Tom's National Park Adventure

Today was supposed to be a travel day, with my going to the Visitors Center at Death Vally National Park to get my Stamp at the end of the day.

Well…….It almost worked out that way. The day started out good. I woke up, got all packed and was on the road by 7:30AM. I drove for around six hours and arrived at The Longstreet Hotel and Casino as planned around 2:00PM. I went in and checked into my room, got the key and started to drive to the National Park. The funny thing was…..

When I tried to get directions on my phone…..Neither Google maps or the other map program I have on my phone could give me directions….Strange…..i was able to get directions from the GPS in the car and it told me that I was around 22 miles away and it would take about 35 minutes to get there.

I drove about 6 or 7 miles and then ran into this

‘I was pretty excited to go to Death Valley since it had rained there recently. I was excited …..because I thought I might get to see something that doesn’t happen very often. The desert blooming! Looks like that won’t happen for me on this trip anyway.

The area in and around Death Valley received over a years worth of rain in one day due to the freak hurricane that came through the area just a few days ago. The Highway Patrolman explained that the water caused flash floods and obliterated 5 miles of the highway leading into the park. I asked him if he knew of an alternative way into the park and he didn’t!

So I returned to the hotel and did some research only to find out that they have in fact closed the park two days ago due to all the damage caused by the flooding.

So now I am figuring out how to proceed from here. Apparently the hurricane has wreaked havoc on pretty much most of Southern California. There are many road closures which makes the next few day very interesting.

I am back at the hotel now…..

I just ate a nice meal in the restaurant. I am so looking forward to using the shower. Then Im heading to bed. The drive tomorrow will be 7 1/2 hours to the campground in Sequoia National Park. Then I get to drive from there to Kings Canyon National Park to get a stamp there. It will take at least another 2 to 21/2 hours to get there, so another 5 hours of driving. (Due to road closures) Tomorrow is going to be a very long day!

If you are looking for todays picture with Diane in it…..I didn’t take one . I could see an appropriate spot for one. Besides….It was 106 degrees out there this afternoon!