The Wildrose road was reopened (after being closed for several years), so I was able to enter the park this way, since it is my favorite western entrance to Death Valley. The surface of the road was very loud, eventually narrowing to one lane with numerous potholes, and becoming a dirt road once in the canyon. It was paved beyond Wildrose, and 190 had been resurfaced recently as it dropped down to the valley floor. The access to Mosaic Canyon from Stovepipe Wells was closed for road work, and Scotty's castle is still closed from the 2015 flooding.
I set up my tent in the Furnace Creek campground which I thought was fairly well protected being nestled with bushes on three sides.
When done, I went on foot to see the remodeled Furnace Creek Ranch buildings. They were mostly complete, although all the eateries and the bar were still closed with workers doing last minute finishing touches, but the new gift shop was open with the usual merchandise. The old parking across the post office was replaced with a central fountain, lots of palm trees, and fresh grass looking all too green. Maybe it will mellow in time.
After a quick breakfast for dinner, I turned in early and read a bit, but I was awakened at 1:30am as the winds picked up with the tent flapping all over the place as all the stakes (held with rocks on top) were pulled out. If my weight had not been enough to hold the floor down, I would have had an exciting ride as it tumbled along in the desert. During a quiet moment, I got up to re-stake it, but it didn't stay that way long, as the winds picked up again, keeping me awake all night and holding on to the tent to prevent it from being blown away. At daylight, I decided to skip the other planned 2 nights, and stuffed the tent away in the car as there was no way to fold it with these gusts. There was dust everywhere.
As I drove away, I could not see the other side of the valley, since the sun was hidden behind the sandstorm (just like in the movies) filling up the valley floor. So this turned out to be a disappointing camping trip. The return trip was long but uneventful. When I arrived in Santa Cruz, the sunset was especially red with the smoke from the Camp fire in northern California.