9 - Death in the valley, life in the desert.
We spent the next week in two places that could not have been more different
- although they are within a couple of hours drive of each other. One is a
desolate place where civilization does not seem to have much impact - the
other is Death Valley.
The day that we left the Sierra Nevadas, having failed to find fame as
film producers in Movie Flats, we arrived in Death Valley National Park. We
stayed there for a couple of days, and then we moved on to Las Vegas where
we spent the rest of the week.
From natural to man-made, populated to deserted, noisy to quiet, our
travels often took us from the heart of the American countryside to the centre
of urban sprawls, sometimes within the same day. Waking up in the middle of
Death Valley and going to bed in the city that exists in non-stop daytime
(actually non-stop night time is probably more appropriate) was certainly the
most extreme example of this phenomenon.
When we left the national park after our two days there we also quite quickly
crossed over into a different state, Nevada. Straight away we were made
aware that we were 'not in Kansas any more'.
We stopped for petrol at the first place we came to, ‘Pahrump; Heart of
the new old west'. The petrol station looked normal from the outside, but when
Emma went through the plain door marked 'restrooms' she found herself in a
dark and smoke filled bar. People were gambling and signs advertised 'Taco
Tuesday - 10oz beer and two tacos for $1'. It was as if she had gone through