Grand Canyon to Joshua Tree

Time to see it from above! I’ve been looking forward to this for a long time, and it exceeded my expectations!

The pilot was right when he said best to see the GC firstly from the rim and then by helicopter.

I had wondered why most of the peaks were flat topped. Now having seen from above, the flatness is the original flat land and then the Canyon has been shaped.

On the north rim we could see bison. Coming in to land we could see our hotel.

What an amazing experience! I would certainly repeat it.

Then a driving day of 360 miles. We are now retracing our steps to Kingman but taking the route 40 west rather than the slower route 66. There are plenty of signs warning of ice. Quite surprising considering how warm it is, though we are at 5000-6000 ft elevation.

Plenty of warnings too about deer and other wildlife. Apparently, the bar on the front of trunks is a deer guard to protect the vehicle. We finally spotted a burro. We have a rule that for something to have happened, it needs either three of us to see it or photo evidence.

We came off route 40 at Kingman back on to route 66 via Richard’s special surprise route.

Yet another toilet stop!

A little stop at Cool Springs, aka the real Radiator Springs.

Now for the sidewinder. Wish us luck!

Without much notice, another wild donkey! He wasn’t planning on moving quickly.

An Oldsmobile.

Oatman, a cute historic town with wild burros. They seemed quite tame actually, with one that regularly walks in to the shops!

We filled up the tank at 2.99 per gallon before leaving Arizona. Crossing in to California the petrol is 5.99 per gallon! Our tank takes 23 gallons.

Still on route 66, Amboy, now a ghost town as no one lives there.

Lovely dinner at Kitchen in the Desert in the town of 29 Palms where we are staying. The sprouts dish had been forgotten, but was certainly worth the wait.

Most restaurants don’t ask if you want a pudding, and just give you the bill saying “no rush” however he appeared and offered……. key lime pie as a special!

After the fail in LV (day 2), there had been many references to where I would find a really nice homemade one. Dinner had been lovely here. Richard started bigging it up how lovely it would be……….. Lesson learnt, don’t listen to him! The waiter then declared they had none left!