Finish: Boulder City, Nevada
Distance: 150 miles Total to date: 3762 miles
Campground: Best Western Hotel, Paradise, Nevada $83.00
Gas: Henderson, Nevada 3.951 gal @ $3.289 $13.00
Park Fees: Scenic Helicopter Flight with Serenity Helicopters $467.00 CDN
Today we will be taking a helicopter flight over the Grand Canyon. It's a bit expensive, but many of those who did it, say it's a must. You really get a different perspective of the canyon since it is so huge, one vantage point cannot do justice to it's enormity.
We left Mesquite and the temperature was a cool 84 degrees.
We had to ride 80 miles south thru Las Vegas and then west to Boulder City. As we rode to Vegas, we were in prime desert area. Hwy 15 stretched straight ahead with mountains on the sides, but a huge desert floor in between. Even the sage bushes aare brown or burnt out. As we got closer to Vegas, the temperature was in the 100's.
Al wanted to see the Pawn Stars location and it was not a big diversion off the interstate, so we rode into Vegas for that. Just before entering the city, about 6 F18s and a large military helicopter flew overhead. We also rode past the Nascar Speedway.
We stopped at a parking lot across from the pawn shop and there was a large lineup trying to get in. They were filming an episode, so people were not allowed in until the shoot was completed. I took a few photos of Al outside the building and then we headed on our way to Boulder City, where our flight was to take off.
We stopped in Boulder City for a bite to eat and the temperature on my bike, sitting in the parking lot, was 115 degrees. It was a killer standing in the heat.
At Serenity Helicopters, we had a hard time finding the location as most people are shuttled in. Overhead, some people were dropping in from skydiving. Just walking to the terminal, we were dripping wet. Once inside, the lounge area was a cool, relaxing atmosphere with nice bar tables, treats and complimentary wine and water.
After a short wait and introductory talk, we boarded the helicopter with 4 others and out pilot, Mike Love. Mike was a military helicopter pilot with experience in Cobra and Apache helicopters. He had a great personality and humour. We were with a young couple from Sweden and another older couple from England who had just been married, Elvis style.
It was a bit jammed inside, but we were excited to take the flight. We took off and went over the Hoover Dam. It has enough concrete in it to build a two land highway from LA to New York. We flew over Lake Meade, which is a large mad-made lake with marinas and a lot of recreational activities. There was no vegetation around the lake despite being there for years.
We went over a few mountains, one of which is a dormant volcano. Then, we flew over some desert towards the Grand Canyon. We could see where people have parked their trailers in the middle of absolutely no-where. There is absolutely nothing around them...where do they get electricity, water, anything, being so remote in the desert...and choosing to do so, makes you wonder. Mike, our pilot, joked about them possibly being retired chemistry teachers doing chemicals, as in the tv series Breaking Bad....that's the only explanation!
We started flying over the canyon and it was amazing seeing it from this perspective. We could see so much more and get such a better feeling of the height, depth and distance of the canyon. We flew by the Skywalk deck that the Indians have as a tourist sight. Mike said it might not be worth the ride as the view is very limited, you are not allowed cameras, and you have to be shuttled to the area. Al & I will have to decide if we want to take the time to make the extended ride out there.
We continued winding thru the canyon and came to our landing spot at the base of the canyon. It was a beautiful sight. There was a storm coming in, but it would only affect the top of the canyon. Helicopters are only allowed to land on Indian land as the rest of the Grand Canyon is a designated national park and landings are not permitted there.
We had a small lunch, packed into the helicopter and headed back through the canyon, over the desert, on our way back. Mike had great commentary of the trip and had a great playlist as we took the flight.This was really worth the money.
Once done, we found a hotel using Hotwire and had to backtrack about 20 miles to get to the Best Western. We stopped at a Lowes hardware along the way so we could get some things to make a few repairs to Al's camper, and then, after a bit of searching, found our hotel.
Tomorrow, we're off to the South Rim and then I guess we're heading eastward and northward from there. What a spectacular flight!
Aside: Al C made it to California but when he went thru the Mohabi Desert, he was riding thru 120 degree temperatures. He does not want to ride back thru that again, so he has decided to ride north towards Washington and then head back east from there on his own. I think he was restless and found that the time to do the blog was holding him back from riding, despite the fact that we are right on time with our trip and have made all the stops that we had planned. It takes a few hours each day to do the blog, either at night after a long ride, or split between the night and morning depending on how tired I am. It would be nice to relax after a long ride or just pack up in the morning and head out, but I need to sacrifice that to do the blog. I work instead of having some down time, but I feel it is nice for the family and friends to follow along and it's important to record the trip so that I can do a hard-cover book and have a legacy of our trip. He will see some nice country on his route, but will miss the Grand Canyon, Millionaires Highway and other great things on our route. Keep the rubber on the road, Al and get home safely!
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