Best Friends Reunited

After starting off with extreme 114 degree temperatures in Laughlin, I was again on the road to the Grand Canyon.  I spent one morning in Oatman taking burro pictures, then off to Keepers of the Wild on Old Route 66!  I was a little nervous since I wasn't seeing ANY traffic on this road ... just me and the trains ... but found them all parked at the Hackberry Store, continuously in business since the l900's, if not before.  But I was on a mission to meet up with Patty and Dan Chance in the Grand Canyon where they had been working for the summer.  I knocked on their door that first night, and it was like I had just seen them yesterday.  We spent many hours together in the "old" days, cruising on Harleys and took a few RV trips with them ...  from Sturgis to Canada and back ...  You just can't find nicer people!!!!

And off we went!  Patty walked my socks off.  At an elevation of 7000 feet, I was huffing and puffing after the first 10 feet (who's the runner???).  Over 6 miles later, I was having a hard time keeping up.  Patty gave me the grand tour of the South Rim, including all the bus lines, so I would be able to navigate while she and Dan were working ... Patty at the General Store and Dan as a shuttle bus driver.  We are on the Bright Angel Trail here going through a small tunnel.  There were OOHs and WOWs around every corner.  This place is magnificent!!!!

The Colorado River and the movement of the earth's plates, has created an amazing natural wonder.  As Patty stated at LEAST one hundred times ... I Love This Place!!!

Here she is standing at the rim ... and I mean, the rim.  You don't take a step backward anywhere here unless you look first.  Unlike Yosemite, there are very few railings as you walk along the South Rim.  There are however, signs everywhere that say "if you fall, you die!!"

We were on the far side of this canyon when we spied two packers bringing mules up the Bright Angel Trail.  Yup it's that steep!  Even more so in some places.  All of the supplies for the Phantom Ranch Lodge at the bottom, are carried by these mules.  Pretty tough guys in my eyes ... the temperature at the top ran around 85 degrees ... at the bottom of the canyon, 100+.   Now THERE's a job for me!!!!!

Further on, Patty wanted to show me the fossil beds.  Fossils???  At the top of the rim???  Come to find out, this used to be a lakebed.   It is covered with a layer of silt, now rock, called Kaibab ... and in it are an amazing number of fossils.  Everywhere you look we could see sea shells and small creatures.  More on this later, as they have a Ranger guided Fossil Walk with I did on my last day in the park.

So that's the first day ... I'm exhausted and ready for one of Patty's famous casseroles.  As the Casserole Queen, she did not disappoint!  This girl can cook ... and it's healthy!!!!!  Sorry Dan for eating all your next day lunches!!!