[VAC] 03/04/01 Sunday - EEWCRC

["Terry Tyler" <tylerbears@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>]

"Exploring East & West of the Colorado River Caravan"

Today is an open day to do anything we want. We leave Death Valley tomorrow. With rain in the
forecast for later this afternoon, flags were put away, jacks retracted and satellite put away.

Death Valley has a Visitor's Center and Museum with a great video show plus dioramas and displays.
Very enjoyable. Next, it was off to Mushroom Rock, Golden Canyon and the famous Artist's Drive. We
had heard about this unusual place with a 5' tall rock shaped like a mushroom and canyons of gold
colored walls. The road into the canyons appeared to be a short dead end path. At the lookout spot
called "Artist's Palette," the similarity to an actual artist's palette was striking. The slanted
wall was filled with dozens of different colored rocks (blues, greys, pinks, greens, maroons,
whites, blacks).

Thinking we had seen all there was to see, we continued along, expecting to be back on the main
highway shortly. Not so. The road narrowed dramatically and headed deeper into high canyons that
dwarfed our Van. The road was nothing more than old wagon path with a thin layer of macadam on it.

Each new rock wall changed colors as we drove from one canyon area to the next. The U-turns and left
or right perpendicular turns presented new paintings. We had never seen rock walls in colors this
bright. The early explorers in this part of the country must have awe struck when they first came
into this series of canyons. 

The twists and turns ended abruptly with a straight section going down to the main road. The show
was over and the artist remained back in the canyons to paint again another day. 

At the campsite, it was dinner on our own (lot of leftovers from the restaurant). Afterwards, with
rain in the offing, I hooked up, dumped and returned to a spot of high ground in our group area.
Others had done the same thing, but I hadn't noticed. Most of us are aware of how slippery and muddy
some sections of desert can become after a rain storm. 

Looking ahead, we filled out the Region XI Rally registration form and emailed it. We emailed Oasis
RV to confirm that their service staff would be at Casa Grande for any minor jobs we might need
done. At the driver's meeting, we learned the rain was still coming, but might not arrive until
after we rolled out in the morning.  

Terry
mailto:tylerbears@airstream.net