Death Valley, California, USA

Not long after leaving Lone Pine we wound down through dawn’s shadows and entered Death Valley fearing no evil. We saw the sunrise over the Valley, a ruggedly beautiful place, and parched with a capital P. Makes Woomera look like the Daintree. It’s a fascinating place with weird landforms and colours, and well worth a drive through. We came to Badwater, the lowest point in the USA, and so named by an early explorer who couldn’t get his mule to drink from the only spring for miles around. So he called the place Badwater, thinking the water was “bad”. But a high salt content was the real reason for the animal’s refusal. The mule may have been stubborn but it wasn’t stupid. We emerged from Death Valley and stopped at a small town just outside the park for our picnic lunch, enjoying the passing parade of motor-homes, fifth-wheelers and grey-haired easy-rider types on their Harleys passing through. Having made faster progress than anticipated, we decided to head straight for Las Vegas.