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Today is the last full day that we'll all ride together. Tomorrow we start
to split up and head for home.
We managed to escape from Kayenta without incident. The motel we stayed in did not exactly live up to expectations. But, considering all the other nice places we did stay in, having one not so great place is no big deal. We left in good spirits.
The ride took us through high Arizona desert. Our first destination was a place called Antelope Canyon. When we got there, the place didn't look like much and it was expensive to get in. Some of us, myself included, thought maybe to take a pass on this one. What's one more canyon, right?
Wrong.
We all decided to go in and it was such a wonderful surprise. This is a slit canyon, at times barely wide enough for one person. It's about a half mile long and between 40 and 60 feet tall. You walk through it. It is a very beautiful canyon. My words can't describe the place. Hopefully the pictures will help. But the only real way to enjoy the beauty of this place is to go there. It's a guided tour and Aldean Begay, our Navajo tour guide, not only gave us facts on the canyon but also a lot of information on Navajo culture and religion. He was excellent. The canyon is a couple of miles east of Page, AZ on highway 98. Pay the damn fee, it's worth every penny of it.
After that it was on the road and headed for the North Rim of the Grand Canyon. But before we got there we drove through the Vermillion cliffs on AZ rte 89 Alt. and then had lunch at the Marble Canyon. Good food and the staff was really friendly. Needless to say, they got kazooed.
Then it was off to the Grand Canyon. The place is, as you all know, spectacular. The North Rim is much less crowded than the South Rim and there is sense of a deeper appreciation of what the area is all about. We walked around the rim trails for a while. I had been here before, once with my kids. I went out on the promontory where the kids and I had climbed around. Remembering what I had let them do at that time gave me a rather queasy feeling. I must have been nuts to let them go up there.
Sunset at the Grand Canyon is always a special time. It gets quiet and you can sit on a rock ledge and watch the sun go down. You can reflect on nature's grandeur or whatever else is on your mind. For me, this is the perfect way to end this trip.
On a different note, there has been a lot of discussion on the whereabouts of the duck, whose name, I have been told, is Doug. It seems that my decision not to negotiate is not sitting well with his captors. He's not the best house guest apparently. And I am taking some heat from a few of the other riders. But I'm sticking to my decision to not negotiate. If I were to give in now it could mean the end of duckdom as we know it. Can't have that, can we?
It's been a great trip. Dinner is in the lodge tonight and tomorrow I head back to Las Vegas and then home.
Hope you enjoyed Day 6 even half as much as I did.
Be well
Bill