Odometer: 102,266
6:45: after a short nights sleep we get up and definitely decide to leave Las Vegas. We have seen enough of this crazy place in the middle of the desert.

At around 9:00 we head off towards Death Valley. We fill the tank up with gasoline and buy some more water and Coke. About one hour from Las Vegas we pass Pahrump the last big city we see for today. They even have an Albertson and a Starbucks. We cannot resist and treat ourselves to another Frappucino, buy some food for the day.

We follow a sign to Crystal Reservoir where we surprisingly find a crystal blue lake – the ideal place to have a picnic and take a short nap.
Death Valley is indeed honoring its name. It’s hot like in an oven. It’s hillier than I expected and it’s displaying its beauty to the fullest under the clear blue sky. First the elevation falls down to 200 ft below sea level and then it goes over the Towne Pass at nearly 5000 ft. Our Toyota is struggling but we manage to get up the hill with about 60 mph and without overheating. Marco compares the landscape up here with the moon, which probably doesn’t look much different. Because of a closed road we have to take a detour of another 40 Miles. Eventually we decide to take the road to Ridgecrest and spend the night there in a brand new room with DSL. After a quick dinner at Sizzler’s we hit the pillows.