Other states, other lives, other souls

Unless you are a hundred miler with a strong heart, do not visit Death Valley in the summer!  This amazing national park is best visited in late fall, midwinter or early spring.  I have visited twice—once in February and more recently around Thanksgiving.  What makes it inexpensive is that you can take advantage of cheap flights to Las Vegas, rent a car and drive to the park within two hours.  Tent camping makes it super cheap and you don’t have to worry about getting rained on—only 2 average inches of rainfall per year. Check the weather anyway, because climate change has even touched Death Valley and flash floods can happen with less than two inches of rain. There are nine campgrounds and no reservations are needed. We added a stop at Valley of Fire on the way, on a friend’s recommendation, and were not disappointed.

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When I was little, we watched Death Valley Days, the longest running western ever shown on TV. It was sponsored by Twenty Mule Team Borax, a product mined in Death Valley.  I recently watched the Netflix movie by the Coen Brothers: The Ballad of Buster Scruggs. It’s an ode to American Western tropes consisting of 6 unrelated stories.  A bit more sophisticated than Death Valley Days, with a great sound track.   Still, visiting Death Valley is the real deal.  Make your own sound track.

On our first road trip in February, back in the day, four of us were driving a Valiant Slant 6 sedan along the gravel roads when a rock popped up and pierced the gas tank.  A stream of gas about the width of a pencil started leaking.  We panicked.  No phones, no water, no people.  We headed back to the town at a steady pace and rolled into a gas station before hitting empty.  As I recall, the attendant fixed it by putting a wad of gum against the hole from the inside.  It seemed to do the trick for the remainder of the trip. UPDATE: An old friend on the first trip corrected me, saying that the chewing gum story was apocryphal. Death Valley Eddy, the mechanic, actually fixed it with a welding torch, while smoking a cigar!  Our group hightailed it to the nearest shade, well out of the range of the possible explosion

The desert wild flowers were sensational in February and I have a special memory of walking Mosaic Canyon, running my hands along the narrow smooth marbled walls as we threaded our way through.  I also remember walking through Zabriskie Point, a miniature colorful mountain range of sandstone.  It was 80 degrees, my favorite temperature, with a slight breeze.  Being less respectful of our national heritage in those days, we picked up a rock the size of a deflated soccer ball in a cave, hurled it to the ground, and discovered a beautiful geode inside. Do not do that now!

What’s so great about Death Valley?  It is a place of extremes. It’s the hottest, driest place on Earth. Altitude ranges from below sea level to 11,000 ft. plus. It’s geologically varied with beautiful rock formations, interesting human history, fun hiking and slot canyoneering. It’s a one-of-a-kind desert in the US.  Scan the website to get familiar with what the park has to offer before you go. Watch a few old episodes of Death Valley Days on YouTube.  Wallow in Western nostalgia or see how the stories about the place change, depending on what ethnicity you were in the 1800s. Check out this site for flora and fauna: http://www.visitcalifornia.com/feature/death-valley-plants-animals. If you go in February, you might witness a ”superbloom” of wildflowers that only happens occasionally.

If that is not enough excitement, drive back a day before your flight home.  Spend a night in a gaudy casino hotel (I recommend New York, New York).  The owner Kirk Kirkorian who developed New York, New York, is a fascinating Armenian Horatio Alger. See a show. Don’t gamble, especially at the Sands. Sheldon Adelson doesn’t need another million to give to the GOP.