twisting roads towards the Sequoia National Park

Written by Michael Zangerle on 06 November 2012. Posted in USA

Well you shouldn’t trust your GPS and check the route first. So it happened that we got on a crazy narrow, windy street going up on 1500 m (5000 ft) and down on 600 m (2000 ft). This road was definitely not so suitable for our 5^th Wheel and after 5 hours sweating we made it to a nicer road.

Arriving at the Park we left our 5th Wheel at the campground and enjoyed the mountainous road without the trailer.

Standing in front of those giant Sequoia trees was just astonishing. Even if the Sequoia is not the tallest tree in the world it is the biggest in volume. Those old gigantic trees surrounding us are between 2000 and 3500 years old.

Their tough and fire-charred bark is the secret for their age. During a big fire the seeds open up and other trees burn down. Without the other trees surrounding them they got sun and water to grow bigger and wider.

The Park is black bear country and we found warning signs everywhere. We even had metal storage boxes at the campgrounds and parking lots to keep the food out of the car. Bears like especially baby seats so you shouldn’t leave it in the car. But how likely is it to spot a bear?

And suddenly we saw three black bears. Two stayed really close (about 40 m / 130 ft) and where busy eating acorn. So we enjoyed their company with an Australian group with travel guide for over 45 minutes while the bears where eating and climbing up the trees.

This was just fantastic and definitely our highlight!

Death Valley

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 03 November 2012. Posted in USA

We arrived at Badwater, which is the lowest point in the USA. It is 84 m (282 ft) below sea level. We had to stop once in a while to cool down the breaks of our truck but luckily the Ford also has good motor breaks.

The salt crusted lake without water seemed to be snow and the surrounding mountains had so many different colors due to the different minerals.

Our perfect timing left us in a totally packed park. Thanks to the reopening celebration of the Death Valley Visitor Center the park offered free entrance amd some events. At least we got lucky with a little show of 22 mules pulling a huge water tank and two trailers for mining – like in the old days.

We found a nice sleeping spot just outside the park and enjoyed the stars with temperatures below zero degrees Celsius (32 Fahrenheit).

Dreamworld Las Vegas

Written by Nadine Zangerle on 02 November 2012. Posted in USA

After the boarder we got street maps and information about points of interest at the Mesquite visitor center. When I got back to the car I just wondered about our lopsided 5th wheel. And what was this next to one of the tires?

Yep, one of our springs was broken. So let’s drive slowly to a mechanic. Since it would take two days to fix the springs (let’s do them all) we booked two rooms at the Circus Circus in Las Vegas. So off we went to the city of lights.

It happened that we arrived on Halloween. At Fremont Street Experience – at the old strip – we saw crazy costumes, good live music and party all night long. But the real illusion is the strip itself.

Strolling through Paris, New York and Venetia we also made a quick stop in Egypt and the Caribbean. At the Casinos you could hear the slot machines clinging and check out for a game of poker and roulette.

During daytime Las Vegas is not really an eye catcher so we drove to the Hoover Dam. This massive dam supplies 7 states but it was strange to see the low water level due to the extensive draught.

Back on the strip we saw volcanoes and water fountains next to a pirate show. It was just crazy. After two days we left the city of illusions, picked up our 5^th wheel and headed towards Death Valley.

More Articles...