The clock was ticking... we had one day left to get to Vegas to pick up our friends Sarah and Matt, who would be joining us for a portion of the trip. The plan was to drive through Death Valley National Park and on to the Las Vegas airport by 7pm.
We got started early, and made the necessary stop at Badwater Basin, which, at 282 feet below sea level, is the lowest point in North America. There is a small pool of water in the salt flats, that horses would refuse to drink because it was too salty, hence it was given the name "bad water".
We took the "Artist's Palette" drive and saw the colorful mountains along the winding road. It was a little tight in places, but Cubby did great!
On our way out of the park, we saw some signs for a "Special Event" happening that day. We stopped to ask what was going on, and found out that they were having a 20-mule team demonstration. They used to use mules to carry wagon loads of Borax out of Death Valley to the railway. The loads were so heavy they needed 20 mules to do it - and this made the mule train so long that the last 6 mules had to jump the chain in order to make a turn - quite a spectacle! This is where the name 20 Mule Team Borax comes from.
After watching the mules, we jumped back in the car - on our way to Las Vegas!! We made it to Sin City with not much time to spare, but we managed to scope out a parking lot behind a restaurant where we could stay the night before we picked up Sarah and Matt. Las Vegas was crazy - an endless blur of lights and sounds.
Obviously, what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas, so I won't go into much detail here... but I will divulge that we all got a little sucked in to the video poker machines and lost some money. Our other adventures in Vegas will remain a secret... things that may or may not include such scandalous activities as....laundry!!!
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