It’s been an exciting evening with lightning storms on every side of us. They’ve passed on now, and rain is hitting the roof of the RV lightly. The calm after the storm is welcome, as it’s been a busy day.

We started out early by taking the park shuttle bus to the far west end of their run, Hermit’s Rest. The building there is a classic bit of architecture, but we made the run up there so we could make an eight mile hike back in to the South Rim Village.

The hike occupied nearly the next four hours. The start and finish of the trail were paved; the middle three miles were gravel and rock, narrowly placed along the edge of the canyon rim. The views were absolutely great. I will freely admit that Leila showed me up on this hike; I was pretty well done in by the bottom of the hill.

The afternoon was spent quietly, as I recovered. This evening the group’s wagon master and tail gunner had arranged a farewell dinner at a local steakhouse. The meal was good, and it was great having one last time together with people we had gotten to know pretty well over the past month.

We were supposed to have a final get-together in the campground, but the lightning storm pretty well dowsed that. There will be a continental breakfast in the morning; our fellow campers will be hitting the road about the same time we do. We’ll reflect a little on the trip tomorrow.