Vegas to Flagstaff, AZ

Got a great deal on an SUV for the week - ahh the freedom of a car! Stopping off at the Hoover Dam, I met this crazy dude: Pavel, a Czech biker.  

The dude has balls! He spent the previous 24 hours in Death Valley. It was so hot he just lay outside with the Rattlesnakes and the Desert Tarantulas; no point in using a tent as it was 38 Celsius at night. “I had less than an hour’s sleep, man it was hot” - as he chugged away on his water bottle. Pavel's travelling North America for 5 months with just his bike. Safe travels!

The drive continued with a gradual crescendo of vegetation - from the barren, parched landscape of Vegas; to small trees around the Grand Canyon; culminating in large pine forests around Flagstaff.  

Stopped for fuel at dusty Seligman - on Route 40 rather than 66. Working out which fuel I needed for the SUV and figuring out how to use the pump took me about 20 minutes before I asked for help. Note: If you don't have a US credit card, you have to pay for fuel BEFORE fueling up. Cheers to the hot American chick in the Jeep for helping out the confused Limey :) x

Can’t say I’ve had this problem, but thanks for the heads-up.. 

The roadside cafe at the fuelling station was pretty much how I’d imagined - a dizzying array of corn-syrup infused shite - turning you pre-diabetic just looking at it. Having only seen ‘Gas Stations’ and American roadside cafes in ‘movies’, part of me often wonders whether something bad’s just around the corner...  

Instead, everyone I encountered were super polite and helpful, such lovely people.



Photo’s seldom do justice to seeing places with your own eyes. The Grand Canyon is one of them - a truly breathtaking sight. 217 miles long, 18 miles wide, and 1 mile deep. The rock at the bottom is nearly 2 billion years old. Human existence is so tiny by comparison.
 

Flagstaff is cool - an old cowboy town on route 66. It has a university, but the town was quiet as it was the holidays. I still managed to have shed loads of laughs with random Americans. Here I also learnt that if you’re over 21 in Arizona and legally able to own a firearm, then you can carry a concealed weapon with no permit - handy! 

I stayed at this friendly joint: The Grand Canyon hostel, great people and atmosphere. There were lots of torrential downpours in Flagstaff, which was a great excuse to stay in and watch Croatia beat England. Glad I wasn’t in Blighty to see all the grown men crying.

Not quite like proper Cornish Pasties, but not far off - and they tasted good. Needed HP Sauce though :) 

Next: Sedona..