Day 2 - Las Vegas NV to ummm...where are we?

Total miles: 366

Route: 147, 166, 93, 40, 64, 89, 160

By the numbers:
0 - fees paid to get into the National Parks (good luck)
1/2 - size in inches of the hail that pelted us today (bad luck)
1 - 80 square mile power outage (bad luck)
2 - rain storms
2106 - calories in my chicken fried steak lunch
7508 - elevation in feet at our highest point
??? - number of people who fall to their death trying to get a good photo at the Grand Canyon

So, we drank too much last night. Big deal - it's vacation. Bit it did mean we didn't leave the motorcyclist hating Monte Carlo until 10am. No big deal we thought...

We decided to head over to Lake Mead on our way to the Hoover Dam. We lucked out that there was a triathlon in progress so there was no gate fee. This was a good start to our day! Or so we thought. The views were a surprise - it was gorgeous:










Just 20 miles later we hit the Hoover Dam. It was hot by this point and we were not pleased with the long wait to get across. Looks like the state has heard this complaint before and they're completing a new road to by pass the dam directly for those who just need to get to the other side.





Obligatory state sign shot




We figured we had an easy day but we were wrong. We were on I40 towards the Grand Canyon and we noticed this ominous cloud with lightening shooting out of it.


We ride on because...well, we have no other way to get there. I'm a California kid so a "bad" storm drops 1/2 an inch and lasts 30 whole minutes. This was not one of those storms. I thought we might just miss it but moments later the wind picked up to 40mph, the temperature dropped 20 degrees, and the deluge began. All of this happened in about 1 minute. We pull over to try to put our rain covers on but that was an exercise in futility for me (note to self - buy trash bags in ABQ). There's at least an inch of standing water and I notice the rain drops hurt. Time to duck behind my tank bag. Turns out it was hail about a 1/2 inch in size. Fortunately, it was over in about 20 minutes and we enjoyed the warm weather.

This set up back a bit and the late start made me concerned about getting to the Grand Canyon in time. But we continued on and finally made to to the Grand Canyon. We pull up to the gate and the gorgeous blonde ranger gave us some good news - the normal $25 fee is free today! Twice in one day?!? Maybe our good luck has returned...

On the way to "The Canyon" as the locals like to say






Stupid? You bet - and totally worth it.




We left the park as the sun was setting and quickly snapped a few more pics so we could hit the road before it got too dark.





It got dark quickly as the sun dipped behind the clouds and we made it out of the park and onto Route 64 to Cameron AZ for gas. It was hard to tell where the dark clouds ended and the dark night sky began. Again, the wind whipped up and it dumped on us for a few minutes. We contemplated pulling over but decided to ride it out and got lucky. It ended shortly there after and the skys cleared. I was able to clearly see the big dipper way out in the middle of nowhere. The desert at night has an ominous feeling to it. And it got worse once we got to Cameron to fill up our almost empty tanks.

We pull into the dark gas station in Cameron and realize we're SOL. The lights are out and it's pitch black everywhere. This means we can't get gas. Before panicking, I pull up the nearest fuel stop on the GPS and see that it's either 20 miles north to Tuba City or 40 miles south to our destination in Flagstaff. We decide to not test the limits of our tanks and ride to Tuba City. Its dark out there and it didn't get better as we pull into Tuba City. The entire city is dark. Pitch black. Oh shit - we're not gonna get any gas here, either. We pull into the Sonic and try to figure out what to do.





We chat with the manager at the Sonic to learn that the storm we road through blew out a transformer to the entire area and we should have power back in 3-5 hours. 3-5 hours?!?! Well, at least we have some beef jerky and water to serve as our dinner. He recommends we stay at the Quality Inn just up the street so we head over. They have a generator going but it doesn't do much. We rent a room and try to fumble around with my headlamp. Just as we start to take our luggage off the power comes back on. Oh well, we'll stay in Tuba City tonight and cancel my reservation in Flagstaff. The only "restaurant" open was McDonalds so we head over for a crappy burger and some fries.

The map shows that we can get down to ABQ through the reservations and we should have some great sights tomorrow...