We got up, had breakfast and got set off for about 10.00am this monring. Today's plan is to drive through Death Valley and onto somewhere close to Las Vegas. It didn't take too long to get into the Death Valley area. We stopped along the way for a few photographs beside some cool looking trees in the otherwise baron landscape. Into Death Valley we drove nearly half way through before stopping at Stovepipe Wells which is a place with a shop and a campsite. We got some cold drinks and an ice cream, the temperature is climbing (116f) at the moment. We made a turn off to Furnace Creek but we drove straight through and onto a smaller road which leads to Badwater. We saw a car driving along covered in something like blackpaper. We realised it was a new car being road tested. We pulled up at the same place as them, James was going to take a photo and a car pulled up in front and blocked it. In it's entourage there was an old shape Prius and the shape of the new car looks like it's probably a new Prius. Along the route there have been quite a few side roads closed due to flash flooding, I know you wouldn't believe it here. Well the road to Badwater said you could get there but no further so we drove the 17 miles to Badwater. Once there there was a car park and information boards. Badwater is actually 282ft below sea level. We got out of the car, the heat was immense, it was windy but not in a good way. James described it as feeling like you've got a hairdryer on in front of your face, it felt just like that. There was a sign on the cliff behind us to show where sea level actually is which was cool. We then had a walk out onto the boardwalks and the salt plain area you could walk onto. You could see huge deposits of salt all on top of the ground here. What a bizarre place. I was very happy to be getting back into the air conned car! Driving back towards the main road we got our highest temperature so far 52c! Unbelievable temperatures. We made a couple of stops along the way back, first to a place called Devils Golfcourse which has all the salt which had crystalised and formed sharp towers. We got out to have a look but not for very long. We then drove on a pass called Artists Drive. This place was stunning, the rocks were unbelievable colours, reds, greens and purples. The photographs we've taken really don't do justice to the vivid colours that they actually were. James went for a walk while I chickened out and sat in the car. He came back boiling, with my phone having powered off due to the warning coming on the screen saying it couldn't work in this temperature. After cooling James and the phones down we drove the rest of Artists Drive and got back on the main road. We made one last stop down here to Golden Canyon. Again I chickened out and stayed in the car. This time James put a water soaked bandana on his head to keep cool. He said it was really nice out there although coming out of the small canyon was awful because wind got caught there, really very hot wind! We made our way onto the main road again and headed south. We are aiming for getting to the south part of Las Vegas tonight. This is so that tomorrow we can get pretty close to the Grand Canyon and make a visit there the day after. The drive was ok but took a pretty long time in a warm car. We made a stop to get cold drinks and petrol. We followed sat nav on James' phone to our hotel which was in Henderson. It took us right into the bottom of Las Vegas where the roads became bigger, wider and more complicated. We did get there though for about 8.30pm. The temperature was still 40c at that time of night. We checked in, the room was really nice. We had a sandwich which we'd got from the supermarket and some dill pickle crisps and a few beers. We caught up with a few messages using the wifi and got to bed.