Blog Update - Ghost Town, Death Valley and another Prius Story! Nov 3, 2014

Took another Sunday drive - this time to visit a Ghost Town and then another trip through a different part of Death Valley - a total of about 196.8 miles round trip!

Had a great day and took a few pics and another Prius Adventure! See below!



Stopped here for gas fill-up and took a short tour of the Brothel and Gift Shop - not near as nice as the Chicken Ranch and the girls had a few more miles on them, but the pricing was a little better, but I refrained!



Next stop was a small Ghost town Rhyolite out side of Beatty Nevada. Paved road all the way in so easy to stop and see, not a whole bunch left...but fun to see!



The Bottle House - made from thousands of beer bottles!







Then on to Furnace Creek and a great hamburger for lunch and a couple beers! Took a walk around!





Then a stop and walk at the "Mesquite Dunes"!





Then a stop at Zabriskie Point and a hike up to the overlook - nice long paved climb up...note how far away the parking lot is and how high! The view was amazing!







Now the Prius Story - I am convinced that all Prius Drivers are Morons!

Understand that driving the roads through Death Valley are not crowded this time of year...so vary sparse traffic. In some areas you can see ahead for miles...this was the case as I was driving in a particularly remote area. Way ahead I could see a tremendous dust cloud...as I neared the dust cloud, I realized it was a small car by the side of the road, as I got closer, lo and behold it is a Prius and it is parked on the side of the road directly facing a sign which reads "SOFT SHOULDER". There is an idiot pushing the back of the Prius and his wife is driving and spinning the wheels in the soft sand and digging the car deeper and deeper...this is what is generating the huge dust cloud!

So like an idiot, I figure I will stop and watch and maybe lend a hand....I pull in behind the Prius and get out and tell the husband to tell the wife to stop that they are just making it worse and I needed to be able to breath as the wind was blowing the dust right back in our faces...so they stop and I tell them that I will get my tow strap out and pull them back onto the pavement...the guy is a typical earth shoe wearing tree hugger and so is his wife, who finally gets out of the car. Tie dyed long dress and sandals and you guessed it she had dreadlocks....no bra, big old swaying boobs...so typical. And both were idiots! I pointed out the sign which was almost blocking their way out forward which said Soft Shoulders! He explained that they wanted to take a picture and did not see the sign until they stopped, took their picture then tried to drive out and obviously had a problem so she took the wheel and he tried to push...she had the front wheels hard left to miss the sign and this was adding enough resistance the the low powered piece of shit that it was just spinning in the soft sand and gravel...by the way the car was covered in light sandy dust.

I went back to the truck and got my tow strap out of the passenger side door pocket and proceeded to unroll it, looked for something firm underneath the piece of shit to hook to....found a frame member and looped the strap around it and hooked the hook back on the strap. Stretched the strap out and then pulled my truck a little closer and looped it around the front right tow hook on the Ford F-250! I told Moron to get them both in the Prius and for him to put it in neutral and straighten out the wheels and I would back them right out onto the pavement and for him to NOT do anything!

So I put it in reverse and tighten the strap up and start to pull, by now my back wheels are back on pavement, so no issue with traction...check my mirror to make sure no cars were coming and start to ease the Prius out of the sand...seems a little harder than I thought and again more dust??? WTF...Dingbat has the Prius in forward and is spinning the wheels against me...so I am pissed at how stupid this idiot is and decide if he wants a challenge I will pull the thing out or split it in half!! Needless to say it was not much of a challenge and soon they were back on hard ground and their little tires were chirping on pavement....I stopped and I motioned for him to stop....

Got out of the truck and went to his window and said shut the bitch down you idiot! The tow strap is still tight as a Nun and so I pull the Prius back a little bit to get under and unhook...as soon as I got him unhooked I told the idiot he could leave and asked him why he was pulling against me?? He forgot it was in Drive!!! I almost grabbed him through the window and beat his ass just for being stupid...but decided to just tell him to leave!

That is the 2nd Prius I have had to get unstuck - one in snow in Arches National Park and now this one, add in the guy who pulled out in front of me a couple weeks ago and the one pulling a camper trailer in Canada who pulled out in front of me and I am beginning to come to the realization that only Morons own Prius's!!

Should have taken pictures...DMV this morning for car and trailer registration - then a quiet dinner and pack up the kitchen and get ready to leave tomorrow for my winter home in Twentynine Palms! Looking forward to another fun winter with great people and some work!

Stay Tuned!

Capt. Jim - "The Gypsy"

Traveling and photographing the Southwest and Alaska!