Hey Buddy, Can You Spare All Your Dimes?

Sept. 20th

I was washing the car window at the gas station yesterday when I was approached by a large, scruffy man. He said to me, “I am trying to raise $10.00 by selling my knife.” I thought to myself, "This is either a very creative crook or an idiot! So let me get this straight, I am supposed to pull out my wad of cash while you pull out your knife. I can’t see were this could go wrong, can you?" It was at that point that I wished I had my big 3 foot machete strapped to my back. Oh yeah, that’s been done already. Sorry, Crocodile Dundee.

As we head out on the road today we have decided to take a bit of a different route back home. Murray is great to travel with--he seems to think that the journey is as much fun as the destination--so on that note, it would seem to make sense to go home a different way. We are going to go home via Las Vegas! For those of you that are spatially challenged, go to Google maps and see if this makes sense.

It turns out that neither of us have seen the Grand Canyon. Every time I have gone to Las Vegas, I have considered it but decided it was just too far to go. I think that it is ironic that the one time I go to Reno is the one time it is not too far to go. I love this year off thing! Soooo we are going home via the Grand Canyon.

Sept. 21st

Today started very early with a call at 4:50 a.m. from the bus company insuring we would be on the bus to the Grand Canyon. By 5:50, we were on a bus to go to a gathering center where we were to get breakfast. This turned out to be a coffee and small packaged Danish. The 'meal' was followed by a bus ride with a talentless comedic driver.

We stopped at the Hoover Dam briefly for pictures. I couldn’t believe how much water is missing from the lake! There is a theory that the government has dropped the lake level as a preventative measure. You know, in case the dam is blown in a terrorist attack. I tend to favour the lack of rain/overuse theory myself, but who knows.

We continued on to an Indian reservation on the west rim of the canyon. I remembered the first time my dad flew me out the the badlands in Alberta. We were flying in a little Grumman TRII across the flat farmland, and then a huge gash in the earth opened up. The badlands are a spectacular for sure, but coming over the rim of the Grand Canyon is all that times ten! The site has two very different lookout points, one with an airbridge that arcs out over the canyon .

The view from the bridge or the edge is straight down 4,000 ft. The bizarre part about the whole site is that there are no railings or ropes! You can walk right to the edge and dangle your legs over if you want. I didn’t, but I did lay down on my belly and look over. The claim is that no one has ever fallen over, but I don’t believe it. If it hasn’t happened yet, it will happen in the future.

The second viewing place is called Guano Point, a finger of land that extends out into the canyon. This site was more impressive than the first for me and included two tall rock mounds. If I climbed to the top, which I did, the view was an amazing panorama of the whole canyon. Murray stayed on the path and took pictures of me and other individuals he felt would soon accidentally plummet to their death. Disregarding the danger, the Grand canyon is an amazing experience!

On the return trip, we were able to get a few pictures of the new bridge being built at the Hoover Dam site. After the bridge opens, traffic will not be allowed to drive over the dam. The new bridge is very impressive, and I can’t wait to drive it. My first thought after seeing it is, "What a great site it will make for BASE jumping…"

the Devils Playground

Sept. 22nd

Started back home today. We had breakfast at the new Viva McDonalds down by Circus Circus. This is the biggest McDonalds I have ever seen, but trust me, the food is the same. We don’t know were we will end up tonight but are guessing it might be Helena, Mt. I forgot how long the valley north of Vegas runs and how abruptly it ends. We just finished climbing a long gentle slope towards the mountains, and it appeared that the road just ended in a sheer rock wall. It turns out that the road enters a very narrow winding canyon and climbs a few thousand feet up over the mountain range. Very spectacular, and I can’t believe I don’t remember it from the last time I drove this road 20 years ago.

I am writing this as we drive. Murray is driving right now. You might think it odd that I would have to mention who was driving while I type, but in our family, it is important. There are stories of my dad typing his sermons with his old Royal typewriter sitting on the seat next to him, steering with his knees. This was said to have happend on the back roads of Saskatchewan, in the 1960’s, but I like to clarify should any of my siblings read this and wonder if I picked up his bad habit. Dad may deny he ever did such a thing, but he is getting to the age where we can tell him that really he did it, he just can’t remember any more. The reason I started to tell you this is so you understand if the tenses in my paragraphs aren’t consistent. Sorry to my editor who will try to figure it all out. (The tenses I can figure out; it took me a while to figure how your dad was driving and typing in the "1060s," however! -cds-)

Murray is very conscientious about driving the speed limit (as we all should be), and he sets the cruise control precisely on the limit. I have noticed today, though, that he is setting the cruise on going-home speed--just a little bit faster but well within the 10% the police may give you. The speed limit down here is insane! Most of the freeways are 75 mph, but today we found two sections of the highway at 80 mph! At that speed I like to have the option to raise the landing gear at pull up.