Beatty's "Old Castle" Burned Down This Afternoon 12/19

[DeathValleyDazed]

I don't have a photo of the previously existing structure because I thought it was too ugly with it's weathered board exterior and unfinished ramshackle appearance to bother with. I'm sorry to report I once thought, "Geez, that place should be burned and cleared out." Well, shame on me for being so judgmental because a long time Beatty family has lost their home, or at least the one they've been building for several decades while living in trailers on the south side of the place. 

Around 2PM today I happened to drive by while entering Beatty on the west side and got some video of the torched out place smoking like crazy with fire crews an sheriff sectioning off the area for public safety. It was quite a mess. I got video of the scene and two interviews, one with a deputy sheriff and one with a server at Wally's World who knew the family. The video is edited and ready but while in DEVA it remains impossible to upload files of any size, even my personal hot spot with iPhone and At&t is way to slow and the Xanterra pay for use is fickle. SPW is a crawler as well and I worry about security.  

So I'll post the sad event video when I get back to "civilization." BTW this is a different home than the Beatty residence that burned earlier this week as reported in the Pahrump Times. Things are hot around here even when it's frosty every evening. 

And then later today when re-entering the park from the east there was a serious crash with a west bound sedan rolling over and looked totally mashed being hoisted onto the tow truck. The ambulance had already left. There was still lots of debris being picked up by the response team of park rangers, police, etc. I also saw a large white SUV mired in the mud off the highway between Beatty and Death Valley Junction with a while ticket or notice still on the windshield. Must be a leftover from this week's storm? 

I'm having a great time but may be lucky to escape Death Valley "alive?" LOL 

Teaser: Had fun exploring the Palm Spring and the Triangle Spring area just off Scotty's Castle Road today. BTW, the breakfast at SPW was superb and great service by Melinda which cost less than the twenty dollar tip I left for her. The entire breakfast put the Oasis breakfast buffet to shame and for a dollar less. LOL I've been breakfasting at the wrong place all week Damn! 

I had no idea that Christmas is one of the busiest weekends in DEVA with all accommodations and service booked up. SPW was turning folks away like crazy while I was attempting to use their free internet, which BTW only works 100 feet from their router, leaving many of the outlying rooms w/o service. The $5 shower was well worth it. The pool is heated but still too cool for comfort in December.

[DVexile]

Wow, that's some exciting times out there!

I had a nice late-lunch/early-dinner at SPW a little over a week ago.  I wanted to eat outside and they happily packed up my burger, fries and drink for me to eat at a table outside.  Actually all quite yummy, but maybe that's because it was my first "civilized" meal in a number of days

A few years back as I was transiting through Ridgecrest in the middle of the night there were a whole bunch of emergency vehicles headed down the road.  I pulled off a block away to make sure I wouldn't get in their way and then walked back in time to get a shot from a safe distance as they got rigged to put the fire out: