Death Valley Thanksgiving 2014 - bryanlallen

Death Valley Thanksgiving 2014

A visit to Racetrack Dry Lake and Mesquite Dunes in Death Valley National Park

Almost ready to depart from our overnight campsite at Teakettle Junction. The Element was our compact House on Wheels; we slept inside.
Michèle with tea and cookies. The overnight temperature inside the Element went down to 37 degrees F, but we were very comfy.
As the sign says: Teakettle Junction. Lots of travelers bring decorated and inscribed teakettles and hang them here, so many in fact that every year they are removed. The National Park had an employee who was collecting them in a Park storage area, but now that he's retired the fate of the teakettles is ambiguous. A Facebook group ( https://www.facebook.com/TeakettleJunction ) is attempting to store them, with mentions of a future museum somewhere. Not sure I'd be that interested in seeing thousands of old decorated teakettles…
The junction sign, and where we camped overnight. During the evening, a somewhat-scratched car had driven up, with three or four anxious kids inside wanting to know how to get to Panamint Springs, and also wondering if we had any spare gasoline. They took photos of our map with their cellphone!
On Racetrack Playa, walking towards The Grandstand.