Day 14: Grand Canyon Village, AZ

Day 14

May 30, 2015

Miles: 30

Valle to Grand Canyon

I want to start this post with a happy birthday wish to my Mom! 
Happy Birthday Mom! We miss and love you lots!
...

Today was a special and very exciting day for us; we headed to the Grand Canyon this morning. We started by saying our goodbyes to Judy and Nancy, Eva's daughter. Sadly, Eva wasn't there this morning for us to say goodbye. We left after another wonderful breakfast, at about 9:30am. We strategically planned a short ride, so we would be able to spend the afternoon at the Canyon. As we rode to the Grand Canyon, we had butterflies in our stomach. Perhaps because of anticipation, or perhaps from the fear of knowing we would be 7000ft about sea level, while at the same time walking the South Rim of the Canyon. Whichever, it was still exhilarating!

Steve's Breakfast

We arrived at the Grand Canyon ... woo hooooo at 1:30pm after riding 30 miles. We had a quick lunch then headed to Bright Angel Trailhead. We spent a few hours walking the South Rim. This is actually my third time here, but Steve is a Canyon virgin so it has been wonderful watching him devour the Canyon with his camera, if this is even possible. The Grand Canyon is amazing! One of the seven natural wonders of the world. So vast that words cannot describe, so let's just let the pictures tell the story ...

Grand Canyon Entrance

South Rim Vantage Point 1

South Rim Vantage Point 2
South Rim Vantage Point 3
South Rim Vantage Point 4



South Rim Vantage Point 5
South Rim Vantage Point 6
South Rim Vantage Point 7
South Rim Vantage Point 8

South Rim Vantage Point 9
Bright Angel Path lower ridge


Di sitting on wall


Di stuck to tree because of sap

Di close to edge
Di on different wall

Mini me



Steve by wall

Steve on Bright Angel Path




Steve on the Job


Steve Clowning Around

What has been so great about this bike trip is that everyday has been a unique day. So very different from all the previous days. No repeats. No disappointments (well only one as pointed out by Steve - just not enough good coffee), just pleasant surprises. We are living with only what we are carrying on our bikes. No fuss, that and just the bare essentials - food, water, transportation and lodging; well that's not really all we are living with ... also the adventure. We are truly living in the moment every hour, which is extremely liberating. Looking out into the Canyon today reminded us just how small we really are. It was a truly amazing day!

Steve & Di

We plan to set out early tomorrow morning to continue our exploration 
of the Grand Canyon. Our plan is to ride the East Rim as we make our 
way to Utah. The town of Cameron is our end goal for tomorrow. 
About 52 miles.

Some random shots of the wildlife roaming about the South Rim.

We had such great, healthy lunch today that I just had to include this. We both had black bean soup. I had a kale and lentil bean salad and Steve a spinach and sweet potato wrap.
Yummy!

We had a great lunch - Gluten Free for Me!

Day 13: Valle Rest Day

Day 13

May 29 2015

Miles: 0

Valle to, well, Valle

Di and I are still in Valle enjoying our rest day.  As Di stated in her blog yesterday, the internet connections are pretty bad and it is very difficult to upload pictures.  So, I thought it would be a good time to provide a FAQ page (Frequently Asked Questions).


FAQ Page

How much does all your luggage weigh?
Di did her research and discovered that if we are to average 55 miles per day, then our luggage can weigh no more than 40 pounds.  My luggage weighs just over 60 pounds.  Di says that is insane.  On the other hand, Di's luggage weighs over 50 pounds.  I weigh over 170 pounds and Di weighs in the 120's.  Therefore, Di is carrying close to half her weight while I am carrying about a third of my weight.  Who's the insane one now, Di?

How often are you camping out?
Di has put a limit on our camping days by insisting we camp no more than 15% of the time.  This is day 13 and we have camped out twice.  That comes out to 15.3% of the time.  Coincidence?  I think not.

What is the most common thing you find on the road?
The skeletal remains of bicyclists that have gone before us.  Ha, just kidding, we find very few of those.  This being Arizona, we mostly just find spent shell casings.  Ha, just kidding again, I'm sure the shell casings are recovered to be used again.  No, the most common thing found on the road is rubber from blown out tires.  The second most common thing is those weird weight things that are put on your car tires to make them balanced.  Based upon the number of these I have seen on the road, there are a lot of unbalanced drivers out there.  I have seen at least three folding knives and I am tempted to keep them, but I have enough weight as it is (see question one above).  One time after I had picked up this nice Smith and Wesson and threw it back down once I was done checking it out, Di told me I had to pick it back up and wipe my prints off it.  "You never know how that knife was used!", she said.  I think she has watched too many episodes of CSI.

Are you nuts?
This question was presented to us by our moms.  I'm not sure I should reply as the answer should be obvious.  Also, anything I say in my defense will not make any difference, so all I will say is, "Hey, you raised us and made us this way, so it is all your fault!"

What was the steepest grade when you climbed to Yellen and Prescott?
Thanks to Ben for presenting this question.  The steepest grade was between 8 and 10%.  That's pretty steep.  We were told by some guy in Congress that the ascent was really steep.  I asked him if he had ridden his bike up to Prescott.  "No", he said, "but when I drive my car I really have to give it the gas going up those hills!"

What is Di eating these days?
This question was sent to us by Bethany, who has a sympathy with some of Di's DRs (dietary restrictions).  Well Beth, you may be surprised to learn that Di has not a shred of dietary integrity remaining.  All manner of food is voraciously consumed.  We may need to coin a new word for someone who is both an omnivore and voracious eater: an omnivoracivore. It is most telling that she no longer even bothers to ask for a gluten-free option.  Di wants me to say that her diet is now one of necessity and not of choice.  But is it really?  Were those Kit Kat bars really a necessity?

How do you get your electronic devices charged?
This question was posed by Frank, who's job forces him to be tethered to a charged phone at all times.  Really, we don't have that many electronic devices, just Di's phone, my phone, Di's GPS, Di's iPad, my Mac Air, and my Nikon camera.  We charge the the devices each night we are in a motel, and that is usually good enough to get us through the day.  Di will often bring her iPhone and GPS chargers into restaurants and find someplace to plug them in while we eat.  One time when we camped out we had no access to power and used the Mac to charge Di's phone.  In addition to being a computer, the Mac doubles as a big battery for Di's electronics.

How much did the other motel cost in Ash Fork?
This question was also asked by Frank.  The one hotel that had vacancies charged only $29 per night, which obviously means it is too dirty to ever use.  But how about that first hotel that had no vacancies?  Well, I had to do some internet research and the answer is very interesting.  I learned the room rates start at $30 per night.  I don't know how much higher they go and for what reason the price would increase, but does it matter.? Would Di have chosen to stay at a $30 dollar motel?  Granted, this is 1/29th more expensive than the motel dismissed out-of-hand by Di as being far too likely to be bug infested, but would that be enough to push her beyond the tipping point of a motel being expensive enough?  Probably not.  I suspect Frank assumed this and asked this question merely as a way of cluing us in to what to him was already obvious.  Sometimes its tough having smart siblings.

Are the roads worse than the roads in RI?
We thank Frank again for this question.  No.  RI still wins the prize for worst roads we have ridden so far this year.  The roads in CA and AZ may be cracked in some places from the heat, but at least they are not covered with dirt and sand as the RI roads were a few weeks ago.

Why does Steve always seems to be wearing the same clothes in every picture?
Did you know that Einstein had a closet full of the same white shirts?  He did this so he wouldn't have to worry about what to wear each day.  Nobody asked Einstein why it appears he wears the same clothes every day, they correctly assumed he had that closet full of the same clothes.  Is this my way of saying I have multiple sets of the same clothes?  No, I'm saying all this in the hope you got bored with this answer and stopped reading before you got to this point.  I do not have multiple sets of the same clothes.  Draw your own conclusions.

Why are Toni-Ann's comments placed so early in the morning?
Many people wonder why Toni-Ann places her comments between 2:30am and 5:30am.  Doesn't she sleep?  The only conclusion that can be drawn is she is filled with such anticipation for the next blog entry that she doesn't go to sleep until it is posted.  She stays up continually refreshing her screen waiting to see that the next blog has been posted.  Toni-Ann comments so early in the morning that the one time she didn't post until later in the day made Di speculate that she didn't post because she had jumped on a plane to come and see if we were okay.  Please Toni-Ann, make sure you post early in the morning so we don't spend all day wondering if you are going to show up (though that would be a pleasant surprise).

What has happened so far that has surprised you?
I am continually surprised at how wonderful and kind folks have been to us.  Motorists wave, beep, and give us the thumbs up.  People we meet in restaurants strike up conversation and are truly interested in us and what we are doing.  Randy, the owner of the Westward Inn, ran from his home to stop us from leaving in the morning before he had made us a great cup of coffee.  Cindy and Sheri, the owners of the motel in Congress, invited us to their evening cookout.  Yes, the kindness of the people we have met has been a big surprise.  The biggest surprise of this trip, however, was to see a blog post by my dad (Poppy).  We are definitely on the lookout for fruitcakes now.

Has there been any disappointments so far?
Yes!  We had to ride 27 miles one morning before we had our first cup of coffee.  That was a huge disappointment.  However, we got that cup of coffee because the only store we would see that day was open because the owner was driving into town that morning, saw us on the road and figured we would stop at his store, so he turned around to go back and open the store.  Then he made us coffee and wouldn't accept any money for it.  Naturally, we had a second cup.  The kindness of folks certainly tempered our earlier disappointment.  For more on the kindness of stranger, see the question above.

How is the new camera working?
The new camera is working, but I am not yet satisfied with the pictures.  There are a lot of settings I need to review to make sure the pictures look the way I want.  This is what I have so far:

Di exiting our apartment (the former horse barn)

Di washing clothes 

Di showing skills gained as a result of an ill-spent youth

Di sitting with all her friends

Day 12: Valle, AZ - Updated!!!!!

Day 12

May 28, 2015

Miles: 50

Ash Fork to Valle

I am posting this very short message tonight to let you know that we made it safely to Valle.  Unfortunately, we have limited wireless capabilities tonight.  We tried uploading our pictures and after 1 hour, no pictures had completely loaded so we were forced to terminate the job. I then tried to upload pictures with my personal hotspot to no avail.

So tomorrow we will try again, and if not successful, perhaps find a place locally with better WiFi access.  For tonight, I will leave you with this...

When we arrived at the B&B, Judy the woman who owns the place, said Steve’s package had arrived.  It was the alternate camera that Andy had sent him.  Steve is very, very happy; we plan to be riding through the Grand Canyon - South Rim on Saturday, so it came just in time. Great planning and execution on Andy’s part ... thanks A, you saved the day, not to mention you made your dad very happy!

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  POST UPDATES BELOW THIS POINT ....
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Our routine every morning, as soon as we wake, is to check the blog for comments.  I guess I shouldn’t have been too surprised to find this morning no one commented; even our two most avid commenters Toni-Ann and Jen decided to pass this morning. We took this as a sign that last night’s post was uninspiring and frankly, just not acceptable! So, since we were able to find better WIFI access, we were able to successfully upload pictures, hence this update; hopefully, a more inspiring post to describe a little better yesterday’s events.

Let me bring you back to the night we spent in Ash Fork.  Where we were forced (I mean grateful), to stay in a campground.  Let me explain.  Camping is great!  I mean it.  Under the right circumstances, I repeat - the right circumstances, it is just perfect!  For instance take the night there in Ash Fork.  As Steve previously posted, it was either the $29 hotel room or the RV Campground.  A no brainer right?  I actually don’t mind camping all that much.  There are many advantages such as there are no distractions like a TV; no negotiating over which side of the bed you want to sleep on, and no one tugging all night at the blankets because we both have our own sleeping bag.  Also, as soon as the sun goes down, your internal clock kicks in and says time for bed.  So by 8:30pm your eyes start to close; a few minutes later you are out cold.  Now, in the morning, it is a different story.  Leaving the campground is always a production because of packing of the tent, sleeping bags and mat.  Getting on the road seems to take forever.  However does that really matter? You are up at the crack of dawn so who really cares.  This morning we were on our bikes at 7:15am and ordering breakfast by 7:30am. 

The Morning Pack

Another Great Breakfast

Picking up where I left off above. Now lets for a moment contrast camping with staying at a 5-star Bed & Breakfast.  Under the right circumstances, this would be a more perfect option.  Like for instance, where we stayed last night and intend to stay again tonight as well – Dumplin Patch B&B.  We woke this morning with the sunlight peaking through our bedroom window.  And it is not just one bedroom. We are staying in a beautiful four room apartment with a kitchen, livingroom, sitting area, a beautifully modern bathroom and an enormous patio.  It was once the barn where her horses lived, we were told by the owner.  The owner, Judy, converted this barn to a luxurious apartment on her complex that houses two or three other standalone B&B apartments and many rooms in the main house.    

Steve in our kitchen

At 7:55am we walked over to the main house where breakfast was being served.  Judy and Eva, the chef, were both waiting for us.  Both were very sweet and happy to see us. Judy, even offered us her car for us to drive to the Canyon.  We thanked her, but passed because we wanted today to be a rest day, and because we are riding tomorrow and plan to stay in the Grand Canyon Village.  Eva had prepared blueberry pancakes, eggs, poppy muffins, fresh fruit, fresh squeezed orange juice and freshly brewed coffee.  Tonight, Eva will cook us a private dinner for two, a service the B&B provides, so we opted to partake. Not bad under the right circumstances right?  A great place with great services, and with very friendly people.  Other than the spotty WIFI access and an occasional wiff of horse in our kitchen, this place is just perfect!  

On Road Shot

So, yesterday it was another beautiful day weatherwise.  Sunny and 80s, wind at our backs.  Even with these conditions, yesterday was a long and difficult climb. At times we were climbing grades between 8%-10%.  Sloooow riding.  We hit elevation 7000 twice.  However, we didn’t stay there long, because as soon as we crested the second peak we started our descend.  Woo hoo!   We rode 50 miles in all. 

More pictures as we rode...

Steve Feeling Good!

Steve feeling not so good!

Steve good again!

Steve doing his own thing ... doesn't he always!

I am happy to report, we no longer have to worry about snakes and scorpions; away with my rattlesnake whip.

Where is my bear bat!

Not so cute!

However, we rode through the cutiest little town called Williams. The main street sits on the Old Route 66.  It was a bit commercialized but it is a perfect option for those who want to stay outside the Grand Canyon.  We rode by a restaurant with a band playing outside on the patio; it is a happening town.  Steve just loved riding on this road.  He sang ‘get your kicks on route 66’ all day.

Steve loved this sign!

Last night we ate at a local restaurant that had very good food. We both order the salmon and even celebrated making it this far by having one Guiness each.   

Thorough Enjoyment

We were surprised how awake we were, given the last three days of riding; strangely we felt great last night and today during our rest day, we still felt great as well!

Day 11: Ash Fork, AZ

 Day 11

May 27, 2015

Miles: 53

Prescott to Ash Fork

We left the motel around 8:45.  It was tough to get an early start because the bed was amazingly comfortable.  The mattress had just the right amount of firmness and the comforter was so soft.  Di says she is going to email the owners of the motel to get the type of mattress because she wants to buy one for our house.  I told Di that was a little weird, but she said it wasn't weird at all and the owners wouldn't mind.  We'll see.

Di leaving the motel and its amazing bed

 We rode about a mile and stopped to have some breakfast.  We met an older couple that had passed us on the road yesterday and wanted to know how we were making out.  We told them of our trip so far and they told us of all their travels.  They are going to London for five or six weeks later this year, but the gentleman said it was going to be the last trip abroad.  "I'm over 80 now", he said, "time to stay closer to home."

Pigging out at breakfast

Our ride today looked easy on the map, but by the time we rode the 53 miles our legs didn't think it was easy at all.  The first part of the day was flat and we rode mostly in the valleys.

A representative valley

The second half of the day was mostly uphill, with some downhill that served only to make the next uphill longer.  I hate descending when I know I still have a lot more elevation to gain.  I call these by a variety of different names and acronyms: UD (unnecessary descent), MD (meaningless descent), PD (pointless descent), or the combo PUD (pointless and meaningless descent).

Di climbing

 Another thing I hate is a shudder road.  A shudder road is one with a zillion cracks that we have to ride over.  As we go over each crevice the whole bike and the rider shudder with the impact.  Its also onomatopoeic - as the front tire goes over the crack the noise it makes sounds like "Shud".  As the back wheel goes over the crack you hear the noise "Der".  Hence, a shudder road.  Also, a rider shudders when such a road is seen in the distance.  There's a lot of shuddering going on with this kind of road!

The kind of road to make a rider (and bike) shudder

Di is happy she is off the shudder road

Insertion of nice scene here to serve as a transition shot

We rode passed Hell's Canyon.  I don't know why its called Hell's Canyon.

Hell's canyon

We rode by a sign that said Historical Site Marker in one mile.  This kind of sign is similar to a TV commercial that says something like "The most amazing thing in the history of the universe happened today!  Details at 11."  Just tell me what the heck happened.  Out of spite I did not stop when we came upon the marker.  I told Di I already knew what was written on the marker: "On this day in 1934, this historical marker was erected."

Di bought this shirt in Glamis and she loves it

 Sometimes I avoid putting pictures in the blog that might raise consternation, but on this occasion I couldn't resist:

Di wins (naturally)

The victory smile

Di on the descent into Ash Fork (not on a PUD)

Di told me Ash Fork was a large city with over 80,000 people.  I was a little surprised, so while we were having lunch today I pulled out the bicycle map and checked for myself.  Sure enough, the map listed the city name and in parenthesis listed the population.  Shortly afterwards I began a conversation with somebody who actually lives in Ash Fork.  He was out for a drive with his wife and granddaughter.  "So", I start confidently, "Ash Fork is a pretty big city, huh?"  He looked at me with suspicion.  "It has over 80,000 people", I said, but with a little less confidence.  "Over 80,000 people!  That's a good one!  Ash Fork has just over 400 people!"  Well, I felt a little foolish, that's for sure.  But not as foolish as I felt when I went back to the map and realized the number in parenthesis was actually the zip code. Rats.

Any way, Ash Fork is a small place and has only two motels.  The first motel was fully booked.

No room at the inn for Di

The second motel had vacancies, but Di said any hotel that had rooms for $29 had to be infested with bed bugs, so we couldn't stay there.

Really cheap motel equal bug infested room (according to Di)

Di asked the woman working the counter at the Shell station if there were any campgrounds in town and learned there is an RV campground at the end of town.  We rode our bikes there and were able to get a tent site for $18.  All I have to do now is let Di select a motel and then tell her I heard a rumor it is infested with bed bugs.  We'll be tenting for the rest of the trip!

We pitched our tent and went into town to get some dinner.  Di wasn't happy with her dinner.  She said the lettuce in the salad was old and inedible.  She didn't like her steak.  The only thing she liked was the baked potato.  I ordered the hamburger steak and mashed potatoes.  It is possible that my meal also wasn't good, but I devoured it without paying attention to its quality.  I was more interested in quantity.  When I then ate Di's salad she was shocked and accused me of doing that just to annoy her.  I smiled and asked her if she was going to eat her bread.

Di getting ready for dinner

Totally out of order picture from Di's phone

Totally out of order picture from Di's phone

My back is hurting from writing this blog in the tent so I'm wrapping up without doing anything sensible with those two pictures above.

This is what I look like blogging from inside the tent.

We are headed for Valle tomorrow.  It will be about a 48 mile ride with a lot of climbing again, however, we are staying at a bed and breakfast and we are taking a rest day on Friday.  And, the camera Andy sent should arrive tomorrow! Yippee!