The Grand Canyon, AZ - 1493 Miles

I discovered our GPS (affectionately called Jessica) doesn't make any distinction in road quality when plotting a course. While planning a route from the El Paso area to the Grand Canyon area, Google recommended an interstate west then an interstate north while Mapquest recommended an interstate north than an interstate west. Jessica chose a two-lane road diagonally across the mountains and deserts of New Mexico and Arizona. Since Jessica was the only guide I paid money for, I took her advice. The time would have been about the same with any of the routes but since it's so much easier to wander off onto side trips from a two-lane road, we ended up adding a few hours to the trip by stopping at Whitewater Canyon and the ghost town of Mogollon, NM.

















I've included a few shots from the Grand Canyon simply because you can't make the visit and not show pictures. Although if you've been there you know there are no words to describe it and no photo capable of capturing it. We went to the rim at sunset to see the dazzling changes in color across the canyon. Unfortunately it was a cloudy day so it simply got dark. Even that was pretty impressive though. By the way in the picture of me sitting on the edge of the canyon, there was a ledge below me so I could only fall about six feet rather than tumbling down the rocks about 4500 feet. At this point of my life, however, I'm not sure a six foot drop wouldn't be equally fatal.