Day 2: Grand Canyon is HOT!
After a hearty breakfast in Williams, we hit the road for Grand Canyon. It was only 10AM and already the temps were in the high 80�s F. But before we rode out of Williams, Chris took us to a small swap meet for a little useless junk shopping.
We got on Highway 64, which was a fast and straight road leading towards State Highway 180, which ultimately lead directly to the Grand Canyon. These two highways were wide open and encouraged high speed cruising as they both passed through the Coconino Plateau. This plateau was relatively featureless except for the yellow grass and low lying shrubs, and it also stayed well above 6,000 feet ASL. Chris was in the lead and was moving at about 100 mph, passing cagers aggressively. A few times where I really wanted to stop and take a picture of the road and its surroundings because it was quite scenic, but there was no way I could signal Chris on his ZX11 hell bent to cover distance. I seriously thought about taking my camera out of my tank bag to snap a quick pic while on the move but visions of me dropping the poor Olympus on that hard asphalt and shattering its sensitive electronics put an immediate stop to that idea! Then came the numerous �emergency� stops Chris conducted whenever he saw something of interest to him. The first time he did this I very nearly rear ended Mat�s R1 since at one moment we were cruising at 100 mph, the next we�re hard on the brakes. There were no warnings either, at least not for the riders in back. This happened about 3 times before we got smart and followed Chris with about 30 bike lengths between us and him. We passed by a few places that was interesting enough for a quick look and see but Chris just bypassed them. One of them was the town of Tusayan and the Grand Canyon Airport containing vintage aircraft out on display for public viewing.
We finally arrived at the Grand Canyon Park entrance, which cost $10 per vehicle. That�s $10 per motorcycle! The park wasn�t too crowded but there were many people there. We mainly stayed at Yavapai Point in the South Rim. The temperature at the Park was a good 90 degrees F easily. The views were everything we imagined them to be, which was absolutely breathtaking in every angle. It made us stop and think about how the canyon was formed and how the early pioneers �discovered� its existence and how they crossed it. Down below at the base of the canyons we saw the Colorado River as it snaked across the bottom. We also saw small campsites and lush oasis by the waterway way down there at the base. The only way to get down there was by hiking and we surely were in no condition to hike. However, Chris did manage to give us a �tour� of his old digs located at the Grand Canyon Village. Turned out he worked there in his earlier years and he wanted us to see his old stomping grounds. We saw the Yavapai Lodge where a small part of the movie �Vacation� starring Chevy Chase was filmed back in 1979. The hotel still looked exactly like it did as this was how we recognized it. After about an hour of walking around, we got hungry and we looked forward to a hearty lunch in air conditioned comfort. Instead, Chris took us to the Grand Canyon Park�s idea of fast food: hot dogs, drinks and ice cream. We huddled together in a shaded area and ate our lunch while the Grand Canyon squirrels, which were quite aggressive, watched and waited for us to throw them food. There were signs everywhere telling visitors NOT to feed the animals. Chris still managed to throw the squirrels scraps just for kicks. Okay Chris. |
