TRAVELING DOWN THE ROAD: Grand Canyon

I left Albuquerque around 8 am and went to the Flying J just down the road. I got in very easily and it wasn't busy. Well I figured in an out, not. Most of the gas stations now want your Zip Code number and being Canadian we don't have one and they don't accept our Postal Code. I gave my bank an American address and said to put that as my prime address. That didn't work so phoned them and of course they couldn't send the bill to my home address they would have to send it to the american address where I will be off and on. A fix they said was to get a paperless bill soooo I did that and of course they will send me a pin number. I wish I would get paid for all the hours I am on the phone to these people and Bell. Now I wait. To continue the story, they want you to leave your Visa card with them and that I won't do. Well I was holding up the BIG line so one of the managers turned the pump on. After an hour I was on my way. Also some Flying J's propane fills are the wrong way so the MH's have to wait for the spot to be empty then pull in the wrong way. Lots of fun on the road.

There are not many rest areas on this route, but did stop at the Arizona Welcome Centre. It was very interesting, I walked around and enjoyed the history of the area. The hills were beautiful different colours as I drove. I learned that Buttes are a single hill in the middle of no where, a Messa is flat level hill I guess you would call them. They are not high but very flat and a Plateau is a lot of the flat rocks that go for miles.

I had enough of dry camping so stopped at the Meteor Crator Campground just past Winslow. It was a Passport America park. It was a nice clean park and run by the rangers. The crator was about five miles from there, but I had picked up a flu bug and was feeling really lousy so I just sat and enjoyed some TV over night. The wind was blowing hard and the dust was in everything again. I did do a wash had no underwear left. I know it needs to be done when I have a couple left. Yes I know it is more information than you need to know, but that is life on the road. You have to lug your laundry bag, soap and fabric softener to the laundry in the campground then wait. I do a lot of reading. You also hope that it isn't busy.

It was only an hour and a half to Williams where I camped at a Passport America Campground. This organization has a lot of campgound you can get into for half price. The full price was $35.00, it is the closest one to the Grand Canyon. I paid $19.00 per night. Williams is one of the few towns that is still part of Route 66 and goes right through it. Interesting little buildings, but mostly tours to the Canyon. The train leaves for the Canyon everyday from Williams. I was there for four days and took a Jeep ride into the Canyon down to the Colorado River. We took a van to the Canyon Caverns and took a tour. You took an elevator down 16 stories. It took about an hour of walking through these beautiful rocks and formations. This is a dry caveron so there is no water. The guide was interesting and gave the story of how it was found and how they took people down. Well they didn't take people down they were showed where to go and they even had to take their own flashlights. Today it has been modernized to the point that some people have their weddings down there. They were trying to build a place where you could stay over night, but all it did was make it look awlful and it still isn't finished. We saw a mummified bob cat and a rabbit. They also put some fake skeltons in among the rocks. Of course they had a gift shop, but I am trying to get rid of all the stuff I have now so don't buy anything. This caveron was used as a bomb shelter, they stored food and water there. It has been down there for years. The joke is that you would die from lack of air if you had a lot of people staying there, not lack of water or food. The air changes every two weeks.

We picked up the jeep and had to get permits to go onto the Hualapai Indian territory. The guide was very interesting and kept us laughing all the way down. There were 7 in our jeep including two cute little girls from Tucson. We stopped a lot on the way down to take pictures. One of the places was the "Hole in The Wall" where the outlaws hid from the sherriff. It was 19 miles down on a very bumpy rock road with a few washes where the water was washing over the road. Washes are sudden rivers that come down from the mountains when it has been raining and can sweep you up and carry you for miles. All the guides are very watchful of the weather and they won't go down if there is a threat of rain. The girls loved it when he raced through the water spraying everywhere. When we got to the bottom there were quite a few rafts that had stopped for lunch. A lot were coming out at that point so it was busy. It is the end of the season so they are having a last kick at the cat. We had a very nice lunch, you had your pick of different meats and on whole wheat bread. Usually its that awlful white bread. They even separated the lettuce and tomatoes so no soggy bread. Apples, oreos, chips and water or gaterade. On our way home we stopped at Saligman another small town on the old Route 66. Picture below. It was where they filmed the movie CARS. I would love to go back and spend some time there. Neat stores and restaurants. The cost was $216.00 and I used a coupon for $10. It was an all day trip from 9 in the morning till 6 at night. It didn't do much for me feeling so sick, but hey I wasn't going to miss it.

The next day I headed for the top of the Grand Canyon. I left really early to avoid the lineups and to get a parking spot. It is a busy place every day. I bought a seasons pass for $80.00 now I can get into all the National Parks in the U.S. It will pay for itself fast because I will be going to a lot of these parks. You can take a van tour into the park, but I found out there is one section you cannot go into except by trams. So instead of paying $80 for a 4 hour day I got to start at one end and see it all. It is so much faster taking these trams they run every 15 minutes and they are free. What can I say it was amazing. There were people hiking all the way down to the bottom, staying overnight and hiking back up. I talked to a lot of people and learned where to go and what restaurant was good. As you can see by the pictures it is a beautiful peaceful place.

The picture to the left is the hole in the wall. Next on is down the canyon to the Colorado river with the big rafts getting ready to go down the river.