Cynthia's Tipi in Tepoca, CA

A prelude to the "official" Death Vally trip, between Christmas and New Year, Tom and I went on a mini road trip as we made our way out east from LA so we can spend New Year Eve in Vegas.

First we made a detour up north to Ventura as Tom visited with his long time friend, Steve. It was a very emotional reunion for Tom to see his friend after such a long time. We spent the night up at the Marriott Ventura Beach and went out to have dinner with Steve and his boys.

The next morning, we headed east. Passing through Victorville, we looked for the Bottle Tree Ranch, but we couldn't find it. Along the old Route 66, instead, we saw abandoned homes and towns, life long forgotten, the come and gone of city and towns. Kind of sad to see that evolution of "industry".

After a while, nothingness turns into hilly scenery and desert brushes. Eventually, we came to this dingy little town,Tecopa, if you can call a few homes located close to each other as a formation of a town. Population 150. As we turned from Hwy 127 onto Old Spanish Trail, we came upon the first salt flat looking spot. I couldn't help myself for a quick stop as the sun was setting, putting a nice ray onto everything. What you see here is not snow, it is salt crusted land.

After checking in Cynthia's Tipi, she led us through this narrow and windy badland canyon road....to her second location where her three Indian-style tipis are located.

It was getting dark fast when we arrived at this house, served as common area for the tipi guests. It has two bathrooms, a central room served as common dining area, and a screened in poach. There is an old wood fire place in the middle of the house to provide heat.

Inside the tipi, there is a wood fire pit. A bundle of special firewood was provided for us to warm up the tipi while we snuggled and fell to sleep with LAYERS of bedding. The special wood burned with much less smoke so wouldn't suffocate...which is a good thing. Holy cow, it is cold without the modern day heating facilities! Whose idea was this to do this tipi camping in the middle of winter in high desert! We were given couple camp lanterns in case we need it for bathroom break. I made certain I didn't have to use them for that purpose. Once I was in bed, I didn't plan on getting out of it until daylight!