Grand Canyon National Park…One of God’s 7 wonders of the world creations– Part 1

July 9 – Wednesday – (Cool morning, Cloudy, Warm)

While we were in Sedona, the RV place called and indicated I could pick the RV up today. Jim and I awoke early. We knew that today would be a longer travel day and we were heading for the Grand Canyon. For me it was about 5:00am. Gene leaves at about 4:30 to 5:00am for work and the smell of coffee brewing filled the air. I blogged while waiting for Jim. We left the house around 7:00am hoping to beat the rush on route 10 to Mesa. We got stuck in Phoenix traffic and lost about 25 min due to rush hour. I noticed another route that I was considering on the way home. Phoenix is now the 5th largest city in the U.S. Jim and I decided to divide and conquer. Having drove part of the route to the Grand Canyon yesterday; I went on ahead of Jim with my RV, since I knew I’d be slower. Jim went back to Surprise to get the families in the mini-van. I decided not to take the alternate route and rush hour had ended. It was about 9:00am. As I drove, again I noticed many dried up riverbeds and creeks. The elevation change worked Bailey’s Blessing hard but she was running fine. I was at about 6000 feet above sea level when the landscape changed to pine trees, I was entering the national forest of Cocinino, the pinyon pines that this area is noted for became alive. It was like entering the Adirondacks.

I saw a caution sign with an elk on it. This is different. We see deer caution signs in NY all the time but not elk. I thought it would be really neat to see one. I crossed over the Arizona Divide. I have not had time to figure out what this is yet. Usually a divide is where land plates come together. Bailey’s Blessing climbed to 7000 feet above sea level, where I entered the Kaibob national forest. I met up with my family and the Mead’s at Flagstaff. We ate lunch there at a Sizzlers then took route 40 (old route 66) for a bit until we left it to head directly up to Grand Canyon National Park. We went into the Mather campground and to our site. Jimmy and Daniel drove with me and Therese and Val drove the van together. Once there, we set up the tent and left for the South Rim; It was as I remembered back in 1984 but there was much more lodging built up on the rim. The canyon looked very dull because of the pollution. Visibility was at 50 miles and the colors were lost in the haze. I was excited but a little disappointed. We went out to Mather and Yaki points. At Yaki point we watched the sunset.

We then came back to eat dinner in the dark. After that Isaiah, Ethan, Val and my wife retired to the motorhome. The temperature was great at about 65-70 with a projected low of 55. Jim, Daniel and I retired to the tent. Shortly there after I went to sleep.