Dear Family, Friends, and Diary,
It's hard to work in a long trip, but California has plenty of interesting places and we decided a few days in Death Valley would keep our travel muscles exercised. Most folks would make the drive from Fresno in one six to seven hour shot but "we are retired" and enjoy slow travel, so we decided to make two small jumps instead.
Stop #1 was Bakersfield for electricity, art, and traveler food. When I told Carla to recharge in Bakersfield, the car suggested a less crowded Supercharger, but I had no idea how to change plans. Arriving at the 16-"pump" charger, every one was full and a car or two were waiting. Is this the new reality? In fact, with so many stations, it was only a few minutes before a space freed up and we could start our twenty-minute top up.
Stop #2 was the Bakersfield Museum of Art (BMoA). The museum turned out to be a smallish place, but one with good displays in the lobby, halls, and three display areas.
The first display room, titled "Bakersfield Built; Architecture of the 1950s", told the story of the rebuilding of the city following a devastating 1952 earthquake, a rebuilding where locals chose to build in the modern style. The story was interesting, even if I failed to take pictures other than one of an Eames coat hanger. I wonder if we need to come back to town to see the mid-century structures talked about.
Next up, was a gallery of Cesar Martinez' "drink culture". His wild compositions
were intended to tell of "the duality of chicano culture." The closer each was examined, the more complex the style appeared. This "culture" is not our own, so this was like visiting an art display in some foreign land. Great.
The last gallery was also foreign, Jacqueline Valenzuela's Con Safos, Con Fuerza". (Interesting that no Anglo translation was offered. A little Spanish is required in the Central Valley.)The artist described works prepared in her studio, a space shared with her husband's auto repair business. Many illustrated the low-rider culture. We learned that the culture plays an important role in many Hispanic-American California families. Again, her work was a window into a new country, for us at least.
After BMoA, we were hungry and, conveniently, Bakersfield Barbecue was just across the street. Sounded about right. At the counter, we told the server that we were hungry enough to do justice to a regular order and he recommended the "Lil' Oinkers" menu, for folks younger than 12 or over 60. We qualified. The two pulled-pork plates were as good as barbecue gets and, at less than $10 each, well within our budget (if we even had one.)
From Bakersfield, we went east, over Tehachapi Pass, driving past hundreds of spinning windmills. The drive was a mix of zipping and crawling-behind-uphill-trucks. It was an easier road than Highway 99, and I was grateful for that.
We made it to our Mojave hotel pretty early, so we decided to backtrack 25 minutes to Tehachapi for German goodies at Kohnen's Country Bakery. Most of the better goodies had sold out, but I grabbed a piece of lemon cake that made the trip worthwhile. Besides, it reminded us of our old country.
Back in Mojave, we still had some daylight left, so we went for a drive around the Mojave Air and Spaceport. There were plenty of airplane bones and minor landmarks of the air and space industry.
Stargazer, reportedly the only Lockheed L-1011 TriStar still flying, was parked just beyond the fence, waiting to take its huge telescope to the next photo op.
Another three-engine jet, a custom-painted Boeing 727, waited for takeoff on the other side of the road. Not sure how long it will need to wait.
Among the dusty buildings was the National Test Pilot School. Who knew there was such a place?
And with that, our extra travel day was over. See what can happen if you are not in a hurry?
Our Sunday morning drive was along one of the most scenic roads in America, starting with Highway 395 along the eastern face of the Sierra Nevadas. From Mojave north to Lone Pine, hills and real mountains kept us company.
Pictures-from-car-windows are not fine art, but they do memorialize what we saw, from foothills to Mount Whitney, the highest spot in the Lower 48. Traffic was light and road construction had been stopped for the weekend. I experimented with the Tesla's "full self driving" and was successful 95% of the time. It tried to kill us in the other 5%.
Before turning east, we needed to stop in Lone Pine for a top up at the Supercharger. I was uncertain of charging inside the park and, besides, this is a scenic stop. The chargers are just behind the Western Movie Museum, a visit we recommend although we did not figure we needed to repeat our visit from a couple of years ago. I did get a chance to walk into the little town and saw a pair of 100-year-old hotels and visited a bakery. Ready for our adventure.
From our charging stop, we headed southeast, through scenery that changed every few miles. The flat ranches of the Owens Valley gave way to the Inyo Mountains, our first climb, and then down again to the Panamint Valley. A Death Valley sign welcomed us for an obligatory picture.
From there, it was another climb-and-descent as we passed over the Panamint Mountains, the western border of Death Valley. In trips passed, Marianne has suffered from ear pain though all these ups and downs, but today's trip had only a short period of ear complaint.
Padre Crowley Point, erected because "he passed this way".
By that measure, there should be millions of monuments.
Colorful hills, illustrating the power of post-production haze removal,
courtesy of Adobe software.
Panamint Valley and, eventually, Death Valley were both shrouded in fine dust,
courtesy of a windy day.
At Furnas Creek, we checked in at the information center for our car pass and the required temperature picture. Before Death Valley, we had been in chill winds all day, but down here it was a balmy 80F. Nice, but still more wind than is our preference.
This stay, we had opted for "the Inn", the century-old resort on the hills at the end of Furnas Creek Valley. It is more expensive than "the Ranch", but we figured we deserved a treat.. (Why? Just because.) Both facilities have recently been given multi-million dollar rehabilitations but the Inn remains special. Our room was spacious, with a veranda looking out over the valley. Worth the splurge.
We finished the day with a meal in the Inn dinning room, again using our we're-retired-and-not-saving-our-money financial philosophy. Good food.
As is my custom, I started our trip-Monday with diary writing. This may be one of my favorite offices! We did not plan what we would do later. Again, that's just how we face most travel days.
Because it was so nice and peaceful, I started with a photo wander of the Inn. The hotel is almost 100 years old and retains a 1920s feel, but with everything fresh and clean. The recent restoration was done well.
After breakfast, we strolled though the grounds, checking out the paths, pool area, spring-fed pond, and the new casitas. (Each comes with its own golf cart, to make sure guests don't get in too much walking.) I still like our room-with-a-balcony, but a splurge on a casita might be nice too.
The Inn at Furnace Creek really is special.
Now, we needed to head out into the wilderness, at least as much wilderness as we were up to: drive a paved-road along Artist's Drive.
Here I have to warn you that we took a zillion pictures, mostly of rocks. I'm not sure it is possible to illustrate the color and variety of all we saw on our 8-mile loop, and even with ruthless editing, we still ended up with more than you NEED to see. Pick and choose.
These two sections were feet apart, one rough and rocky, the other smooth.
This is what I call a "ribbon picture", a panorama far too wide to see on a small screen,
I recommend clicking to see some of the detail.
(In fact, there is enough detail in the original to cover a ten-foot wall, if you have one. We don't.)
Rocks properly visited, we drove back to The Ranch, the flatlands part of Furnas Creek Oasis Resort. The first stop was a buffet lunch at the 1869 Restaurant. The idea was to be a bit more frugal than up on the hill, and it was, but we were reminded of "you get what you pay for".
Dessert was at The Ice Cream Parlor, price-worthy and tasty. There must be a lesson in here.
Post-lunch exercise was a walk through the Ranch casitas. This development is all new since our last Death Valley visit and they look quite nice. Maybe next time.
By now it was time for a siesta. In summertime, this would be mandatory to avoid the peak heat of the day, but on November 4th, it was a chosen option. This was actually what we had planned for this trip: little activity. All the folks we had been chatting with were far more ambitious, driving to attractions up and down the Valley. We had been everywhere in past years, so we had no hard and fast 2024 requirements.
Once the sun set, we did have one more duty: star gazing. The Inn has a patio on the fourth floor where guests can sit in the dark and look up. Once our eyes got adjusted, the Milky Way loomed directly above; a sea of stars. I had not planned a serious star photography session so all I got was a moon shot. Meanwhile, Marianne succeeded in pointing her iPhone to the sky and captured what looked like smudges. This morning, I overexposed her shots by a factor of four and the Milky Way jumped out like magic. (Technically, there' a lot of noise, but the evening's spirit was well captured.) Next time, I should plan a little.
It's hard to write this diary. The domestic implications of yesterday's elections are hard to imagine, but we are all trying. It will take some time.
My Facebook post concerning outside-America implications:
"Who won? Russia and allies North Korea and China. They learned how to control the US. Right-wing autocratic parties, in-power and aspiring: in Hungary, Israel, Italy, Germany, France, Brazil and many more. They learned that only power matters.
"Who lost? Ukrainians. Baltic states. Taiwan. Bhutan. Any number of other countries threatened by the winners. And, of course, Americans. We can no longer hold our heads high in the world.
"Does all this matter? You decide."
Back at Death Valley, we started Tuesday with a short after-breakfast drive down to Badwater Basin. We will see relatively few park highlights this visit, but the lowest place in America seemed appropriate.
Our pictures include all the normal requirements: rock cliffs, marked high up with a seal level sign; the year-around "pool", fed by an ancient aquifer; expanses of white salt, mostly sodium chloride, washed from rocks over eons; tourists from all around the world, including Paul, a new best friend from Stuttgart. Worth the drive.
Back in the Furnas Creek Oasis, we did other requirements. Lunch at the Inn and shopping at the Ranch. Then rest, and do our best to ignore the pending election. An air of doom hovered.
I went out on a path above our rooms, in order to walk away from CNN. More rocks. Better than others? It's always impossible to say. But at least as good as average.
I hung around long enough to see a sunset that was much better than average.
In fact, I stayed out long enough to try some more star pictures. These were OK, OK-enough. Besides, it was better than sitting inside watching screens and feeling that our positive future was collapsing.
Wednesday started a new day, overshadowed by the Tuesday election results. It is hard to face a future with MAGA-Republicans in charge of the Presidency, Senate, House, and Supreme Court. It is a formula for the end of others' rights.
We ended our stay at the Furnas Creek Oasis Inn with another good breakfast. Then we walked all our bags out the exit tunnel and packed the Tesla's trunks. I think we would be better off with LESS luggage room and more packing discipline, but that's not what we have become accustomed to.
Years ago, we packed for months-long trips in a tiny Porsche Boxster without a problem. Now we pack for a few days with twice the stuff. And every time we say we should pack less.
Thanks to the free and convenient charging at the Inn, we topped up and had enough range for a relatively short route across Death Valley, over the Panamint Mountains, across Panamint Valley, up some more mountains, and south down the Searles Valley. Mostly, the roads were empty, really empty.
For the first two hours I don't think we saw ten cars, either direction. I used the relatively simple two-lane highway to test Carla's Full Self Driving (FSD) letting the car drive itself. Overall, fours years after we paid extra for FSD, I'd still give the system only a C+, with points deducted for phantom breaking and an inability to maintain a comfortable speed. Like much coming out of Tesla, there are promises of improvement on the path to "robotaxi" performance, but we are not there yet.
In any event, here's what we saw: the straight road across Death Valley, dusty winds in Panamint Valley, more straight roads, and a fighter jet fly-by, using us for targeting practice. All in all, a different driving experience.
Midway down the Searles Valley, we passed through Trona, a soda ash (sodium carbonate or baking powder) mining and refining community with little to offer. Even the still-active refinery equipment looked just one step above ghost town status.
The Wikipedia description of Trona pretty much makes the point:
Trona is known for its isolation and desolation... The local school plays on a dirt football field because the searing heat and highly saline soil kills grass. At one point it boasted an 18-hole golf course that was all sand except for the "greens", which were a softer grade of brown colored dirt.
Out from these desolate landscapes, we paused for a charge at Mojave. There were four Supercharger stations to choose from, each with at least a dozen connections. Local industry may be windmills, airplane graveyards, and electric car charging stations. Better than soda ash.
After Mojave, it was lunch in Tehachapi at Buelna's Grill, a Mexican-Persian cafe that may not make the Michelin Guide. The food was OK, but the ambiance was ... well-used. Next time, we will be sure to pass through Tehachapi on a day where the Kohnen's Bakery is open. (Closed Wednesday and Thursday.)
Charged up and full, we finished Highway 58 west to Bakersfield and turned north on Highway 99, one of my least favorite roads ever. On this day, it lived up to expectations with crowds, construction, trucks, and crazy drivers. Two hours of this was more than enough, but we did make it home. Glad to be there.
Once settled back in Fresno, we unpacked and moped about America's situation. At least we don't have to live in Trona.
The only future travel we have planned is for Thanksgiving holidays in Monterey and a quick hospital visit in Sacramento. We MUST find more!
Stay tuned.
John and Marianne