The new journey begins

When we started our trip we had two bags and two rucksacks which fitted very neatly in the wallowing pig.  

After a month in the wallowing pig we seem to have accumulated a lot more stuff!  

I am worried how this is all going to fit into a rental car....

No problems!

We had to return the pig to Las Vegas, but this time round we knew exactly what to do - just drive straight through!

Given the boiling temperatures of the last couple of days and the extreme weather warning for Death Valley we decide to stay in a motel just outside Death Valley and drive through very early in the morning.

We decided to stay in a town called Beatty and chose the #1 motel on trip advisor. (There wasn't an extensive list to choose from).

It didn't look too bad to start with, but then we noticed a couple of moths, and then a couple more.

Very soon, after shaking the curtains and the bed covers we found we had to despatch around 30 - 40 moths. 

They continued to appear at the rate of about 5 per 1/2 hour, it seemed like they were hatching out of nowhere.  By midnight as we were trying to sleep we calculated that by 5am there would be another 50 moths.  We did not sleep well that night!

We escaped the motel just before 6am.

We were in Death Valley by 6.30 am

The temperature was a balmy 80 deg, but as we descended it grew hotter and hotter, by the time we were below sea level it was well over 100 deg

I was gutted to find that right in the middle of Death Valley was a beautiful motel.  I bet they didn't have en-suite moths.

We did attempt one very short hike in Death Valley.  Approximately 100 yards to see Zabriskie Point.  I was amazed to see two rest benches on the way up.

Although I didn't use the benches I found that I was gasping by the time I reached the top, which really surprised me, as we have done plenty of hikes and only the steepest have caused me to get a bit short of breath.  

The view was worth it though.

We were through Death Valley by 11 am and found that we didn't get fried.

We now had to head for Sequoia Park and decided to take the scenic route over the top of the Sierra Nevada mountains.  Whilst the scenery was absolutely stunning, changing from desert to pine forest to orange groves, it did take rather a long time.  (Hours and hours).  Stuart wondered what the road had been built for, I decided it had been built just for us, as there was nobody else on it.  I suspect there may have been a quicker route.

We were too late to get into Sequoia Park that night, so instead found a nice moth free motel in Visalia.

Flora and fauna of Death Valley

(I chose not to look too closely for the fauna)