Day 8 - On to Sequoia, well almost

 Miles driven through Day 8

 Dust blowing across the road

 Dust obscurring the mountains on the road to Hwy 395

 Windmills on the road to Bakersfield

 Good bug splat

 Another good one

 KOA Campground campsite and clean car

Miles driven today

Today's bug count: Approximately 30 with some nice big ones on the way to Bakersfield

Today did not go exactly as planned as I'm sure many of them on this trip will be. I was awakened at 3 am by the arrival of a wind storm with gusts that must have been in the 40 mph range. I wondered if I and my tent were going to become part of the landscape of tumbleweeds blowing across the valley. The tent bobbed and weaved like a prize fighter. It bent and sage and did everything but break apart. After about two hours of that, around 5:15 am as it started getting daylight, I got up, dressed and fixed my coffee, inside the tent, and planned to start breaking camp early, knowing the wind was going to be a problem taking down the tent and folding the tarp. I sent my son, Kyle a text, wishing him a happy birthday (his 35th).  I started at 6 am and finished at 8:15am most of that time on the tent and tarp. At one point, I had my sleeping bag on the car between the open trunk and back windshield. A gust of wind came up closing the trunk and my sleeping bag began rolling across the campsite driven my the wind. I chased it down and put it in the trunk until I finished with the tent and tarp.

After everything was secured and packed away, I headed up to the Furnace Creek Resort and paid $5 for the use of the showers. It felt good to get all the dust and dirt off, but I also realized that I was tired already. I guess the combination of about 5 hours sleep and wrestling with the wind had zapped me. After I showered I went to the General Store for a snack and some drinks to take on the road. I left Death Valley around 9:30 at least two hours later than planned. I told Samantha where we were going and the poor girl seemed to be confused, because she took forever "Calculating". I finally headed on out toward Stove Pipe Wells while she figured it out. We had to go that way anyway.

As I drove toward Stove Pipe Wells and then on to Panamint Springs heading west out of Death Valley, I encounter a dust storm, part of the high winds that had blown in during the night. I was glad I picked Furnace Creek to camp, since the camp at Stove Pipe Wells was under the dust storm and would have made my ordeal even worse than it was. Praise the Lord for small blessings.

As I headed toward Panamint Springs I began to be concerned that I had enough fuel to make it out. I had forgotten that the exit west would be up hill and gas consumption would be higher. I made it to Panamint Springs and they had a Shell station, which had premium gas at the bargain price of $5.78 per gallon. I bought $25 and continued on. I had to go over two mountain roads to get out of Death Valley each going up to 4000-5000 feet elevation and then back down. Just a mile or two from Panamint Springs, Samantha wanted me to take a road I wasn't sure of so we continued on the road we were on. She became mildly annoyed at my decision, stating "Recalcutlating", but then she liked the route I was taking from there on.

I stopped in Bakersfield, CA for a quick lunch at Burger King and then continued on to Visalia, CA where I have a reservation at a KOA campground. I arrived around 3 pm and got a nice spot under a tree with an electrical hookup and set up camp, everything going up with no issues. Weather was mid 60s and light breeze. It was too late to go up to Sequoia National Park, about an hour away, so I went and got gas for the car ( a more reasonable? $4.35) and a car wash to wash all the dust off from the previous 2-3 days. After that I found a Marie Callender restaurant and had a nice supper. I am now back in my tent posting this entry with my little electric space heater keeping the chill of which is suppose to be in the 40s tonight. I even have WiFi at my tent so I can put these posts up!

Tomorrow morning I will head for Sequoia National Park and plan to spend the day there seeing all that I can see in one day. Sunday I will drive on in to San Francisco to see my daughter Kristen and her family and be there for my granddaughter's (Mary Judah) eighth birthday on Monday. So, later gator.