Weather getting boring now, hot and sunny, though it is quite breezy up here, something that isn't helping calm the forest fire we witnessed on the ride down yesterday.
Up before my alarm so took the opportunity to have a quick webcam session with Cath. Last before she flies out. Quite weird her saying she'd been out cutting the grass and me sitting here getting ready for breakfast. Buffet breakfast was OK but for some reason there was a bus load of orientals, maybe Japanese, swarming around the place. Least they didn't photograph it but scrabbled egg on pancake?!!!
Took a quick blast up to the garage to fuel up and then had a little ride round town. Stopped to take photos of the Grand Canyon railway, including a big old steam loco. Blow me if the station wasn't teeming with orientals too!
Met the rest of the crew back at the garage and we headed up R64, north towards the GC. This road is remarkable in itself, in that in the entire length, 60+ miles it has no more than 4 or 5 bends! We arrive at the rendezvous point, a pizza joint and Gary gives us our instructions. We are free to do what we like but he makes the suggestion that we head for a particular point, Desert View, as this is where the best view of the canyon can be had. We agree we'll meet back at the pizza parlour when we finish, then he heads off with the three doing the helicopter flight. We head up the road to the booths, paying $12 to enter the park.
Desert View is about 35 miles from the entrance to the park. We plan to get there and have some lunch. As we set out on the road we soon come to a viewing point. We pull over, dismount and stare at the view that beholds us. I swear our mouths dropped in unison. Nothing you have seen on the TV about this canyon can prepare you for that first sight. It's absolutely amazing. Not only is it deep, though how deep is hard to tell due to the scale of the place but it stretches out far, far in front of you. Beautiful reds, browns, oranges & greys make up the mighty rock formations that you see before you. Awesome, as they say over here.
We make a few more stops along the way. Each view seems to be getting better and better. At Grand View Point we actually get our first view of the Colorado River, many, many feet below us and many miles away too. A signboard points out some of the rock formations we can see and the distances away. One ridge in the distance is 42 miles away!!
Eventually we role up at Desert View. We decide we'll have lunch first, before enjoying this vista. I chose a chilli dog. A hotdog with chilli sauce on it me thinks. No, a hotdog covered with chilli (as in con carne) topped with cheese and some jalapenos. I wash that down with an iced tea. It was very nice and pretty cheap too.
We then head down to the viewing point. WOW!! Gary was right, this really is the best view we have had so far. Snaking far, far below we can see the river once more, a small ribbon of turquoise amongst the reds and browns. We can just about make out one of the boats that you can ride the rapids on and the rapids themselves, a band of white in the turquoise. At the point there is a viewing tower, built in 1933. It's a gift shop now but you are still able to climb the 3 stories to the top. To be honest it doesn't afford any better a view of the canyon below but least we can say we did it.
We ride back non stop to the rendezvous site, passing as we do the other two bikes going in the opposite direction, them having finished their airborne adventure. When we arrive Gary is in his van watching a movie. We grab ourselves a coffee and then start the journey home. After a short while I pull over to photograph the fire smoke that is clearly visible in the distance. The others continue without me, so I'm on my own. About halfway back to Williams there is a small airfield. It houses an aircraft museum. I stop to take some photos and have a brief chat with an little old lady behind the counter. Our conversation is cut short by a little old man who says to her "did you wash Bob's shirt?"!! The answer is no and she hurries off, the conversation is terminated. I jump back on the bike, head back into Williams and fuel up once more, ready for tomorrow's journey. Fuel here is dirt cheap. No wonder they all run around in 4x4s and big pickup trucks. Since we started the tour I think we have paid anything between $2.60 and $3.20 for a gallon. That's £1.85 to £2.30!!
Back at the hotel, I see Simon & Viv having a swim and then for some strange reason can't get into my room. A visit to reception confirms I am actually trying the right door but the keycard has had a malfunction.
A couple of beers and we head off to Pizza Hut for dinner. Even this is different from the UK. For example, a small pizza is 6 inches at home, here it is 10. I had a small one but the other guys suffered from 'eyes bigger than belly' syndrome and ordered medium at a mere 12 inches but couldn't finish them. It's easy to see why the Americans have such a high rate of obesity. Their portions are much bigger and you can't turn round without being faced by a diner or fast food outlet of some sort. I can't imagine they ever do any of the home cooking, of which Gary is so fond.
Tomorrow we are off to Needles, which will take us into our 8th and final state, California. The next two days will prove to be the hottest so far, as we head into the Mojave desert. The forecast for tomorrow is 104 degrees in Needles, so we'll be needing our camel backs to take on fluids.
See how we got on in Day 12s blog.
Neill
No comments:
Post a Comment