Friday, November 9/2012

The wind blew all day yesterday and throughout the night.  The "scary" prediction of the weather turning cold has resulted in a temperature of 10C this morning.  Not too bad, if the darn wind would just let up!!   It is supposed to get to 2C over night tonight.  We are still above zero so we are good to go.
Last night, when we walked into the restaurant, there was great discussion as to us being just in T-shirts when it was "so cold outside"!!  The girls in the Restaurant put their bunny hugs on to go outside despite the fact that it really was quite pleasant out last night.  Well, I guess it all boils down to what one is used to.  They were "freezing"!!

Love the name.   

Joshua Trees lined our route today

Caught this little whirlwind.  It lasted a long time.

Pavement turns into dirt

Raining and rather dreary

Distant view of The Grand Canyon

Helicopter tours are readily available at a cost of  $145.00 per person.

Buck and Doe road - headed towards Peach Creek and Hwy 66

There has been a fire here at some point

Dead Tree Standing
A stark reminder of the devastation caused by fire

We traveled in and out of rain all day - could this
be the end of it?

Back on Route 66

Distant Haze

Sunbeams

Sunset

Tonight's singing entertainment at Yesterdays Restaurant.
Not sure why he has sun glasses on - it was pretty dark in there!!

We are supposed to be heading out today to see "The Murals".     As we headed out, John decided that we would not see the murals unless there was time when we got back from our trip to Grand Canyon West.  Once again, we found that finding a gas station out in these boonies is a bit of a challenge.  With the jeep having such a small gas tank, it is always an issue and with us not really knowing how long a trip it would be today, we were on the hunt for a gas pump.  We did find one however, did have to drive about 20 miles out of the way, but, we now have enough gas to get through the trip.
We back tracked to the road that would take us to Grand Canyon West and the Skywalk.  It was paved for a few miles then turned to dirt.  We traveled through what can only be called a Joshua Tree forest and some of them were quite impressive.
Once we hit the dirt, the road deteriorated into rough washboard and I swear that my liver and left kidney swapped spots.  That is just how rough the damn road was.  I can't imagine traveling this road in anything other than a heavy duty truck although we saw several fancy little cars.  I hope they were rentals!!
Once we got to our destination, we were informed that we would have to park the jeep and take a shuttle bus to the Skywalk.  John was not impressed by this and refused to join the crowds on the bus.  Gee, and we travelled so far to see the Grand Canyon and now we're not going to.  I was mad.
I did get a good view of the parking lot however and that alone was impressive with its nice shiny white lines painted on the asphalt.!!  Who needs to see the Grand Canyon when I can see the Grand Canyon's parking lot!!
It was impressive to see the helicopters landing and taking off although I was surprised by the amount of noise they generate.
We left Grand Canyon West and accessed the Buck and Doe Road which took us through much of the Hualapai Indian Reservation.  It traversed several small cliffs, some shelf roads and some pretty incredible scenery.  The road itself was much better than the one we travelled on to get to the Skywalk.
We traveled through an area that had been ravaged by fire and served to remind us of the stark reality of  the destructive powers of fire.
We eventually made it to Route 66 and headed into Kingman.  From here, we accessed Highway 93 and headed back to Chloride.  We stopped at the bus to drop Hogan off then headed into Yesterdays Restaurant for drinks and supper.
Not feeling like drinking a beer, I ordered my usual vodka with a bit of coke and the rest water.  When it came, I swear there was five ounces of vodka in the glass and had to get the thing poured into two glasses and more coke and water added so that I could at least drink the thing!!  My one drink became two!!  Still bummed about not seeing the Grand Canyon, I ordered another drink!!
The entertainment tonight was as impressive as it was the previous night and quite enjoyable.  We eventually ordered our supper and then it was time to head back to the bus.  It had been a long day and I was certainly ready for bed (after those few drinks at the restaurant!!).  Oh ya, I am still mad about the whole Grand Canyon thing!!