Death Valley National Park
Today may also forever be known as our day of drama in Death Valley.
We got a late start as we waited on a tech to fix our trailer battery and then caved, went to Camping World, and bought a gas generator for our upcoming dry-camping (no-hook up) camping nights. The solar set-up that I thought would work turned out to not be compatible with our trailer’electrical system, which is what caused our battery issue last week.
In addition, Ben woke up and twisted his neck in a funny way and was sort of in traction for the day, stuck in the car, and listless.
Eventually, we got on our way for a long day of driving into California, by way of Death Valley National Park.
The temperatures were HOT. Okay, so not as hot as it could have been, I know. Had we done this later this week it would have been 120. But it was plenty hot enough around 104 degrees. Plus, it was windy. SUPER WINDY, like a hair dryer following you around everywhere you went.
We couldn’t convince the kids to get too excited about the park, even though several Star Wars scenes were filmed here. Death Valley is the stand-in for Luke’s home planet, Tatooine. Frankly, I didn’t really mind. I didn’t want to leave the air-conditioned comfort of the car either. Plus, the pavement was so hot, we couldn’t take Toby out of the car unless we carried him, so we weren’t really going to spend much time exploring anyway.
I decided to take the drive slow and steady. There was a big climb, with twisty roads, and strong winds. All together, that’s a very bad combo for a car towing a trailer. Plus, add in the heat – cars notoriously overheat during a climb out of the bottom of the basin. There are signs that advise you to turn off your AC to prevent your car from breaking down.
We were doing great, little engine that could style, but I noticed a green jeep behind me. So, I pulled over to let the car pass. We got a friendly wave from the couple as they pulled past.
Not five minutes later, we rounded a bend, at the end of a long, windy, descent, and saw that same jeep was off the road, not on the shoulder, but further into the sand and bushes. Then, with horror, we realized that the roof of the jeep was no longer attached to the car at all, but laying about 20 feet in front of where the car was stopped. Plus, we realized that debris was scattered in several directions. It suddenly became clear that they had lost control and flipped over, off the road.
We pulled over to help them. We were the first people to come upon the scene. We were so lucky to have cell reception in that little pocket of the park and Eli reached 911 and shared our location by GPS. Miraculously, the two passengers, a couple from Utah, had relatively minor injuries. The man had some pretty deep cuts in his arm from the shattered windshield and passenger window, but that appeared to be the worst of it.
Eli and I stayed with them for nearly an hour until a paramedic and park ranger arrived. I helped the man clean up his cuts, checking for bits of glass, before we applied compression with a towel (a gift from Toby the dog).
With the help of another couple who stopped when they saw the accident and pulled over, we disconnected their car battery, made sure everyone drank water, and stayed calm. I was very flattered because I overheard the other helper, who I later learned was a nurse, say to her husband something like, “It’s okay. The other nurse has it handled” meaning…me. Thank you E360 and Red Cross Basic First Aid Training.
Later, after Eli and I left the scene, we both agreed that it was really fortunate the couple was okay, and basically the whole incident could be a commercial for the safety of driving a Jeep. I believe that virtually any other car in a similar accident would have caused much more serious injuries.
We finished the ride without incident and finally rolled into Bishop, California, around dark.
