Our 2006 Inaugural Bus Trip Part 6 Tuesday March 22, 2016
The following post was made from Shoshone CA. This was our first visit to Shoshone, but not the last. We love it there. It is so quiet and laid back. We often said that a visit to Death Valley would have been very low on our bucket list. Turns out it is an amazing place that a person could take many days to explore.
I have attached two photos from the campground. One of the photos shows the hot springs pool. It is not all that hot, but the water circulates at a very high rate and it is very clean. The campsite is not much to brag about, but it was quiet and very low key. Besides that, we don’t care much for fancy campgrounds
Here is post 6 of that wonder 2006 trip:
Hello from Shoshone CA.
Thursday evening March 30, 2006. Sixth travelogue of this trip.
Well, this is supposed to be the relaxing part of the trip and to a degree it is. We got to the campground in Shoshone around noon Sat. We did some general work on the internet and then went into town for a nice dinner. When I say town, that is a stretch. The population is 100 according to the sign and the whole town is owned by one person. The campground is very quiet and nice. We chose it because it had a hot spring (from the book), but it turned out to be a very nice, fairly large swimming pool fed by a warm spring. The temperature is said to be about 92 degrees, but we think it is a bit colder than that. We have been in the pool several times and it is great for both of us, as I can swim laps.
Sunday we toured Death Valley. Our first thought is that it would just be a desert. It turned out to be one of the most beautiful places we have been. The terrain varies with every curve in the road. Salt flats, snowy mountain ranges, gorgeous rock formations, and the list goes on. It was simply fantastic. We even got to tour an old ghost town. Death Valley is famous for two major items. The first is that it is the lowest point in the US (282 feet below sea level) and borax mining with the ore being transported by the famous 20 mule team wagon trains.
Death Valley has a special memory for me. My dad used to draw a “cartoon” for the Kansas City Star (and other papers) called “Wherezit”. I think I still have the US Registered Trademark papers for the name. In any case, I have often recalled one of his items that asked the question: In what state is the highest and lowest elevation located? (and had the wording that said something about them being within 50-100 miles of each other). At that time there were only 48 states and the answer was CA with Mt Whitney (14,494) feet and Death Valley (minus 282 feet)
Monday we went to a very fun place called the China Ranch. In the middle of this mostly desert, sequestered away in a canyon, is a true oasis. The ranch is famous for raising dates. There are probably 100 date palms, some dating back to 1920. They produce thousands of pounds of dates each year. They are famous for their “date shakes”. We went two days and had date/banana shakes and they sure tasted great. We also bought several of their date/white chocolate cookies (also great). The owner is the postmaster at the Shoshone Post Office. I have talked to her several times about the history of the ranch.
Tuesday we went to Pahrump NV which is about 30 miles away. We scouted out campgrounds, had lunch, and Pat dropped a few “electronic coins” in the slots. We were not impressed by Pahrump.
The reason we are scouting out campgrounds is that our favorite campground in Primm NV is now closed. We want something in NV (for the slots). We are now thinking that we may go north a bit to Beatty NV. I have an internet friend that is there and we may get a chance to me him. That would also put us close to the north east entrance to Death Valley and we may go back into the park to see a couple of thing we missed and to see if the wildflowers will come out after the rain.
Did I mention rain? Death Valley averages 2 inches per year, and for two days this week it rained a bunch and was pretty cool. I would guess we got at least ½ of an inch – probably more. When I read this to Pat, she said I should add that the weather here has been beautiful. It is in the high 70s during the day and quite cool in the evening. Overall, a very special place that will be on our “must return” list.
Wednesday we each did a bunch of catching up on business items. Today I finally got around to installing the tire pressure monitoring system and did a couple of other items on the bus. The bus continues to function very well. We have not discovered any significant problems. There are some things that need work when I return, but nothing that affects our trip.
The pool has been fun and has given me some business related contacts. One person owned a trucking business and we talked at length about my engine and transmission and he wanted to know more about our tire pressure monitoring system for his trucks. Today we met the neatest couple who live in northern CA where they are completely self-sufficient (no phone or electricity). Her business is making hats and we think she does very well. I would urge you to visit her website: www.gottahaveahat.com. Her hats are fantastic and I need to put one on my wish list. We did a lot of talking about small business and she said that her business took off after she advertised on Google. The following paragraph contains the details and the action we took.
Today, I talked to some folks who have established a pretty successful online business. One of their key growth factors was advertising on Google.com. It seems to me to be very effective. I set up three categories: fire extinguishers, Doran tire pressure monitors and my EG-400 fire detection system. The program is pretty simple. I entered key words for each category. If someone types in that key word, my ad will show up at no cost. If they click on my web link, I pay $.30 with a total cost limit of $10. per day (both can be modified at any time). To try it, type in "engine fire" in the search engine and you should see my ad. I can move the ad up the list by committing to more money per click. I get full statistics of each hit and which key word/phrase triggered the click. Seems pretty slick to me.
Judy sent our mail to general delivery at the Shoshone post office. If it shows up tomorrow, we will probably move to Beatty. If not, we will stay her a few more days and maybe commute to Pahrump to get Pat a gambling fix.