Tuesday November 16, 2004

Death Valley to Lone Pine, Cal

It's a bittersweet day. We emerged from the Valley of Death and that, in itself is worth celebrating. But we lost our car in Death Valley and in the bustle dealing with that, I didn't get much chance to walk. My plan of walking through Death Valley national park was the first thing to go. By the end, the three day walk was pared down to a half-day. And it's still strange not to have Ol' Metro out there waiting for us in the morning.

The good news: It only took a half-day to walk across death valley, which is only a small part of the park. It's really not a very wide valley. And we have a bunch of good Death Valley stories. More than we'll be able to publish this week. Plus, the walk is still on schedule since Death Valley was a side trip. The plan is still to finish Dec. 1 in Long Beach.

By the way, this was the first lost time on the entire eight-month trip. Until Saturday we had not lost a day to illness, car trouble, weather or family emergencies. So maybe I should stop moaning and celebrate our luck - so far.