We awoke to another perfect desert morning on Day 4 of our adventure. Before we left Sacramento I promised the kids they would have the opportunity to go swimming during our vacation. After a quick game of football (it was thanksgiving after all) we packed up the truck, said goodbye to Eureka valley, and head off towards the remote resort town of Furnace Creek, CA. According to my map Furnace Creek was a mere 100 miles away. However, due to the severe wash-board roads it would take us over 4 hours to reach our destination. For the uninitiated "wash-board"-roads basically consist of a seemingly never-ending series of ripples. If you drive slowly over wash-boards the car rattles and shakes to the point where it feels as though it could be torn into pieces at any moment. If you drive at about 70km/h the shaking decreases considerably, but you must be very attentive since the vehicle can sometimes bounce right off the road! We also needed to stop many times to scout a path across deep sandy washes to avoid getting stuck. Needless to say we were very happy when we finally reached blacktop. Before arriving in Furnace Creek we stopped briefly to explore the massive Ubehebe Crater. In the end it was all worth it to see Shelby and Boston splash away in the hot spring-fed swimming pool at the Furnace Creek Inn.