Hodgepodge

Miles: 417 Driving Time: 9hrs 35 min

Left Vegas at 8 AM and it was already 93F. I will not miss the heat here. This is jgaleckas's daughter Tamara's day. She has been wanting to go out on the Crystal Sky Bridge at Grand Canyon West on the Hualaapi Indian reservation since it was shown on Good Morning America a while back.

Just east of Vegas is Lake Mead formed by Hoover Dam. We just drove to the parking area on the Arizona side and took a few pics - no time to tour. This may be the last time we drive over the dam as they are making 93 a four lane and putting up a high bridge that will cross the Colorado and look down at the dam. The main supports are done on the banks but the support arch is still being poured. Once this is done I suspect the public will have to pay to drive over the dam and thus reducing the 'terrorist risk' (tongue firmly in cheek) from public access. On the other hand the trucker will love it because it will make getting through here much faster.

We had mapped the route to the sky bridge on the GPS software so when we saw a sign indicating another way there we thought about but it looked a little dicey so we stayed the course. We finally got to Peach Springs which is where the main info center for the reservation is and what appeared from the website to be the main way into the Grand Canyon West area. 

Janice and Tam went in and when they came out Janice's quote was "We're screwed (PG version). Remember that sign? That's where you should go in." We could double back there which would take about an hour and a half, or we can go back about 5 miles and take the reservation road up. From each starting point it's about 50 miles. The quandary - the first one is mostly paved road, the one here is all dirt road except for about an eight mile stretch. We opted for the dirt road thinking it would still be faster. It was but it was no fun. The first few miles was not bad, well graded and smooth. Then we hit the bayou band washboard road and I swore every bolt in the van was going to come loose. I had to slow down to 10 MPH in some sections and it was still nasty. We hot the blacktop and were relieved but only momentarily as the last 14 miles of county road to the reservation was worse than the road we came up on. Finally the reservation road came up and it was paved. The total travel time for the 50 mile stretch was almost two hours.

Once we got there I was beat from only a few hours sleep and the rough road, plus my blister was bothering me so I opted to stay in the air terminal while Janice went with Tam on the tour. They were gone about two hours so I filled my time with people watching and read from my pda in between short naps. They do quite a business here. Three separate airlines (small outfits) run flight in from Vegas and Boulder City. After driving the road in I see the advantage of this. There are also three helicopter tour operators who do a brisk business flying the tourists around for an aerial view of this far end of the Grand Canyon.

From what Janice heard, they are going to expand the airstrip to accommodate jet planes and build a casino hotel. Hopefully the roads will improve.

It was about 5pm by the time we left and we found a different dirt road to take us back that was not as bad but still a ninety minute drive to Peach springs. We then followed old 66 to Flagstaff and the highlight was dinner at the Roadkill cafe in Seligman, AZ which is where the historic 66 revival began.