Finish: Cameron, Arizona
Distance: 349 miles Total to date: 4110 miles
Campground: Cameron Trading Post Motel, Cameron, Arizona $114.00
Gas: Kingman, Arizona 3.514 gal @ $3.699 $12.65; Williams, Arizona 3.171 gal @ $2.999 $9.51; Cameron, Arizona 2.952 gal @ $3.099/g $9.15
Park Fees: Grand Canyon $25.00/motorcycle for 7 day pass: We used the pass we bought from the North Rim again.
Today, we're heading east to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. We took Interstate 93 South towards Kingman. About 5 miles out of Boulder City, we took an exit to see the Hoover Dam. The Hoover Dam was built about 70 years ago and is 723 feet high. It was busy at the Hoover Dam as there were a lot of tour buses and charters. We did not want to stop, so we took a few photos and headed back down the 92. The Hoover Dam is a super structure, that created and now holds it back Lake Meade. The Hoover Dam is in Arizona, so visiting it, we changed states and also changed back to Mountain time.
Back on the Interstate 93, we rode thru the Mojave Desert. It had rolling dunes and was covered with dried out sage and Joshua Trees. It was interesting seeing the dunes from the ground versus from the helicopter.
The temperature started at 88 degrees. In a bit, I checked the temperature again and it moved to 91 degrees. Another check and it was 93, then 95 and then 96. Each time I checked, it was getting higher, so I stopped checking.
Interstate 93 is a long hot highway thru the Mojave Desert, but it was very busy. We had to stop a few times to fill out water containers as we were drinking a ton of water.
When we got to Williams, we found a really neat town that seemed to be stuck in the past. It has an old Sante Fe railway, a garage museum, many old fashioned buildings, and it's on the famous and historical Route 66. It's a really cute town that boasts itself as the "Gateway to the Grand Canyon".
Once we left Williams, we continued north on Hwy 63 towards the Grand Canyon. We got there a late in the afternoon, so didn't have a lot of time to check out the Grand Canyon. On the South Rim, the road follows the Grand Canyon for about 30 miles and there are many pullouts to stop and take photos. This makes the South Rim so much better than the North Rim, because on the North Rim, the only spots to see the Grand Canyon, is at the end of a road. So...the South Rim wins over the North Rim, hands down.
We took some photos and by the time we got towards the end of the park, the sun was just about to set. We stayed a bit, just to see the sun set over the Grand Canyon. It was a nice sight.
As the sun began to set and the light got low, there were some nice silhouettes of the layers of the mountains drifting in the background.
Because it was late, we booted it down the road to Cameron. It was dark by the time we got there and there was only a couple of gas stations. Since we were on a very large Navajo Indian reservation We thought we would have a long night riding til we could find a place to stay. The lady at the gas bar suggested the Cameron Trading Post and said it has an adjoining motel. We rode to the trading post and it was amazing. The trading post is full of Indian crafts, the restaurant is magnificent, and the rooms were so, so unique. It was so much more than I was expecting.
Tomorrow, we will check out the trading post more before heading north east to Durango and the start of the Millionaires Highway.
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