Wednesday, Jan 31 Sparks, NV to Stove Pipe Wells Campground (Death Valley National Park)

Hotel was great last night. Pretty cheap and everything in good condition. We got up early (6:00) since we had a long way to go to beat the storm and get to Death Valley. Starbucks was not open that early so Deb had to wait for her tea. McDonalds was open so Milo did not have to wait for his coffee.We skipped breakfast since it was not available at the cheap hotel and we had big dinners last night.
Google Maps got us out of Sparks and we stopped after 8am at a Starbucks for Deb;s tea. We also filled up with less expensive gas in Nevada before crossing into California. Rt 395 all the way to Lone Pine where we turn on Rt 139 to Death Valley.
Last September we did not do this upper section of Rt 395 so the first few hours were all new and interesting. Once we hit the turnoff to Markleeville it was familiar road and towns but heading south so the views were all new.

We stopped for lunch in Bishop at Jacks Cafe where we had been before. Breakfast for lunch, Milo’s favorite!
The road that drops into Mono Lake was spectacular. It was sunny for the most part but you could tell the clouds were coming over the Sierra Nevada along with the snow at high altitude and rain below.
We never did see any snow or rain today, but everybody was reporting a big “Pineapple Express” over most of California tonight.
We stopped at the Eastern Sierra Visitor Center at the Rt 139 turn to  Death Valley. There was a National Parks person and a Forest Service person so we quizzed them on what we should do. They were very cautious of course and recommended the Stovepipe Wells Campground which was 80 or so miles east. 

We backtracked a few miles to fill up with gas since we had no idea what the gas situation would be in the park and it was a big park. Better safe than sorry.
Rt 139 and then Rt 190 goes up over a summit then down into a deep valley then up over another summit then down into Death Valley proper. We had never been here so it was surprising how much mountain terrain we had to go through. I always though it was flat, hot and dry. It was a beautiful drive over the summits and we arrived about 4:00 at Stovepipe.
Deb got a message on her phone that I had left my Chromebook in the room. Crap!
I called back and they were wonderful. Verified the mailing/UPS address and they would send it by the end of the week, no charge. Wow!! He said they do it all the time. We will stay there again.

There are not more than a dozen campers here so we had our pick of sites. It’s a big flat dry clearing with rows and columns of “sites”. We picked a site on the end with good morning views which turned out to be a tent site. We chatted with the campground host and he said it was fine since we are all self contained. And there is almost nobody there. And it’s going to rain which means only nut jobs would be tenting here tonight. He thought we might see a half inch of rain and we were not in a flash flood place so we should be ok.
We walked around and checked out the store which has new coffee/capachino machines. Deb can even get a Chai Latte in the morning!
We saw the “Saloon” sign across the road so we went in and got a couple cocktails and chatted up the women behind the bar and guy from Chicago here on a photography group field trip. It’s great to meet strangers and get their stories.

Odometer = 22663