Day 4: Detour. And It's a Big One. Grand In Fact

I was up at 6:00 AM. 
How did I barely make it to the California border?  I started the day in Holbrook, AZ and barely made it to the other side of the state.
I get sidetracked easily.

After only 70 or so miles I exited Hwy 40 and took the 6 mile side trip to see the Meteor Crater. 
I was a little gun-shy after a brief 3 mile side trip to see Billy The Kid's grave yesterday. Not so exciting, that one.


Meteor Crater was created 50,000 years ago by a 150-foot iron-nickel meteorite. These pictures can not show you just how massive this Crater is.  Way deeper than the picture seems to show. 60 stories down!  2.5 miles around.  Think 20 Football fields with 2 million spectators and that's how big it is!
They have a dog-size chunk of the meteorite that you can touch. Scary to think what might happen today if something like that tore through Dallas. Sites like this get my imagination going. Earth below us. Drifting. Falling. Floating. Weightless...the countdown starts...


After a little internal debate, I turned off the trusty TomTom GPS that the Bob's girls gave me as a going away gift.  I then headed up Scenic US 89. Over a hundred miles out of my way. The damn English woman inside the TomTom wouldn't shut up. I had to turn her off. She was scolding me.

As I crested the highest point of the drive through the Mountains, Emma texted me that our good customer and Bob's friend, Dick Tanner passed away. Had to pull over for a moment on that note.  Dick would drop off his famous Italian Meatballs for the staff from time to time over the years. Not to mention all the fun he had with our bartenders.  He will be remembered fondly.

That is not a painting. It is the first viewpoint in The Grand Canyon. This stop alone made it worth the $25, Four Hours and 250 or so extra miles.  This Park really deserves a whole day. 
So glad I bought the Kodak 10mp camera. I'm figuring it out as this trip goes on. Got the timer to work. Now I don't have to ask strangers to take "the lonley guy's" photo. 
(don't forget to click on picture if you want the grand view...ok i'll stop saying grand)

I fell down as the timer snapped this picture. So damn funny to me to know the behind the scenes' story.  I went tumbling backwards to the rail as that stunned couple in the background looked down on me-shocked. Check out me biting my lip just before the big fall. The events were already in motion at that point. If not for the rail, it would have been about a mile down. I'm laughing as I type this. 

This one is better without the buffoon. 
I'm blogging from a place called Needles, CA. Just inside of California. I had to say I made it out of Arizona. I would have gone farther but it's the Mojave Desert. The next stop was 149 miles. I would have chanced breaking down in the middle of the desert near a place called "The Devil's Playground." Not at all appealing. It was 111 degrees when I checked in at 7:00 PM.  The desk clerk said it topped out at 116!


A little over 11 hours to Healdsburg. If I don't make any more side trips.


Late update: WildFires in L.A. County! I won't be that far west but...will it spread and what about the smoke?