Grand Canyon - not so Grand…
Leg 8 - Sedona, AZ - stop at the Grand Canyon - back down to Route 66 through Williams, Segilman, Peach Springs, Valentine, Hackberry, and Kingman, AZ - stop in Lake Havasu, AZ
Up fairly early, after enjoying another delicious breakfast at the Graham Inn (I’m sad we had to leave), we drove up to the Grand Canyon, but on the south rim. We were planning on going to the North Rim, but after some debate we agreed to spend the extra time in Sedona, and make another trip at a later date out to the North Rim - since it would have just taken way too much time to get out there, and we wanted to continue on Route 66.
The Grand Canyon…maybe it’s just me, but not so grand. The views were spectacular, but it just wasn’t my favorite part of the trip at all. Perhaps we were not able to enjoy the full grandeur of the national park because we had less time to spend there (since we stayed in Sedona) and also because we weren’t able to take any of the tours (bus, railroad, burro, plane, etc. - both due to time and money). I’m guessing that if we had been able to do one of those things there would have been more of a personal enjoyment / thrill for me, but for the time being there wasn’t. Now that we live a lot closer, we can make an extended weekend trip out again, perhaps camp, go to the North Rim, perhaps take a tour. I’m looking forward to that for the future.
There’s a great old part of 66 still left in Arizona, so we make the extra loop through it, but first stopped for lunch. It was another Rt. 66 haunt, in Williams, AZ called “Rod’s Steak House.” It was great, but very quiet. I guess it makes sense, since it was the middle of the day on a Wednesday afternoon.
Driving on through the “blink and you’ll miss ‘em” towns along 66, we got the best gas mileage I think I’ve ever gotten in my car. Over 300 miles before the gas light came on, and filled her up - we got somewhere between 25-26 mpg. Awesome, compared to what we got in Texas. I think there’s something wrong with the gas there. Ironic thinking about all the oil rigs/towers we passed there.
We rejoined the main highway, I-40, and drove southward though a storm to Lake Havasu. The wind buffeted along on the highway, and the rain gave the car a nice wash (no more buggies on the window!). It was definitely scary, but weird that we’ve seen rain in both New Mexico and Arizona. We were going to camp in the state park down here, but I hope this explains why we didn’t. It’s also hot and muggy - ugh! - what are we, back out on the East Coast??? It’s muggy high 80’s - would not have been able to sleep outside tonight. It’s also nice that we were able to get the internet, so we could post a ton of stuff from the past couple days.
We’re going to enjoy the town tomorrow morning, and then move on to Vegas! 
