We were up again at the crack of dawn with one thing on our mind – the Grand Canyon. That and batteries… We were sightly worried that the Lexus wouldn’t start and we’d need to hit up a napa auto parts and hope they had this stupid little battery. Luck was on our side today and the Lexus fired up on the 3rd try. We were a little loud loading things up during quiet hours in the park. Apologies to our neighbors in Santa Rosa RV campground – we’ve got places to be.
Plan is again to take 40 for about 7 hours west and cut back up north to the Canyon.
We made it down the road a bit till gas up time and looked for a Walmart with a gas station for supplies. Dad left the Lexus running and we ran in. We walked away with some cokes, a few cables, more creamer for coffee, and miscellaneous supplies. Batteries were surprisingly hard to find. Eventually we figured out that they keep them locked up at the front register where the cigarettes are. I guess batteries are a hot item in New Mexico. Found one that was right diameter / voltage but thicker than what was in there, but we think we can make it work.
We did have one unplanned bonus attraction – this dog and his man slave.
The ride west was very interesting. The landscape changed dramatically every 30 miles. It went from rolling grassy shrubs to mountains to plateaus to dusty desert. Don’t get to see this in Georgia. Even saw a few dust devils – poor man tornados – throwing up a funnel of dirt.
Arrived at park around 2 pm Arizona time. Showed them my annual pass and they waived me through. As I pulled in, another car pulled over beside me waiving frantically. I lowered my window and they told me I was leaking gas. Uh oh. Hope noone throws out a cigarette behind us. We pulled over at the entrance to rv park. The good old reliable jeep gas can that saved us multiple times finally had enough of life and developed a pin sized hole and was throwing out its remaining gas. We emptied what was left of it into the Lexus. RIP jeep gas tank.
We’re actually staying at two different campgrounds here. We added Ryan on 3 weeks after I booked most reservations, and our place was sold out later. We’re at the Trailer village with full hookups, while they are in Mathis campground with no hookups. We tried to sweet talk the nice lady checking people in – Crystal – but she must have been born with immunity to the Hodgson charm. Good luck in Mathis boys. Good news is we are only 2 minutes away from each other so they can come hangout with us and our air conditioner.
Setup was easy – spot was nice and fast. Only thing that was slightly challenging was going up the sewage that I had never done before in a campsite. Whole family day around to watch that as they were going for a train wreck but we got it hooked in, pulled the valves and the bad juice went drown the drain.
Within 2 minutes of setting up, we got our first taste of Grand canyon wildlife. A family of elk walked right through the campsite. We heard they sustain themselves sometimes on camp water. They can be dangerous allegedly but looked tame to me.
But screw the elk – we came here to see a big hole in the ground. It’s always been my dream to cruise around a park like the Grand canyon in a Jeep with the top down. So we folded the top back, took the doors off, and off we went. Dream complete! Definitely worth that mile per gallon dragging it all the way over. There’s nothing like cruising with wind flowing through your hair with a couple little girls squealing in the back seat!
We parked at the visitor center and I was so excited that I was close to running up the hill, leaving the family behind. We crested the hill and WOW. Grand is an understatement. The whole thing is so massive and magestic that is hard to even comprehend when you look at it. I also have a fear of heights and falling to my death, so I was a little nauseous and knee buckly also. We gawked for 30 minutes at a couple of the spots, grabbed some pics, and headed back for dinner.
On the way back, we ran in to wildlife number 2 – Grand canyon squirrels. These are also very tame and beg for water or snacks. Lady next to us said a squirrel stole her whole water bottle. We got close, but didn’t give in to the begging. Go get a job squirrel.
Something else we really discovered when we started camping – the girls are biking fools. All spare time is spent riding vibes around in circles because we don’t let them go off far. Luckily Uncle Ryan brought his mountain bike and he gets asked every 15 minutes to take them on a ride. They have some amazing paved bike paths going all over the place, and Ryan had taken them down half of them. He even took them to back to the Grand canyon on their bikes.
For dinner Noelle and Jayne cooked up some spaghetti with salad. Really hit the spot after a long day of traveling and setting up. As we were eating and cleaning up, I was watching the skies to see how the sunset would be. As soon as I started to see some orange, I begged Noelle for one more visit to check it out from the Canyon. We jumped in the Jeep, drive like a bat out of hell, parked in an illegal spot and ran to the view point. Got to see one of the most beautiful sunsets I’ve ever seen over one of the most incredible sights I’ve ever seen. Everyone was holding their loved ones close and gazing in silent wonder. What a day!
