Monday August 21st

I prepared to set out in the morning for my adventures in the van which would be my home, with the exception of a few short stays with family and friends, for the next seven and a half weeks. I would end up driving 9,500 miles (15,000km) in the van, across extremely varied territory, being blessed with amazing sights.

I found out that the sliding door on the van didn’t lock when the rest of the car was locked. I had been leaving this unlocked without realising it while parking until then! I rang the van hire people and they said sometimes that door didn’t lock and unlock with the rest of the van until it got going after a while. But it never did work, so I always just locked and unlocked it manually.

I drove from Phoenix, heading for the Grand Canyon. It was a fair drive, about four hours, with quite interesting scenery, and much of the way with 75mph (120km/h) speed limits on four lane highways, which was nice. I was getting the hang of navigating around cities with freeways, so the trip through Phoenix to get onto the highway was pretty good.

I drove on I-17 for a couple of hours as it climbed into into the mountains to the city of Flagstaff. This was a 6,000ft (1,830m) elevation gain from Phoenix at 1,000ft (300m) to Flagstaff at 7,000ft (2,130m). Some parts of the highway were pretty steep. There was a stretch where there was a sign warning you to turn off the air conditioning in case the engine overheated! I kept an eye on the temperature gauge, but the van was fine with the aircon on, though it was revving about 5,500rpm for something like 10 minutes hammering up the steep gradient.

Bit by bit the desert-like scenery started to give way to more green looking landscapes. About two hours into the trip I came to a turn-off to Montezuma Well, which the lady who’d had the B&B had told me about. Google directed me to a little road which turned into a dirt road not long after I got onto it, somewhat to my unease.

Whilst it was not strictly forbidden to drive on dirt roads with the campervan, if there was an accident due to being on a dirt road, I wouldn’t be covered by insurance, and could be liable for any damage to the van, without limit. It sounded as though if it was not directly caused by being on a dirt road, and could have happened on a sealed road too, it would be ok, but still I was very careful on the few dirt roads that I ended up on, usually because Google had directed me onto what it saw as a short cut.

I got there without incident, along some rather bone-rattling corrugations. I wasn’t sure how shake-proof the stove and fridge and other equipment was, but they seemed ok. While it was still fairly dry in that area, there were some trees around, and mountains looming in the distance with clouds in front of them. Montezuma Well was an interesting place, with a lake in a kind of crater, with very old dwellings built into niches in the crater wall. I think they had been made by native Indians a long time before. There was a ranger at the building by the parking lot, who I chatted briefly with. I noticed a number of rangers around the parks I went to, many more than we see here.

I drove back a different way to the highway, on bitumen through the town of Rimrock, where I got fuel and something to eat later for lunch, and passed a Dollar General store (they are a very common chain of little supermarkets in the US), where I think I got more sunscreen as I had brought some along and used it in California, but couldn’t find it again. I think the original sunscreen did turn up in the van eventually. It had been cloudy and overcast all morning, but still it would have been easy to get burned no doubt.

By the time I got to the fair-sized town of Flagstaff, the scenery was completely changed. It had been getting more forested as I went up, and now I found myself in an area with lush fields and flowers, as well as more mountains in the background. I ate my lunch in Flagstaff, by the side of the old Route 66, a couple of minutes drive off the main highway, which ran next to a rail line.

I took a smaller road north towards the canyon, with very little traffic, and as I got near Grand Canyon National Park I could start to see bits of the edge of the canyon. There were lots of abandoned looking little huts scattered along the road, where it looked like people would have set up shops. I don't know if they had stopped people from doing that, or if they were just not operating at that time.

All of the major parks in the US I went to, and often even the more minor ones, had booths where you pay or show your pass, and there can be long lines to get in, with people waiting even a couple of hours. The entrance I went into was a less busy one thankfully, and I got through quite quickly. I bought an America the Beautiful pass for US$80, which allowed access to all US national parks for a year. I lost count of how many times I showed this to get in somewhere. It paid for itself over and over again!

When I got to the canyon, it was misty and rainy, and I used the rainy period to make a phone call back to Australia to sort out some banking issues. I wondered how things would work out with the mist and rain – there wasn’t much to see at the start. I asked the Lord to show off His creation to me, and boy did He! Once I was there the fog cleared after a little while, and I was treated to spectacular sights of mist and low clouds and patches of sun. The area I was in was about half an hour's drive from the main town area of the canyon, but the canyon was so big that I was still right on the edge, with amazing views, and hardly anyone else around!

I found a little path going from the car park into a secluded spot and just enjoyed the show for maybe an hour and a half while things changed continually with sun and rain going through. There was just one other photographer who came a little way away. It was an amazing experience. Afterwards I drove around to one or two other lookouts nearby. There weren't many people anywhere, which was a great introduction to US parks. This was not a situation that was very common unfortunately!

Towards evening I made my way to the Desert View campground where I was to stay. There was a service station and a store near the entrance, but things looked to be closed at that hour. I found my spot and parked, then walked over to the site of the camp host to check in. Most campgrounds had one or more camp hosts who stayed onsite in caravans with a sign out the front identifying them. Some campgrounds had a kiosk at the entrance where you checked in, but in others without a kiosk, it seemed generally you were expected to find the camp host and check in, even if you had booked in advance and had been allocated a site. The host would update you on things you needed to know about the campground.

I was with a few other people checking in at the same time, and this camp host warned us about bears, and to keep our doors locked. Bears were able to open doors! He also mentioned not to cut across people's campsites to get to another part of the park.

The Desert View campground was near where I had been taking most of the photos, about half an hour’s drive east of the main tourist area. It was a spot I’d highly recommend, still with beautiful views of the canyon, but far fewer people than the tourist hub. I had a nice quiet campsite, with a lot of trees around making for good privacy.

The toilets were a few minutes walk away. There was a road going around the campground, and the toilets were on the other side of the ring from me. There was a little track part way along cutting across to the other side. I found it while it was light. During the night when I had to go, I was glad I had checked it out during the light. I was happy to be able to find it, then find my way back, using a headlamp which proved to be invaluable for such expeditions!

Once checked in, I found my way via a path the camp host had told us about to the edge of the canyon about 5 minutes from the campsite. My campsite was just next to this path. I had found out about this path while organising the trip, when reading about the campground, and I had chosen this campsite for just this reason. It was lovely to be able to walk out there and see the sunset. The track was not marked very well, and I made sure to head back before dark so I could find my way back. After making dinner, I set the alarm for 5.30 to see the sunrise the next morning.

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