Day of Roses

None of us had seen the Tournament of Roses parade in person before. Our campsite was a block from the parade route and two blocks from the grandstand where we had tickets to watch the parade. The plan was to be close so that we did not need to get up early to get to the parade. This was better in theory than practice. First, there was lots of noise from people celebrating the new year. Then at 4am, a crew of parking attendants arrived and they made a lot of noise as they worked and talked. None of us slept well, which negated the benefit of being so close.

While we waited for the parade to start, a boy across the street sang karaoke. He was trying hard, but he was off-key and really needed music lessons. Just before the parade started, police officers cruised back-and-forth on motorcycles decorated with roses and flags with roses.

The parade was a lot of fun. Billie Jean King was the Grand Marshal. She looked very excited to be a part of the parade.

Our favorite band was from Jackson State. They were clearly having a lot of fun and their enthusiasm was infectious. Though I did not appreciate that they Rick Rolled us.

One of our favorite floats was the San Diego Zoo, which had pandas and tigers. The other had a train circling the float. I really hope the people riding on the train don’t have issues with motion sickness.

An honorable mention goes to the Elks float. That’s because we know that Lynn Glick works on it every year. She posted a picture of her working on the canoe. We kept an eye out for her work.

Once the parade was over, we waited for the parking lot to clear and drove to Death Valley. It took us over 6 hours to drive, including 2 stops to charge the Tesla. The second Tesla Supercharger in Baker CA was a bit slow; Ari figured out that it was an older charger that shared power between adjacent vehicles. There was very little to do near the charger, so we were eager to continue the drive once the vehicle reported it had enough charge. This was a dangerous risk since there are no fast chargers in the remote desert surrounding Death Valley. Greg drove a bit slower to improve efficiency, and we had only 10% charge before starting the final descent into Death Valley. (Plan "P" was to park the trailer along the way and take the car to the fast charger in Pahrump NV).

We arrived at the campsite after dark, so no photos yet. We are staying here for 5 nights, so there will be plenty coming.