I'm not going to lie to you; departing DIA was not a piece of cake!
4am wake up call (but I had already been awake since 3:15am)
5am bus ride - full bus - in the snow and dark.
8am flight not technically delayed but due to blizzard conditions, near zero vis, blowing snow and complications getting flight crew to work on time, we were #50 (exaggerating of course) in line for deicing.
Deicing was fascinating though. I wasted LOTS of battery and memory documenting ground staff drowning us in orange spray; then coloring us green. Drowning themselves too.
As we waited in line for takeoff, my anxiety was being cultivated and overfed by weird screeching run-up noises, a strong smell of vinegar in the cabin and deteriorating conditions outside. I've flown a wee bit... And this was the first time I felt almost compelled to ditch airplane mode and send a last minute "in case I don't make it" message. The engine nearest me screamed like a wild animal just about to die as we climbed aggressively toward the west. Triggering? Just a bit.
Later, thousands of feet up in the sky over the Rockies the engine now "normal sounding" and the sun shining into my porthole, life seems back on track - mentally! <3
Rental car fears turned out to be unfounded and before long, I was headed out of Vegas in 'Beast' the 4-runner and driving into super interesting Beatty NV. Burros greeted me as I drove down main street... so I stopped to chat! FRIENDLY little buggers! 5 for the win!
Death Valley, just 8 miles up the road was cool at 58F.
Windy too. When you wish for a breeze to fling some sand and make it appear the sand dunes are dancing, but you get this...
... Is it a disappointment? No! It's what over-achievement looks like!
Regardless of whether I was downwind or upwind, every time I opened Beast's window/door, a sand dune hitched a ride. He's going to need a spa day at the end. As will I.
Santa Ana gusts from that wind event in Southern California today? Likely. A little more problematic than it played in my head, but by no means vicious. Just insidious. I had packed for most conditions but didn't imagine this and even if I had, I didn't own a haz-mat suit.
A half mile from Mesquite Flats there were road works - for flood damage. It was the last thing I expected here and yet there was ample evidence of the destructive path of sudden and heavy rains. Where does it go, though?
Even if/when it saturates Bad Water Basin and pools like a mini representation of the lake 2000 years ago, it's reconstituting pillars of salts and minerals. Undrinkable and I imagine toxic for the plants too.
Death Valley is aptly named.
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