Hello from Shoshone, CA
Drafted: Wednesday November 1, 2023 (second post of this travelogue)
Posted: 11/20/2023
We are staying in the Shoshone Village Campground (Google Map). When they say “village” they mean it. The sign going into town says population 35 and the last census says that the population is 18 {big grin}
We have stayed here a few times in the past – mostly when we were in between trade shows in the California area. This area is very special to us as it is remote (does not even have a cell phone signal). The campground is not all that fancy but it has everything we need and not being fancy is actually part of the fun of staying here. In addition, it is in a beautiful area.
Shoshone is at the southern tip of Death Valley. I’ve said before that going to Death Valley would have been about the last thing on my bucket list if I had one. However, the last few times we’ve been here have been extremely rewarding. It is an amazing place with unbelievable variable terrain. We toured part of one day and visited a couple of sites. One was the famous site of Bad Water which is 282 below sea level. Another site was Furnace Creek visitor center. They have a great outdoor museum with lots a very old equipment from the early days of mining Borax include part of the 20 mule team equipment.
Yesterday we visited another favorite place: China Ranch. This is a date farm which is really an oasis in the middle of a desert. They have a huge variety of date palms from all over the world. In addition, they have lots of fun date products – mostly bakery type products. They are also famous for their delicious date shakes.
It was difficult for us to make the decision to come to this campground because a major flood in August of this year damaged many of the local roads. One of the roads that is still closed is the road that goes from Shoshone to Baker California. It is a is a direct route that connects with I 15 and leads into the Los Angeles area. Instead, we have to backtrack through Pahrump (almost to Las Vegas) before we can connect with I-15 and then head to Los Angeles That adds about 100 miles to our trip. But we just could not pass on staying in this campground with all of its wonderful memories.
The August flood also severely impacted Death Valley. Many of the roads were washed out and some continue to be closed. We had to stop for construction with a 10 to 15 minute delay. However, most of the roads are now in reasonably good condition with exception of a few that have not yet been repaired.
The last time that we stayed here was in the bus and we were using a satellite dish connection to Hughes Net (a miserable service). There was no cell service at that time and there is only intermittent cell service now. Now, with the StarLink satellite connection we have not only great internet connection, but also good cell service via our internet. Once in a while we will get a brief dropout as the system transfers from one satellite to another.
As noted, StarLink satellite connection continues to be a winner. It is very easy to set up and we are able to stream TV via YouTube TV. All of our favorite television shows (including Denver shows) are recorded during the day and are available for viewing in the evening.
That is all for this post.