The Grand Detour

Some of you know I’ve never seen the Grand Canyon before. I’ve been there before. I stood on the edge in fact. I just never saw it. The fog was so thick we couldn’t see more than 3 feet in front of us. So the canyon didn’t seem so Grand. This trip the northern rim was closed due to wild fires. I feared a repeat, this time with the view obscured by smoke not fog. But we drove to the western rim on a Hualapai Indian reservation. The direction mentioned 14 miles of unpaved road, but silly me I didn’t process that to mean top speeds of 20 MPH, dust and bumps all the way.

We saw it. It was amazing and impressive and there is a discernable eagle shape in the canyon wall. But the rough road was a drag and was posted with flash flood warnings. As we finished our bus ride back from the view points the driver remarked that rain wasn’t far off and we should be very careful on the road since the flash flooding can come on in no time. Great. It’s not like we can speed away to outrace the rain. But we beat it anyway. Oh and we discovered there really was no better route into Utah than 100% backtracking to Vegas. About 10-20 rain drops hit us near vegas. You can actually see their prints against the canyon dust on the car. It's kind of a leopard print actually.

So today wasn’t much for progress toward the new home. But a great detour that accomplished a 13 year old goal of mine.

Determined to make SOME forward progress (and therefore not spend a second night in Vegas) we pressed on to Mesquite, NV on the eastern border and stayed in a $29 room at The Virgin River Casino. I lost $20 playing roulette. --Yes I know, by my Vegas math that means the room cost $49.