Nestled high in the bosom of the Panamint Mountains, Wildrose Campground was just about perfect.
The picnic table was perfectly aligned to back Dexy up to, and the light from the tailgate made a perfect worklight at night.
I walked around the front of the van that morning, and let out a small "eep" when I saw the poor dead bird that we hit the previous night. I hadn't expected it to be still on the grill of the van.
Driving back down revealed the almost alien landscape that we blazed through int he darkness the night before.
A brief pit-stop to brush our teeth and splash some water on our faces, and one last look down at Death Valley. The temperature at this point was in the high 90's, but still not bad.
I took advantage of a few moments while Steph was washing up, and the dust on the van to make notes on just where Dexy and I had been thus far.
One more range to cross, the Inyo Mountains before turning due north for Gardnerville. At this point, it was normal to go up and down thousands of feet on twisty roads, and the stunning scenery became routine.
We pulled into Lone Pine with a hankering for some coffee (Steph) and pastry (both of us), so we found this great little coffee shop, the Alabama Hills Cafe. Another place I highly recommend you stop.
Lone Pine is a neat little place, with one straight main strip filled with weird little shops. It's touristy, but not in the same sense of other places. People still come here before heading into the hills for camping supplies, food and a last bit of civilization before heading off into nature.
Just a few miles from Death Valley and Badwater Basin lies Mt. Whitney, the highest point in the lower 48 states. It makes a neat counterpoint to the lowest point.
This is the reason I highly recommend Alabama Hills Cafe. This piece of pie was ginormous and delicious.
By this point in the trip, Dexy had been to four different National Parks and campgrounds, and was littered with taped on passes gently fluttering in the breeze.
Right on schedule, we arrived back in Gardnerville to sort through our gear, pick up Steph's scooter, say our goodbyes (for the third and final time) and head back West for San Francisco.
Dirty Dexy needed a bath before returning her to the car rental place. I was not about to pay whatever crazy fee they would charge me for having a dusty and dirty van.
I followed Steph back over the Sierra Nevada Mountains on another beautiful day.
We said our goodbyes near Stockton, CA. She is heading to stay with family in San Jose for a few months to recover from the first leg of her trip, while I headed on to San Francisco to fly back to Rhode Island.
Driving back into the sunset was both beautiful, and difficult, as it was hard to see.
I had averaged almost 25 miles per gallon in the rolling room, not too shabby for a large vehicle running the AC almost constantly at all ranges of speeds.
Final mileage: 2374, in almost 60 hours of driving. Not bad!
As I made my way to the airport, I thought back on all of the adventures I had on this trip, and thought to myself that it just couldn't get any better.
And then it did.
I had booked my flights through two major hubs, New York City and Atlanta, hoping that I might have the chance to volunteer my ticket. Wouldn't you know it, the red-eye flight from San Francisco to Atlanta on that Saturday night was completely jam packed. By the time it was all said and done, I had $500 in free travel vouchers, a place to stay for the night (a two room suite no less!), an unplanned day in San Francisco, and to top it all off, I was landing in Providence instead of Boston!
Now it really couldn't have gotten any better.
