We woke up in a decent hotel somewhere in Kingman, AZ. We ate the continental breakfastish meal, and got on the road. Today we wanted to make it to the Grand Canyon!
Maria had never been to the canyon. I had only been there once, and only on a test flight with a customer of mine who flew for a Helicopter tour company. It was a great way to see it, for sure, but it had only been a brief landing next to the river, and a quick stop at the reservation up top for a soda. We were back in Vegas within an hour.
Most of this part of Arizona seemed to be getting up into the mountains. Again, having done virtually no research or made any plans at all, we were constantly enjoying the scenery and getting to experience whatever was around the next bend with childlike curiosity. Much of it seemed like huge cattle ranches that kept getting into the higher elevations. I hadn't expected it to be like this here in Western Arizona. We were expecting the completely flat, see forever hot terrain that we would only find later in our journey.
I know people who live in Williams, AZ, and though we did not intend to stop and see them, we knew a little about the town because of them. We needed gas by the time we rolled into Williams, so we stopped at a gas station that I believe may very well have been untouched since Route 66 was the route to take, and owned by the same nice man.
Maria, being from Florida, was unfamiliar with this device, and I had to explain to her what snow was. I eventually found internet access, and was able to show her pictures.
We only drove through the main downtown part of Williams to see the old buildings, and get a good sense of how we want to do a Rte 66 journey next time through. They have done well in Williams to preserve what they can, and seem to be doing a good job of keeping themselves alive. Many of the towns we passed through were all but ghost towns ever since the interstate went up.
Then we headed out North to finally get to see the Grand Canyon. It was just a straight shot North form Williams, and we were in our usual non-hurry. After driving a ways, we saw a Constellation parked near an airstrip, so we figure we'd stop and stretch our legs a bit. As it turned out, the building was the Planes of Fame Museum! I didn't even know they had one out here, as I only knew of the Chino location. So now we had actually stumbled upon a great treasure trove of aviation history! I looked through the window to the museum, saw a shot-down Zero and an OHKA right there, and knew we had to go in!
We spent a couple of hours there, and knew we were going to take forever to get across the country at this rate, so we bought a couple things to help out the museum, and listened to the lady talk about what's been happening lately with the museum. I told her how I loved P38's, and she was talking to me about the "Glacier Girl" plane. This was the one recovered from under 268' of ice in Greenland. I've been sort of following that story for over a decade.
Then we went the rest of the way to the Grand Canyon. I'm not going to bother trying to describe it. While on one of my trips to Yosemite, I finally understood why Ansel Adams spent his life trying to capture what Yosemite was on film, or John Muir spent his life trying to get folks to understand it's beauty. Neither of them had the tools available to accurately do it any justice. That is the same sense one gets when you first actually see the Grand Canyon with your own eyes. Words and pictures just can't capture what it is. It has to be experienced. We took enough pictures to kill the batteries, and came nowhere close to capturing how vast and beautiful this place is. It's just surreal. Anyone who has been there will understand. Anyone who has not, will think I am trying to make this RR sound more interesting.
Obviously, we found the secret place to see the Grand Canyon. Nope, not a soul around for miles...
Now that it's getting later on in the day, though, we wonder aloud what we should do at this point. We have only been at the Grand Canyon for a couple hours. It's almost sunset. We need to eat. If we want to go to 4 corners, it's a lot of driving through a lot of empty desert, it looks like. If we go back to the main Interstate 40, we can likely find some more places of interest, according to the maps we're finding on the way.
I've always wanted to see 4 corners, but the thing isn't even in the right place, technically. So I nominated: let's see if they have any campsites here at the canyon, set up the tent, eat, watch the sunset in the canyon, wake up and explore a bit more around here in the morning! Maria seconded, and the plan was voted into effect!
We really did kill the camera, so all we had to capture the sunset was a cellphone camera:
They had plenty of campsites available. I just needed a spot to park and pitch the tent. They had picnic tables and a firepit, though, too! Have to buy the firewood there at the store (or bring it in), but I busted out the Magnesium firestarter and we had shmores under the stars in the Grand Canyon by the fireside!
It was a great day, though we only traveled 181 miles today! :)
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