Today we only have a day trip out and come back to the same hotel tonight, so we don't have to load luggage, and we have a later leaving time of 9 am.
Mrs K and I have breakfast at the hotel, and we saddle up to head out for the Grand Canyon, which is about 60 miles away up the road AZ-64
About half way we stop for fuel. Although the pumps take our UK credit cards, the nozzle pressure is unusually high and difficult to control, resulting in a big splash over. Fortunately the petrol doesn't go over me, just over the bike, over the tank and seat, so we stop to wash it down and wipe it off. It;s not just me, a few others get caught the same way.
Near to the entrance to the park, we pull over at Tusayan, in front of 'We Cook Pizza' restaurant.Gary explains the roadmap of the G.C. park and we're 'set loose' now to drive up into the Grand Canyon park, and go where we want.
Those who have helicopter rides booked have to rendezvous at We Cook Pizza at 1 PM, others are free to go back to Williams when they want, but told not to leave later than 5.30
Me and Mrs. K set off up the road but are held up at the pay booths at the entrance to the park. There are 5 lanes open but each vehicle if front of us takes ages. Although the air temperature is pleasantly warm, the heat from the bike just sitting in a queue for all that time makes it feel considerably hotter. Eventually, after about 15 minutes in the queue we get to the booth, pay our $24 and we're away - and hey, it's $24 for 2 on a bike (or 2 hikers) but for a car full of people it's only $25 - that don't seem fair does it, anyway we'll get reimbursed by Gary tomorrow. Leaving the toll booth the road is quite quiet and we start to cool down now that we're moving again.
We park up near the visitor centre which is on the south rim of the canyon and walk over to see the canyon itself. This turns out to be about a 10 minutes walk and there so many people there, and loads of kids, and people yaking on their 'cell phones' and coach loads of foreign tourists. For me (and Mrs. K too) it's not such an enjoyable experience. I'm underwhelmed, I think we both are really.
above & below; South perimeter of 'the rim', and 'We Cook Pizza & Pasta' rendezvous point
I'm told that further round on the south rim there's less people about, but as we have to be back at 'we cook pizza' by one we don't go further round but head back instead.
So we all meet up at 1 pm, and follow the truck back down the AZ-64 to Grand Canyon airport.
Our names are called and everybody gets weighed - they do this in order to work out who to sit where on which helicopter, so as to achieve a balanced load - it's all carefully worked out.
Soon we're called again and introduced to our pilot, who takes us out to board the helicopter.
The Helicopter has two rows of 4 seats, and the pilot instructs each person which seat to sit in - all carefully worked out to achieve the best weight distribution.
Mrs.K sits in the front to the right of the pilot, I'm to her left, and next to me is Sheila.
In the back row is Lorna and Ian, then an empty seat, then Ash
We have to fasten our seat belts, which are lap belts with straps over each shoulder as well, and put on our headphones, which also have a boom mic. This allows us and the pilot to talk to each other, ask him questions and so on.
The pilot starts the engines, and soon were away, hovering just off the ground to get into position and then we're away.
The ride lasts about 35-40 minutes and the pilot describes various features and points of interest as they appear. Any questions we have, we just speak into the mic, and he answers us. I take a few still photos and a few video clips. I've not checked them yet though.
After we land we take time out to take photos in front of the helicopter with each other and/or with the pilot, and then we're back into the terminal, greeted by Gary, and then back to the truck to collect our helmets.
Mrs. K and I decide not to venture back into the park (the ticket is valid for 7 days by the way) but instead to head back to Williams and spend some time looking around there.
So off we go, taking about an hour to get back. It made a nice change to ride on our own, rather than in a group as we have been doing more or less all the time. I enjoyed it but Mrs. K though the road was very boring (it's true there's not much to see, more or less a straight road for 50 miles)
We don't go back to the hotel but head for Dairy Queen, an ice cream place (that'll be our lunch evn though it's 3 pm by now). I have some kind of ice cream special with peanut butter an toffee and Mrs. K has a Banana split
We leave the bike, 'Demo', locked up there and go to explore the old town of Williams, which has some interesting restaurants and many shops selling Route 66 memorabilia, T-Shirts, and al the usual fridge magnet, keyring, baseball cat type stuff. I did by a replica 'Historic Route 66' road sign though.
We walk down one side of the street and back up the other, then into Safeway to pick up a few bits and then back on the bike for the short ride back to the hotel, by now feeling quiet tired, especially Mrs.K
Nothing fixed for dinner this evening with the rest of the group so we'll just do our own thing.
Tomorrow it's load at 8 roll out at 8.30 and then the plan is stop after about an hour at Seligman for breakfast.
jump to: Day 13 Day 11
