You may ask, rightly, what happened to day 36? It was mostly spent on the road, headed towards home. We started the day at the South Rim saying goodbye to our caravan group, then the next five hours driving to Beaver, Utah. No pictures of the festivities, but a nice parking space for the RV, Dole Whip at the burger bar, and a refresh of our cheese supply at the Creamery.

More driving today, back to Brigham City. We arrived mid-day, had lunch, then took a drive to one more national monument, the Golden Spike NM. I do like a good railroad museum, and this one was a lot of fun. We got to watch them run up one of the replica locomotives. A steam locomotive makes such wonderful sounds…

So, tomorrow it’s off for home. We’ll make a quick stop in Rupert to reconnoiter a fabric store, then westbound we will go.

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.

Time is growing short on our tour. We had a free day today to enjoy, and we took advantage of it.

The weather today looked a little like western Washington…cloudy and threatening to rain lightly. There was lightning 40 miles south of us, but none here. Tomorrow is supposed to be more interesting.

We started the morning by renting two bikes and riding out to Yaki Point, east of the visitor’s center. The path was paved and reasonably flat. We had a great time seeing the canyon perched on a bike saddle.

We followed that up with a light picnic lunch, then took the shuttle bus to the South Rim Village. We spent some time exploring the neighborhood, made sure Leila’s National Park passport was up to date, then started a walk along the Rim Trail back to the visitor’s center. This was a good walk of about 2.1 miles. As usual the scenery was wonderful.

Meanwhile, we added to our collection of caution signs. We are now to be looking for mules in addition to deer, elk, bison, rocks, prairie dogs, and marmots. You may also add the elusive mountain lion warning to this list. I’m not certain why a mountain lion would choose a particular place to cross the road, but there you are.

More hiking tomorrow morning, hoping to beat the rain predicted for the afternoon. Tomorrow night is our farewell dinner with the group, then Tuesday morning we start for home.

This trip continues to wind towards its finish; last night we had our last campground dinner/social. The crew served Walking Tacos, had a campfire, held a brown bag gift exchange, led a discussion about “what’s the dumbest thing you’ve ever done RVing?”, and had a great song put together that looked back at the trip. Just two days left now…

Earlier in the day the group took a bus tour to the eastern part of the south rim. We saw Grandview Point, Desert View/Watchtower, and the visitor’s center area. It was a great way to see these, as the park shuttle buses don’t go this way. We took a very short hike into the canyon at Grandview, but our glimpse into the canyon was wonderful. Desert View gave a good look at the Colorado River and to the first part of the canyon. The Watchtower is an impressive bit of 100 year old architecture.

After lunch back at the RV, we walked across the road and watched an IMAX movie about the canyon. The movie gave a fresh impression of John Wesley Powell’s explorations of the river and some interesting aerial photography.

Tomorrow is a day on our own. There is a chance of rain, but we plan to spend two hours biking out to Yaki Point, exploring the Village, and hiking from the Village to the visitor’s center on the rim trail.

Today Leila is taking a turn at writing the blog.

What a wonderful way to celebrate my 65th birthday—at the Grand Canyon with Greg and 42 fellow travelers. I actually started the festivities by buying cakes to share with the group the night before. On Friday, we started the day in Monument Valley, Utah but quickly crossed over into Arizona. This meant dropping back to Pacific Time, except on the Navajo Reservation.

The roads were good which made driving easy. We each took a turn at the wheel. When we reached the national park, we caught glimpses of the canyon, which was spectacular. After set up, we drove to the visitors’ center to walk a little around the rim. At our daughter, Dana’s suggestion, we reserved rental bikes to ride some of the rim Sunday morning.

Upon returning to the motor home, we found balloons and a gift from the tour leaders. We finished the day with an accordion concert by a fellow traveler.

Tomorrow we start exploring the Canyon with a bus tour. It’s going to be fun!

Yep, we’re in Utah, but only two miles away from Arizona…and that’s where we head tomorrow. For today we spent one more day exploring the area.

First stop was a quick look at Mexican Hat Rock. Not sure how friction and weight are holding back gravity here, but it’s pretty cool.

Second stop was Gooseneck State Park. The San Juan River serpentines through a canyon that is amazing with its complexity. It was only 1000 feet to the bottom from our vantage point, but still a little vertigo inducing. A great view…

Third stop was at Bluff, Utah (motto on the sign: “We’re not bluffing, wear your mask!”) and Fort Bluff. The fort is a reproduction of the community built by Mormon pioneers who had braved the Hole in the Rock trail over the Colorado River and through canyons and badlands. Pretty remarkable stuff, very brave men and women.

Last was a stop at Forrest Gump Point, the spot in the movie where he stopped running. Fun!

Tomorrow is our last moving day, heading to the South Rim of the Grand Canyon. More then…

It was a warm, bumpy, dusty day today, as we took an open truck tour of Monument Valley with a Navajo tour company. We rattled around the canyon and valley for about 3 and a half hours, and saw some pretty amazing sights…many of which you would recognize in movies; not just westerns, but also thrillers and espionage films as well.

It wasn’t just rock we saw, but also plenty of Navajo craftspeople. It seemed that every stop included someone wanting to sell jewelry. Some of it was really nice, some not so much. No wildlife, but some sheep and some horses livened things up.

After the tour our group went to Gouldings, a local inn, for lunch. The inn was founded about 100 years ago as a trading post and lodge. It’s changed over the years, and has added a gift shop and gas station. They also have what they claimed is the cabin John Wayne used in the movie “She Wore a Yellow Ribbon.”

Tomorrow brings a bus tour of the neighborhood, then our last driver’s meeting of the trip.