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I traveled up to Northern Death Valley for a geology class and arrived on Friday afternoon just before sunset.  As usual, I took Auntie Em, our trusty camper van,  because I am too old to crawl into a tent and I haul a lot of photo equipment.  The wind howled all night and it was very cold, and I pitied the other students of the class who were camped down below.  The next morning, after brewing up a pot of hot coffee, I headed out before dawn for some sunrise photos before joining the class at 8am.  I put on my favorite Death Valley CD “Topaz” by the Rippingtons and drove up Grapevine Canyon, when the stereo started to stutter, along with failing electrical gauges, and then, a complete loss of power.  “Oh shit, I’m going to miss my class”, was all I could think.  I made sure that the van was safely off the side of the road, threw on some warmer clothes, and a backpack of essentials, and I started walking uphill to the nearest land line phone, at Scotty’s Castle.  Since there is no cell phone service in Death Valley, I figured I had about a mile and a half walk ahead of me where I could call AAA Roadservice and maybe, just maybe I could figure out how to get the van running again.  As I huffed up the steep incline, a park mantenance truck slowed down alongside of me and the uniformed driver leaned out of his window and said ‘I see that you’re broke down, do you need anything?”  “Sure”, I replied, “How about a ride to the Castle?”   “Sorry, it’s against regulations, liability issues, you know”.  And then he drove off.  And I kept walking uphill.

At Scotty’s Castle, I leaned up against the pay phone trying to get out of the cold wind in order to hear better.  The AAA Roadside Service operator wanted to know where the van was located.  “1.5 miles west of Scotty’s Castle in Death Valley”.  “Are you safe there?”, she inquired.  That’s a good question, I am 57 miles from the closest town, no cell phone service, I am waiting for a tow truck, and Death Valley was the winter home for the Manson Family.  And then she offers good news, “I’ll have a tow truck to you in 45 minutes”.  Now that is service, and after calling my wife to tell her about the situation that I was in, I began hiking downhill back to the van.

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