea leval), the site of the boulders that have mysterious tracks next to them, Scotty's Castle, and a host of other sites in the park, but we saw plenty. Although the photo at the right doesn't capture the panoramic nature of the landscape, the vistas are incredible. We also had glimpse of the sand dunes and the Devil's Haystacks (most placenames in DV have a diabolic or hellish connotation).

As we approached Las Vegas, we saw a billowing storm that looked like a dust cloud with clearly defined borders in the sky. It was pretty impressive. It buffeted the Bird around, but the little thing took it just fine. Soon, the winds turned to dust and the dust turned to rain. The odd mixture of dust and water made the Bird filthy.

Food

  This was a food day that doesn't deserve mention. When I go grease-loading, I'd like to have good grease.

Bird

  Before we left Bishop, we gave the Bird a bath. It would be great to have it gleaming as it flew through the desert.

  What a car. It was wonderful to be able to cruise through the desert (with the top in pate-protecting position, mind you) in temps of 100+ (the Bird's external thermometer recorded 126° on the floor of Death Valley) and have the engine temperature stay steady. At one point, as we climbed to leave DV, signs recommended turning off auto air conditioning to prevent overheating; it wasn't needed.

  Jack's Bird was quite responsive. If one was cruising along at 75 and needed to pass slower moving vehicle, the surge of speed was quite palpable--suddenly the speedo would hit 90--and made the passing easy.

Birds

  I don't remember any except buzzards.

Tunes

  Golly, it was great to have tunes on demand. I think we listened to a string of jazz players, especially Vince Guraldi, during the DV crossing.

Runs

  Didn't.