Sept 24 2010-Beatty NV to Tulare CA via Death Valley NP

got out of Beatty pretty early Friday morning and first checked out Rhyolite ghost town 4 miles West of Beatty and on the way to our ultimate destination of Death Valley . Photos will follow once I am home will add them here. We both love ghost towns and old cemeteries so we have photos of both.

Then on to Death Valley. WOW beautiful drive. We drove out to Badwater Basin the lowest point in North America and the second lowest in the world ( only the Dead Sea is lower). Parked and walked out into it . We also checked out the Devil's Golf Course (more photos) and saw the neatest thing there like a spring coming up through the ground which is covered in salt of all kinds. Did the scenic Artist Drive through a canyon then drove on through into California on way to Tulare. Death Valley was incredibly miserably hot in the bottom of that valley, eyow doen't matter its a dry heat 110 is hot anywhere. Note to self my GOD gas is high in CA and it is SUPER HIGH in this national park over $4.30 a gallon thank God we didn't need to buy any for the Jeep Compass Archie has rented for this trip.

We drove across the Southern part of the Sierra Nevadas on way to Tulare. Talk about a spectacular drive. Lots of switchbacks though, high altitude driving but roads are all clear.

Today miracle of miracles the hotel reservation worked out , tomorrow we will drive over to Sequoia take a few photos then head to Lone Pine.

Texon, no its not an oil company

OK 4th day on the road, up early that Sunday (Feb 3rd) took a bunch of photos of Sherita's Borzoi then headed West via a scenic route through West TX instead of the interstate. 10 acres of property in Pecos County actually have my name on it, and have had the last 3 years but I've never seen it so with the goal of looking at it and taking a few photos and sightseeing on the way off I go.

I'm not sure how many fans of ghost towns there are out there but I love them. This is a cool one on the backway through the Permian basin. Texon, an old oil company town originally established in 1924 by the Big Lake Oil Company, and finally closed down in 1962 (the year I was born) after they had merged with a big oil company. Now it's just sun, sand and tumbleweeds.

Medicine Bow, WY

Medicine Bow, quaint name for a town of less than 250 situated at 6700 feet altitude on the great Overland trail. Once a cattle and mining boom town situated on the railroad, now classified as a ghost town in many books and internet sites. It has a rich history, and hotel (The Virginian) with real old West "flavor". Hope you aren't that attached to having a telephone, TV or bathroom in your hotel room.