Samantha, David, Tabitha and Hattie were in their large rented Ford Explorer.
Daniel, Keely, Tallulah, Ethan and Isla-May were driving in an even larger Chevrolet Suburban.
We were all to take different routes, but would try to keep in touch via our mobiles. We were heading for La Quinta hotel in Ely, Nevada, a town where Tim and I had spent one night last year. We weren't able to book into the Prospector Hotel and Casino where we had stayed before, as there were no rooms available. Not only was it a Saturday night, but there were bound to be others travelling to see the eclipse on Monday.
Matthew, Karin and Mia stayed another night in Malibu, as they were to fly to Salt Lake City on Sunday morning before joining us. Ed, Kate and the dogs were also meeting us in Twin Falls.
Tim and I drove via Mohave on Route 14 towards Bishop. En route, we saw Mount Whitney. At 14,505 ft, it is the highest mountain in the contiguous United States.
Mt. Whitney.
We also went close to Mammoth, the popular ski resort.
In Bishop, we went into the famous bakery, Erik Schat's, which we had visited previously. It was so busy that we didn't want to spend too long in the queue for lunch, so we bought food from the counter to eat on the next stage of our journey.
Shortly after leaving Bishop, we saw these rock formations that looked to us like sets of giants' dentures!
Taking Route 395, we crossed into Nevada where we took photos of Boundary Peak, the highest mountain in Nevada at 13,147 feet. Less than a mile away, across the state boundary in California, is Montgomery Peak, 13,441 feet.
Boundary Peak and Montgomery Peak.
About 120 miles from Bishop, we reached Tonopah, an old Wild West saloon town, once home to Wyatt Earp, the famous deputy marshal of Dodge City, Kansas, who was a survivor of the notorious gunfight at the O.K. Corral in 1881. Earp was attracted to Tonopah in 1902 by the Gold Rush there. We drove past the Crescent Dunes solar electricity site, one of the largest in the world. We also passed the historic Mizpah Hotel in the centre of the town.
The Mizpah Hotel opened in 1907 and was one of the first luxury hotels in Nevada. It cost $200,000 to build and had solid granite walls and leaded glass windows. It also had an electric elevator, one of the first in the state. It was named after one of the local mines and is said be haunted.
On the last part of our journey to Ely, we came across a large group of bikers heading in the opposite direction.
We reached our hotel in Ely, La Quinta Inn and Suites, during the afternoon after a drive of over 570 miles.
Daniel and family had already arrived, having come the whole way on I-15. The hotel was very busy and our rooms were not ready. By the time we were settled, Samantha and family were checking into their room. They had visited Death Valley en route and had enjoyed the drive.
Whilst in the park, they encountered this hungry coyote and gave it some food.
In the evening, Samantha made a dinner reservation for us all at Margarita's Mexican restaurant in the Prospector Hotel and Casino, where Tim and I had stayed in June, 2016.
We had a very pleasant evening, although the service was extremely slow. The restaurant was totally full, partly because of additional guests who were on their way to see the solar eclipse.
The hotel was full of quirky memorabilia and animal statues. Here is Ethan helping Isla-May to sit on a model cow.
We soon went to bed after a long day's driving. We had all done over 550 miles on our various routes.