Death Valley Junction is barely a town at all: a crossroads in the Amargosa Desert on the Nevada border, a cluster of buildings and a strange, beautiful old opera house. The adobe complex was built by the Pacific Coast Borax Company in the 1920s as a company town, with offices, a hotel and a community hall. In 1967 a New York dancer named Marta Becket stopped here with a flat tyre, saw the abandoned hall and decided to stay. She painted its walls with an audience of Renaissance figures and performed for them, and sometimes for real visitors, for more than four decades. The Amargosa Opera House still stands, and so does a sense that anything can happen out here.
From here Highway 190 heads west into Death Valley National Park, and the transition is dramatic. The road crosses a wide, empty basin of creosote and saltbush, then begins a long, gradual descent through the Funeral Mountains, with barren slopes of brown, red and purple rock on either side. There are few corners, but the road dips and rises, and the views open up ahead toward the valley floor and the Panamint Range beyond.
The riding is straightforward, but the conditions are not. Summer temperatures here regularly exceed 40 degrees, and in Death Valley itself they can reach almost 50. The heat is dangerous for both riders and machines, and many people choose to visit between October and April, when the days are mild and the light is soft. Strong winds can blow across the open desert, and sandstorms are not unusual in spring.
Wildlife is sparse but present: ravens, roadrunners, coyotes and, if you are lucky, a desert bighorn sheep on the rocky slopes. The air smells of dust and creosote, especially after rain.
Death Valley Junction has very limited services, and you should not count on them. Pahrump, about forty kilometres to the southeast, is a sprawling Nevada town with fuel, food, supermarkets and casinos, and it is the best place to fill up before entering the park. Inside Death Valley, fuel is available at Furnace Creek and Stovepipe Wells, but it is expensive, and distances between services are long. Carry plenty of water, at least four litres per person, and let someone know your plans.