The Mojave Desert

We left Yosemite on Wednesday, September 11 to journey south down US 395 and the Owens Valley of California. Here, we were getting our first real taste of the desert: dry, hot, and unchanging for miles on end. We made an unplanned stop soon outside the park in Bishop, CA: something had happened to the van brakes during the Yosemite visit that caused them to go slightly soft, and I thought it was best to get it fixed ASAP. I tried a couple of fixes on the car outside of an O’Reilly auto parts store with no luck – so we took it to a small shop to get looked at.

Fortunately for us, only a rear adjuster had broken, causing one rear wheel drum to go out of adjustment – but it would take until the next morning for the new part to arrive at the shop. This gave us an unexpected day of downtime in the small town, most of which we spent writing, planning, and drying out our camping gear from the Yosemite showers. The next morning, the part was installed, and the van was back to normal!

Our first stop driving across the Mojave Desert to Vegas was Death Valley. We drove up and down various basins and ranges on the way, with the rock changing color from grey to brown to red. We also passed the Mojave’s signature sight: huge patches of Joshua trees stretching out across the sand.

Joshua trees in a Mojave basin

We drove through the valley but did not turn off to see Badwater Basin, the lowest elevation point in the United States. More or less, after an hour driving through it, we got the point: it was extremely hot, extremely sunny, and below sea level. The fact that the valley is a national park and tourist destination is somewhat strange to me. The valley is as hot, barren, and inhospitable as you would imagine it to be.

Death Valley

The road through Death Valley

After passing more desert and Joshua trees, we crossed into Nevada and made it to Las Vegas. Our visit here was short: we would camp outside the city at Lake Mead, so we only had about two hours to walk around.

Vegas rising from the desert

We parked and walked down and back a large portion of the strip. I figured the Vegas crowd would be a mostly nighttime crowd, but no: the streets were packed. Rough-looking people wore shirts and handed out cards advertising “Girls Direct 2 U.” Casinos lined the streets, including their high-rise hotel attachments. We walked through the MGM casino; it was upscale, extravagant, and overwhelming. Strangest of all, it all sits and operates in the middle of the desert. (To complete our experience, Jenna and I both bet $5 in an electronic roulette machine. Naturally, we did not win and lost all of it.)

Driving into "the strip"

Like most big, touristy areas we have visited, there was a plethora of odd attractions around, including the world’s largest M&M wall (so they claim).

We headed over to Lake Mead as the sun set to camp for the night. The next day, on Friday, we would make a long and more direct drive to San Diego than we originally planned, getting our lost day back and making it back to the California coast for the weekend!