Pahrump
Hotel: Best Western cost $75
With a grin of contentment and tired legs it was back into the Mustang the next morning for the run to Pahrump, I have nothing to say about Pahrump, zero, nada, zilch, this was merely a means to an end to get us close to the entrance of Death Valley except that hotel was exceptionally clean and the townsfolk a little bit weird! Sorry, if you live here please feel free to enlighten me.
Death Valley was always going to be a drive through for us the way the trip planned out on our way to Yosemite, a one day mammoth drive from Pahrump through the valley and the Sierra mountains to Delano before heading north to Yosemite. With the Tioga pass closed at this time of year our route was obviously longer than someone doing this in summer.
Only somebody from somewhere as wet as Northern Ireland could pitch up in Death Valley in the rain and the temp at 4c, don't try and tell me it's one of hottest, baddest, meanest places on the planet, I was 'foundered'!
Below sea level!
Small town America
When you plan things on a map the reality can be somewhat unexpected, we thought this would be all about what we would see driving through Death Valley but the real scenery was on the drive through lake Isabella, Kernville and crossing the Sierra on the 155, however when you are at 6000ft in a Mustang with no snow chains during a freak snowfall things can take on a different meaning!
I had to get out and ask a snowplough driver if was safe to continue......
Just like home....
Orange Grove near Delano
That was a drive that took us through every scenic vista imaginable, total time to Yosemite, 11 hours!
When we got checked in I had a well earned tipple of duty free Bushmills whiskey listening to this flowing by the balcony.......welcome to Yosemite!
