Day 3 - Las Vegas, NV to Grand Canyon National Park, AZ

We got up early and went to the buffet breakfast at the Rio.  We would have done Circus Circus but a quick check of online reviews had us steering clear.  The Rio was awesome -- we didn’t eat again until dinner!

We had to make a decision at breakfast about whether we were going to head north and avoid the smoke in New Mexico (from the Wallow Wildfire) or stick with our original plan.  The latest news is that the firefighters are getting containment and some people are getting back into evacuated areas so we decided to head off to the Grand Canyon and do our original plan.

We left Vegas and headed for the Hoover Dam.   We planned to go across the dam and continue on our way.  I am scared of bridges and the new bridge that goes over the Dam area looks terrifying.  Greg knows when to push my fear and when to go with it with such an easy solution, we headed across the dam.  We parked up at a lookout on the Arizona side and took some pictures and then headed off only to get to a dead-end.  The road back to the freeway was CLOSED!  We had to turn around, go back across the dam and continue on our way over the new, terrifying bridge.  Gage, Ruth, and Greg will tell you that it wasn’t that bad.  The walls are high and you can’t see much.  I couldn’t confirm nor deny that as I went across with my eyes closed.  (It beat my other plan which was to take a bottle of scotch into the bathroom and drink myself into a stupor as we crossed the bridge!).

Before I knew we'd be crossing that damn bridge!

You can't tell how terrifying it is from the picture just trust me . . . it is!

We headed out across Arizona now in sweltering heat.  Did I mention that the AC isn’t working?  If the temperature is below 90F, we can open all the windows and keep the motorhome pretty comfortable.  It was hotter than that . . . A lot hotter!

At one point, we were approaching a huge grade and the engine and tranny were already hot just from driving in the crazy heat.  Greg decided to let me drive my car the rest of the way.  Again, I was glad to oblige . . . AC, a break from the kids, and my own music.  Such a sacrifice!  The temperature when we switched . . . 120F.  Ouch.



Best stop of the day, a little beef jerky stand outside of Kingman, AZ.  We got homemade jerky, pistachio nuts, and wasabi peas!  Yum.

Our next stop was for groceries and gas in Williams, AZ.  It’s the turn-off to the Grand Canyon.  We loved this town.  It’s in the pines of the Kaibab National Forest and was cool and comfortable.  After 120F, the 78F felt very civilized, I must say!

We couldn’t get reservations in the Grand Canyon so we stayed at the Ten X campground in the Kaibab National Forest -- what a lovely spot.  It’s also in the pines and was a cool, comfortable place to stay.  We highly recommend it!