Fought our way out of the traffic in Las Vegas, thinking to avoid the worst of it. However, Thomasina (our Tomtom is female) had no care for our sensibilities and were soon driving across the Strip on an eight lane highway.
We found petrol, and because of our overseas VISA, we had to pay first, fill after. A difficult procedure this, as one is never sure how many gallons will fit, and the price here is so low! Helen paid for $25 worth - which we juuust squeezed in, enough for 550 miles.
We drove across the desert, and found ourselves below sea-level, and the temperature at 100°F in Death Valley as we sped along in our hot little metal box. It is advised not to use the Aircon or your engine may blow up. We really felt for the early settlers, observing the miles of sparse sage brush scrub - one low scrubby bush every 10 feet, populated by scorpions, lizards and rattlesnakes among other less noisy serpents. We saw a couple of coyotes to our delight.
I had thought the driving part of this trip would be boring, but the scenery is so variable and always amazing that it is a pleasure. Now we are at Lone Pine and staring up at the Sierra Nevada with heavy snow.
We found petrol, and because of our overseas VISA, we had to pay first, fill after. A difficult procedure this, as one is never sure how many gallons will fit, and the price here is so low! Helen paid for $25 worth - which we juuust squeezed in, enough for 550 miles.
We drove across the desert, and found ourselves below sea-level, and the temperature at 100°F in Death Valley as we sped along in our hot little metal box. It is advised not to use the Aircon or your engine may blow up. We really felt for the early settlers, observing the miles of sparse sage brush scrub - one low scrubby bush every 10 feet, populated by scorpions, lizards and rattlesnakes among other less noisy serpents. We saw a couple of coyotes to our delight.
I had thought the driving part of this trip would be boring, but the scenery is so variable and always amazing that it is a pleasure. Now we are at Lone Pine and staring up at the Sierra Nevada with heavy snow.
The first picture is Zabriskie Point, a turn-out (layby to us). The foreground is old lake-bed sediments, rich in borax, which they used to haul out with a cart pulled by 20 mules. In the distance is Badwater - the lake and the lowest point in the USA. Next is the coyotes, then the Sierras from our hotel in Lone Pine. "John Wayne slept here," along with many others as they made the westerns that graced the silver screen. The Alabama Hills, shown below, are just out of town and make an ideal backdrop with the high Sierras behind.
Manzanar Internment CampManzanar is a few miles north of Lone Pine. Now it is a memorial to the Japanese - Americans who were interned during the war. Here in one of the hottest places in America, and in winter the coldest, the US army imprisoned 10,000 Americans in thin plank huts with holes in the roof.
Anyone of Japanese descent living on the West Coast ie: from California, Washington, Oregon, and Arizona was put into these camps. 120,000 people were uprooted to a dozen camps all across America. Men, women and children, including many people of Japanese descent born in America, were given a few days to pack and then shipped off for four years, until the war was ended. |