Friday, April 8, 2011

Flagstaff - Grand Canyon - Famous Route 66

Woke up early after a very good nights sleep, went outside to check on my bike, only to find that it had snowed during the night, no wonder I  slept so well. Breakfasts  in  America  seem to be all the same at  the different hotels & motels Ive stayed in, cereals, fruit juice, boiled eggs, breads and different pasties and fruit. The thing that gets me the most  is that you must always eat & drink off  & out of a polythene plate or bowl  and cups and then eat with a plastic knife & fork. Afterwards you clean up your table and dump all your utensils .
Flagstaff turn out to be a nice city with a modern area and a very Historic area as well, lots of old sand stone houses and great looking log houses, a mountain bikers & hikers paradise,  as  with all the cities & towns Ive gone through very clean and well kept, even the walls on the flyovers have motifs plastered on them, garden are also well kept along the highways.
Left Flagstaff on  route 180 and went straight away up a mountain to 7000ft, snow all around, lucky for me I had put my warm gear on. The weather report was for showers, strong winds and snow again in the evening. Well had winds gusting up to what  had been  predicted of 50miles a hour, all the way to the Canyon.
Arrived at the gates of the Grand Canyon to be very warmly welcome by a well dressed lady in cowboy hat, given a map and guide, then.rode to the Visitor Center to get more knowledge of the canyon. Very well organized, you can hop on a free shuttle bus and be taken along well paved roads, hopping off at the different view points or you can do what I did, walk at your own leisure along the Rim Trail, visited the Yavapai Geology Museum, explored the geologic history on the Trail of Time, saw the Colorado River way down in valley.
From the canyon, I hit the road again  towards Williams which is on the Famous Historic Route 66, passing great little towns with lots of history, Seligman (sign at entrance said "Birth place of Route 66 " ) Peach-Springs .Old wooden fronted buildings, selling all the memorabilia of the route. Remember the song " Get your Kicks On Route 66 "  Well I had the wind kicking me for the next 140km's so I called it a day and stopped over in another Historic town called Kingman.
Just outside Flagstaff, snow on the ground & huge pine forests




Mule & hiking trail to the bottom of the canyon

Getting ready to go down on Mule's, the train in back-ground comes from Williams

Seligman  curio shop



Tomorrow I pass The Hoover Dam & then " Viva Las Vegas "

2 Comments:

Anonymous john@steer.co.za said...

Hi Lindsay,Magnif photos of canyon; did Marco and Stan jump in? Lost them in the stories. All you guys seem relieved to be in the US with more 'order' and English spoken.Gr8 reading the real events like big climbs,weather and the photos! thanks for the tour;most enjoyable
John vd S

April 8, 2011 at 2:02 PM  
Blogger Lindsay said...

Hi John, thanks for the comment, Stan & Marco bailed & are leaving today for home SA. So I'am solo on the trip "North" It is gr8 to be able to get directions & speak to people in your own language:
Regards Lindsay

April 8, 2011 at 2:13 PM  

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