Stovepipe Wells, and Mesquite Sand Dunes

The star gazing here in the darkest place, is amazing. Death Valley is considered the hottest, lowest, driest place in America. A beautiful night and a beautiful morning, as I headed down the mountain from Wildrose campsite. I would stay here again, without any question. I dodged plenty of poop in the road and I know that cattle are not part of this national park, but I couldn't help but wonder what animal leaves these piles, until I came across a herd of wild burros! What a treat to see them, and have them be so close to the road where I could stop and photograph. They could care less that I was there, but still seemed curious.

As I headed down the mountain, I felt my head in this elevation change, and it got a little bit warmer as I finally reached the main highway and headed nine miles east towards Stovepipe Wells. I was at my lowest point of gasoline, just below a quarter of a tank. It was $5.55/gallon, here two days ago, and now it is up to $6.76! Over a dollar per gallon raise, in just two days!!! I talked to someone at the campsite who said it was over $8.76 at Furnace Creek which is about 25 miles south. So, I prepaid at the counter, and gave her a $100 bill. And yes, it took every last dime of that, and it's just under full. Well, there is another first. I certainly hope this insanity stops soon, as no one would be able, or afford to leave their house! 

I went on to the Mesquite Sand Dunes, and did a little bit of hiking around on the dunes. It was definitely getting warmer so I didn't want to leave Jo Jo in the rv for too long. The dunes were lovely, and a good workout, and reminded me of my recent visit at pink coral sand dunes, back in October 2021. These were similar, yet more traditional sand color, and of course with the beautiful multicolored mountains, off in the distance, in all directions. I decided to wait on the Mosaic Canyon hike, until tomorrow, since it was already getting to be high noon. I checked into the Stovepipe Wells campsite and found an end of line site with an unobstructed view of the western mountains. Which was a great opportunity to see a sunset. I took time to do my second sketch of this vacation, towards the west mountains, which again is quite the challenge using a ballpoint pen. I had to basically improvise with all of the shadows and tiny details. This view would definitely have been better suited to paint, rather than sketch with a pen. But the pen has become my thing now, and is much more permanent and stable than using a pencil.

I did some mending, updating of my blog, editing my photos, and emailing a list of friends (off line) that I have been overdue to contacting. I watched a movie on my DVD. It was the animated film "Coco" which I saw in the theater. I found this copy in our local library which sells DVDs for a dollar. I have quite a collection of movies that I watch, when I cant get TV reception. Or when I'm in the middle of nowhere, and feel like a movie. Of course the end of the movie is quite the tear jerker but it's also a feel-good film which I really enjoyed. I've always felt that a lot of animated movies are better than regular Hollywood flicks. As an artist, I can appreciate the creativity and the skill and what it takes to create a film like this. I wish I could say it was a restful night's sleep, as slowly but surely, the winds picked up to rock and roll the Gypsy. 


















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