There was a cross country biking group staying at the hotel last night. We talked to a couple of people to find out exactly what they’re doing and got a picture of their map. They started out on May 6 in Los Angeles and will be in Boston by June 24. It looks like a group of about 25 cyclers looking at photos on the map. And we are not talking youngsters either. Pretty awesome stuff. When we checked into the hotel tonight I did a little digging. The company is Big Dream Bike Tours and HERE is a link to their site. Consider my mind blown! If you’re interested, click around on that site a little bit. The amount of miles they ride a day is 39 to 100 with an average of around 80. There’s a link to some of the participants’ blogs as well. And what it costs to do this? WOW!
Our original plans were to drive to Page, AZ and check out Horseshoe Bend Park and the Glen Canyon Dam before checking into our hotel. While on Rt 89 Bob saw a sign for Sunset Crater Volcanic National Monument. Oh a whim he whipped the car to the right and we decided to at least check it out. Bob has a Lifetime Senior Pass for the national parks. We had no idea it would get us into all the National Monuments too. We need to start paying attention to those when we travel. This is a 2-in-1 park because on the other end of it is the Wupatki National Monument, which contains ancient ruins of villages built 900 years ago. All that on a 34-mile scenic loop drive! Sounds like a good pivoting idea to us!
Back on Rt 89 making our way to Page for the night. I gotta say, the roads we’ve been on the last few traveling days have been pretty damn boring to drive. Today wasn’t an exception. Either the landscape is just flat with nothing to look at or it’s all starting to look the same with red rocks and sandstone hills dotted with little green shrubs. I could insert some pictures from previous driving days and it would all look the same. LOL And the other thing? It’s barren. Just barren. There is nowhere to stop to pee, much less grab a sandwich or any kind of food (other than the occasional McDonald’s or other fast food place. Good thing we had a full tank and we rationed our water drinking. We kept thinking each town we would come to would have something. Nope. Nothing.
Finally we made it to Page and were delighted to see it’s a real town! We checked in and found a place for lunch and even ordered a salad! Woohoo! Both of us crashed pretty early last night so were awake really early this morning (I saw the sun peek over the horizon a little after 5am this morning). So we came back to the room to recharge before going back out tonight.
The Grand Canyon Brewery in town got our vote for pizza and beer tonight for dinner. After all, we had salad for lunch right? LOL I didn’t take any pics but it is a big operation. The place was huge and busy! Tomorrow is our tour of Antelope Canyon!
It's a Wonderful Life! 