Across country trip: Day 1

Day 1

The car rental company was supposed to have my car ready at 8:00 am, but of course it wasn't ready; so instead of packing the car up before breakfast I had no choice but to do it after.

I went to breakfast will some incredible friends; Phil, Katya, Jennifer and my mother. I had some yummy french toast and good conversation until it was time to say 'good bye'. Its a routine that we all have grown accustomed to. It was very nice.

Then I picked up the rental car and started to load it up. I was nervous that it wasn't all going to fit, but as piled things into the trunk the odds seemed in my favor. The trunk held most of the stuff that wont be touched until I reach my final destination of DC. Then in the back seat I piled my travel things and standing jewelry case (I have a LOT of jewelry). In the front seat my cooler for drinks, snacks, maps, emergency kits, GPS until and cell phone charger.

At 11:30am it was time to start my journey.

I drove through the California desert for what seemed to be hours on end. I have never really respected the California speed limit until that time. The roads in the desert are hilly. Lots and lots of little hills. When you are going the speed limit it doesn't seem so bad, but when you are going 80/90mph you realize why the speed limit is set at 65..... I lost my stomach going up and down to the point I was feeling sick and decided it was worth while to lower back down to 65.

I started seeing signs for the Grand Canyon in Arizona around 5:30pm and got my hopes up that maybe I could see sunset from the Cliffs. I sped on to rout64 thinking that it was only a short ways away but realized at 6:20 that:

1) the sun sets earlier because I'm further east and the sun sets in the west.
2) that the sun was setting right now
3) that I still had 40 miles to go

So I headed up there anyways to check it out and see what was in the town before it. There were signs to an Imax theater so I followed it and decided to stop and check it out. It was a great Imax movie about the Grand Canyon. Well worth the $12 to see it. There was also a gift shop and I grilled the staff about sunrise time and the best places to catch sun rise.

The hotels in the Grand Canyon town were $200. The hotels about 30 miles away were $120. The hotel I stayed at about 60 miles away was $61.15.

I went to sleep around 10pm after setting my alarm for 4am.