February 23 - 24, 2023 Shoshone to Tecopa, California

 50's, very windy, mostly cloudy, rainy and snowy.

James and I hiked with the B2B hikers from Shoshone to Tecopa. Judy, Judy and James carried full backpacks, I had a day pack. It was windy with some rain and snow. James and Judy hiking from Shoshone to Tecopa.

We found remnants of a weather balloon. We couldn't tell if it was Chinese or not. But it was old enough to not have printed circuit boards. Heading toward Tecopa. 

We almost got out of the wind for lunch. Walking on the salt flats toward Tecopa.

A huge rain cloud approaching toward us. Salt flats and clay hills. 

Judy and James ahead, almost to Tecopa. We stayed at the Tecopa Hot Springs resort. This was our room, directly across the hall from 3 wonderful hot spring tubs. 

Sunset. We had dinner at Steak and Beer. It moved into the old Bistro building which is about 100 feet from our rooms. It was yummy. Chef Joe was cooking. 

Judy and Judy leaving in the am toward Badwater, Death Valley. Another masterpiece.  It is made from dyed pine needles, polyester thread, glass beads, blue magnetite elephants and glass center I fused. It is 6 x 3 inches. 

We were going to drive the bus down to Death Valley today, but a lot of rain is predicted and we did not want to get stranded down there if the roads closed. We will go down on Sunday after the storm. We went to Pahrump to resupply, get a chip in the windshield fixed and get fuel. The was snow as far down as the Nopah and Spring Mountains. Getting a hole drilled into the windshield to fix the chip. John had enough fuel points from grocery shopping at Smiths to get 60 cents off a gallon for the whole fill up. 55 gallons at $3.69!