(Continued from April 12, 2006 – “Death Valley and the Funeral Mountains”)
Committed – that’s what we were at this point. There was no other way to get to Vegas now but this way. Our friendly snow plow driver/bouder remover told us what was ahead – after this 17 mile steep grade that sent off the warning lights & buzzers in the cab, we now had a 17 mile 8% gradedown this huge mountain. After the experience we had just had on the other smaller mountain, I was really concerned. I asked this driver if there were any other options. He said,“No.” I asked what we should do and he said, “Pray.” And he was serious….so we prayed.
After the engine cooled, we slowly started the descent to Death Valley. The driver had given us a fairly good idea of what was ahead – sharp curves, dips and steep grades. He warned us not to be fooled by what would appear to be “level” areas of the road. He said,“No matter what, do NOT shift into a higher gear – take the descent slow and easy.” And so I heeded that advice and took it very slow, occasionally using my brakes to slow us to a safe speed but mostly allowing the engine to do as much work as possible by staying in a low gear.
As we anticipated, half way down the mountain our brakes became “mushy” and were not being very effective. We came up on a rest area in the National Park. I pulled in and we sat there to let the brakes cool down again. We were hoping to be in Vegas by 4pm and it was already 4:30pm! We had made plans to have dinner with a very dear friend of ours, Joanie Spina. I used the park pay phone (there is no cell service out here) and left her a brief message that we would be late but would call when we arrived. After I hung up, I talked with one of the Park Rangers to see how much further we had to drive on this grade. He said it wasn’t too bad from here to the bottom. After about 45 minutes, we started down the mountain again. We had driven the worst part of it and, while it was still very steep, it was nothing like what we had just been through. We arrived safely at the Gateway to Death Valley National Park – took lots of pictures and video for our next DVD. Tons of amazing scenery – no way to describe it!
We made the rest of the trip through the desert and to the Nevada border. Vegas was less than 100 miles away now and the rest of the trip would be easy.
Once we checked into our hotel, we called Joanie and she picked us up. We spent the next several hours catching up with this very special person. It’s amazing how people who have a friendship built on character and passion can be apart for long periods of time and pick up right where they left off. That’s the way it is with Joanie. We met her several years ago when she was working with David Copperfield and we are very honored that she now helps us stage and choreograph our illusions. She is our friend and the evening was perfect! She even took us to the International dealership in Vegas to pick up a new dip stick!
Today, we spent some time with one of our builders – Bill Smith of Magic Ventures. We’re continuing to explore new illusions for our show. After our visit, we were off to Cedar City, Utah and that’s where we are now….shows here for the next three days.