Day Eighteen

As we only had a short distance to travel today, we took the opportunity to have a bit of a lie in. We then had a complimentary breakfast, which according to our copy of the booking form we weren’t entitled to, but they gave us a voucher for it when we checked in, so we obliged. It was very nice too.

We then headed back to our room and hung around until 11am then checked out. Used the printer in the lobby to print out our Alcatraz tickets for later in the trip. Then headed into Flagstaff to do some shopping and to fill up with fuel.

Having given the car a working over yesterday we felt it was only fair to give it another wash, so we embarked on another crazy against the clock cleaning frenzy. I had hoped to bring you footage, but technical difficulties with the filming meant I am unable to do so.

We were then left with some spare time. The Grand Canyon was only 90mins away but we couldn’t check in until 4pm, so we had to find some other entertainment. We decided to drive 25 miles to Williams and check out an attraction we had seen.

As you can see we went to Bearizona (great wordplay), which appeared to be a brand new wildlife park. There wasn’t a great deal there, but at least we finally saw a real live bear or nine. We saw some other creatures too, but the bears were the main attraction. Phone rang whilst there, it was the same number that text the previous night at 3.30am. Didn’t actually get to speak to whoever it is.

A 'Packed' photo

Is for goat

For lunch we decided to get some sandwiches, but ended up buying aviator sunglasses and a cowboy hat instead. Figured that wouldn’t be much good at filling us up so got some food too. Went and sat by a famous road to eat it.

Get your kicks!

We then made our way up towards the Grand Canyon.

Old Joke of the Day: How do you turn a duck into a soul singer? Put it in a microwave until its bill withers.

Reached the Yavapai Lodge by 5pm and unloaded. Sorted out all our washing and headed to the nearby laundry. Chucked it in the wash and sat there for half an hour waiting. Opened the machine to find tissue over the entire wash. Oh dear, pockets not checked fully. Manage to sort it, threw some stuff in the tumble dryer and took the rest back to the room to hang it up.

Collected tumble drying and then headed for tea at the Yavapai Canyon Cafe. Food was really good. Roffe-Knightley effect occurred on a mass scale. Incredible.

Only downside is the fact there is no wifi access in rooms, so having to be creative to get this to you. Getting up at 5.30am to see the sunrise over the canyon. Can’t wait.

Final thought: In the guide to the area it says if you are attacked by a mountain lion then you should fight back. Bring it on.

Day Seventeen

Wow, what a day. A fairly long drive south, but broken up by lots of different activites.

Woken up by some spanner at 3.30am. Phone received a text and made a right noise. Looked at message half asleep thinking it must be important to send it here at extra cost. Turned out to be some muppet from the cricket club asking if I was back and if there was a game tonight. Seeing as there had never been a game scheduled for the 11th August I wondered if anybody ever checks emails they get sent. Don't know who it was from either. Tried to go back sleep whilst being very annoyed.

Had breakfast at a diner so we could eat early. Watched a fight at a baseball game on the news. Hilarious.

Left Moab at 8.15am, full of fuel and supplies, and headed south towards Arizona. Our first stop was at Butler Wash, a very small place off of a very quiet road. We completed a mile walk to see some Indian Cave dwellings.

Cave Dwellings

Next we headed further south and then took a very small dirt track to Muley Point overlook, which is in the eastern tip of Glen Canyon National Recreation Area. From there you get a great view south, overlooking some great sights. The track to it was just over 3 miles long and very bumpy.

A certain famous valley in the distance

We then made our way back to the main road and down Mokee Dugway, an 1100 foot drop in 3 miles on  an unpaved road.

At the bottom of Mokee Dugway we then turned left onto another little track which takes you into the Valley of the Gods (Forrest Gump, Airwolf). This track was a bit rough to start with but then got much worse with steep hills and drops and massive great lumps missing. It was a good job we had a Jeep to get us through the 13 miles it lasted.

Gradually we got further into the valley until we were up close with the rock formations

On our way out of the valley we saw many things, someone driving an RV towards the really difficult bits, good luck mate, and a woman having a pee behind a car not realising cars were coming from the opposite direction too. Having got back on to tarmac we headed to Gooseneck State Park where the San Juan river meanders through. We stopped here to eat our packed lunch.

Noticed lots of dark clouds towards the way we were heading. Had no choice but to drive towards them. Stopped to top up with fuel at Mexican Hat, named after a nearby rock which looks exactly like a sombrero. Fuel very expensive, for the USA, so only put a little bit in. Also the fact there was lightning all around the gas station helped me decide to get out quickly. We then continued south to the day's main event. Went through more heavy rain and storms before reaching our last stop of the day.

Track through the Monument Valley (2001, A Space Odyssey, Easy Rider, The Searchers) was our third off road trip of the day. Ann was quite happy to not go off road again.

Having completed all our scheduled stops for the day, we then started the 170 mile journey south to Flagstaff, Arizona and the Pony Soldier Inn. Arrived at 8pm. Unloaded then headed to IHOP, having enjoyed the one in Michigan so much. Ate a scrumptious dinner before heading home. To make things even better we noticed the sat nav saying the time was 8.50pm, not 9.50pm that we thought. Turns out Arizona goes to Pacific time in the summer, so we had gained an hour. Awesome. Now I can finish this and still get to bed early. Result.

Tomorrow's aims: Get up later, wash car.

Fast Show tribute

Day Sixteen

Headed out to breakfast at 8am as instructed. Just as Niagara, sat with everybody else and had no choice in what to eat. Old American woman started conversation with us by asking if we had been to Tokyo before as my t-shirt had it written on. Said no. She persisted with the conversation efforts. Where are you from? Where are you heading? When we mentioned Las Vegas as one of our future stops it gave her the opportunity to go on endlessly about Cirque du Soleil. Have you seen them before? Are you planning to see them in Las Vegas? Erm no. I said I wanted to go on one of the gondolas in the Venetian Hotel. She said it wasn't the same as Venice. Really? I thought an over the top, freak filled, neon fantasy land was just like a canal based Italian city. All the other guests were French. We left as soon as we had finished eating.

First stop was a gas station not for fuel, but for water and other drinks. Then we headed up to Arches National Park (Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade, Thelma and Louise)(Movie theme now back for next part of trip). Parked up and did a 3 mile round trip walk. We arrived just before 10am hoping it we be not as hot as later on. It was still very hot

Whilst sat in shade relaxing watched an old couple attempt to go around the arch. Took a picture to sell to news companies as I thought the woman was going to fall down the revine. Unfortunately she didn't.

Go on, fall!

Headed back down to car and then embarked on some drive-by tourism, where we drove around some of the other locations in the park, wound down the window, took a picture and sped off.

Headed back to Moab for lunch. Went to Subway. Ann really pleased as they had tuna and not just meat. Saw some people in there who had been in the same restaurant last night. Took sandwiches back to the B & B and sat in the cool dark room. Rested up and then set off heading to Canyonlands NP (Con Air).

Went to the Grand View Point. Two sets of people who were at Arches in the morning were there. How odd that they turned up exactly at the same time.

Decided to do more drive by tourism. Used a toilet at one of the stops. It was a earth closet. It was full of flies. Euurggh. Moved on very quickly.

Having finished our tourism for the day we headed back to the diner style 'Denny's' for dinner. The same people we had seen at Subway and in the restaurant from the night before were just paying their bill. They must think we were following them.  Ordered all you can eat pancakes for $4. Starts with a stack of 3 then they bring extras 2 at a time. Managed a grand total of .........3.

One last stop before home was to look at the Apache Inn, where John Wayne used to stay when filming in the area. Apparently not so good now.

Not A patche on what it used to be.

Got home at 8pm. Decided we would leave in the morning before breakfast and get it elsewhere as we want to be on the road by 8am, not just starting breakfast with a load of French people.

Day Fifteen

Woke up with a start mid dream. Brain must have remembered that we wanted to get up early. Woke Ann up, sent her off into the shower and went back to sleep.

Set off, fuelled and supplied up, heading south at 8am. Made good progress early on, dipping in and out of Idaho as went. State number 13, I think. We seemed to breeze along, no roadworks, no traffic, we watched the scenery gradually start to change. Entered state number 14, Utah.

Stopped for lunch at Subway in Price. The Roffe-Knightley Phenomenon mentioned yesterday rang true as ever, with the shop being empty when we walked in and by the time we had ordered there was a queue of about 15 people.

Decided to refuel before we headed onwards, but unfortunately the power had gone off so we couldn't at any place in the town. Lady in gas station asked us which way we were heading. Next gas was about an hour drive. Car said we had 108 miles left til empty. We decided to carry on. Watched the miles gradually tick away as we drove in barren lands, not a single real village or anything. Eventually we reached two gas stations, both of which were unsurprisingly packed.

Finally reached the B and B in Moab at 4.50pm. Checked in and relaxed for a bit. Headed into town for something to eat. Ended up smelling of garlic again. Walked around shops afterwards. Ann had a go at me because I couldn't remember where I had stayed 16 years ago when last here.

Not looking forward to breakfast as just like the B and B in Niagara it is at a set time around a big table with everyone else. Last time out Ann poured orange juice everywhere in protest. Can't wait to see what she does tomorrow.

Day Fourteen

End of week two is now upon us and we can't quite believe it. Seems like we have been here only a few days.

Got up fairly late and wandered over for breakfast. Watched in astonishment as a couple sat not far from us ate enough food for 10 breakfasts. Back to the room to Skype people before checking out bang on 11am. As we didn't have far to travel to our next hotel we decided to have a quite day in and around Jackson and the southern part of Grand Teton NP.

Went for a walk around the town. Looked in a gallery at very expensive framed photographs. In the town square they have four arches made up of elk antlers that have been shed by the animals.

Stag-gering!

Next we made our way to the Snow King resort for another sporting challenge.

Final standings of the second major (Par 52 course):

1. Knightley: 52
2. Roffe: 57

The amazing Roffe-Knightley phenomenon worked again. When we started playing golf there was no-one on the course. By the time we finished the last hole there were people queueing to get on the first tee. Every place we go, shop, restaurant or whatever, it goes from empty to packed in a number of seconds. Is quite annoying.

Wildlife Watch - Day Two

Got in the car and headed back into Grand Teton National Park. Headed towards Teton Village. The route we took ended up with a section of unsurfaced road. Tested the 4x4 out. Ann didn't like the bumps. No bears.

Got to the village, parked up and headed to the cable car to take us to the top of Rendezvous Mountain (10,500 feet/3185m above sea level). Stood around at the top, took some nice photos before heading back down. No bears.

View from the top

Had lunch in a place next to the cable car station. Made the decision to share a burger and chips, which as it turned out was an excellent idea. Plenty of food for two of us normal sized people. No bears in restaurant. Having seen no wildlife at all in either two parks we had just about given up hope, then suddenly our prayers were answered as we finally saw an elusive bear!

Picinic Basket

Got back in the car and headed south to Alpine, our next hotel location. Only took an hour, so checked into the Flying Saddle Resort by 5.30pm. Unloaded and then walked around the place. Discovered the swimming pool and jacuzzi were empty, so ran back and got our stuff to get in quickly. As it turned out we spent an hour in there with no-one else around. Relaxed in the water and recalled the last two weeks.

Now had dinner and contemplating tomorrow's long journey south to Moab, another 450 miler, which should be our last long travel day.

Day Thirteen

If ever there was a day of two halves this has got to be it.

The morning started badly with the worst breakfast we have had so far. Just very poor for the amount of money we paid for the room. We decided that Buffalo Bill Cody who founded the town would be turning in his grave. The town was just not very nice, nothing like we had pictured a smallish western town.

Checked out at 10.30am, stopped for gas, supplies and to give the car a wash. Windscreen was so dirty you could not see anything. It was a do it yourself wash on a timer, which meant hilarity ensued as I ran around the car with different hoses whilst Ann selected the wash type and shouted out how much time was left. We just about managed it.

Headed 50 miles west into Yellowstone National Park. Expectations were high for a bear sighting. Ann tried to pour cold water on my bear with a gun theory saying it wouldn't be able to hold it in its paw. I replied it had two paws and it would hold it between both in an action cop stance. The conversation ended there as she knew I was right.

We soon realised however that the chances of seeing anything were minimal. Although it is a very scenic place it appeared you wouldn't really be able to explore it without trekking miles off the road. Trees along all sides meant you couldn't see anything beyond a few feet away. The only accessible roads were the main ones around the park which everybody else is on too. At one point we came across a bunch of people who had all pulled over and were staring into the forest taking pictures. Bear, we thought, but alas it was just a deer. At that point we realised that if one deer could cause that much excitement then you obviously don't get to see much wildlife at all. We may have been wrong and other parts we didn't get to may be better, but we decided that we would head up to see the main attraction before moving south towards our next port of call.

Arrived just in time to see the Old Faithful show which was good timing, although the actual eruption wasn't quite as big or explosive as I had imagined. Ate a really ropey lunch in the cafe alongside. At that point we were quite miserable about how the day had been so far.

So we made our way south out of Yellowstone towards Jackson Hole, where we would be staying the night. Experienced some interesting weather on the way.

However, our day took an upwards turn from that point on. As we headed into Grand Teton National Park, we suddenly found what we had been missing in Yellowstone, stunning scenery but the space to be able to see across it. The thought of spending tomorrow in this area cheered us up immensely.

Grand Teton's impressive vista

Arrived in Jackson Hole, which is just south of Grand Teton, at 6.30pm. Checked in to the Lexington and immediately impressed by it and the town. Every other place we have been in the last few days, has looked the same, McDonalds, Burger King etc, full of rubbish places, no identity of their own. Jackson is completely different, a place with its own character.

Headed out for dinner and went to the Bunnery. http://www.bunnery.com/ Ann had a burger, I had the marvellous dish from the menu of scrambled egg and coffee cake! Great little place, great service, left a big tip.

Wandered through the streets, browsing in shops before heading to the best night's entertainment you could wish for. Here the videos do the talking.

Getting ready for bed soon, safe in the knowledge we have found somewhere really quite special compared to lots of the tat we have seen recently. A great finish to the day. Looking forward to tomorrow!

Day Twelve

Woken up by blokes on Harleys driving around the car park for no apparent reason. To make it worse Ann then befriended some.

Howard and Hilda

Make waffles again for breakfast. On the road by 8am as we had a long journey ahead. Made our way north into South Dakota to join the I-90 to take us quickly west. Had bonus as we switched to Mountain Standard Time not far in, meaning after two hours travelling it was still only 9am. Tuned into K-Mullet for more entertainment.

After four hours we got bored so we took a thirty mile detour to see something in the Black hills.

Whilst there we tried to take a comedy picture of ourselves in front of it, but before we could, a Japanese man came rushing over and said 'No, No, let me, let me' and then took it for us, which wasn't half as fun. Turned out he just wanted to get us to take his family's picture.

Just a few more steps back!

Headed on down to see the Crazy Horse monument whilst we were there. Didn't want to pay to look so took a picture from a distance.

Crazy Horses - click on it to see it better

On through Custer City to stop in Newcastle for lunch. Whay aye pet! Filled up with gas at a station filled with blokes on Harleys. Then carried on heading back up towards the interstate.

Saw a train.

Eventually off the interstate into the Big Horn mountains. Drove up steep road until over 9000 feet above sea level. Took quite a time to get up and down the other side. Sat nav seemed to think we should have been doing 65mph not 25mph. At least it worked again today.

Was on the look out for bears. Asked Ann what she would do if we got ambushed by a bear with a gun. She didn't answer. Thought of a new motto, 'Guns don't kill people, bears with guns kill people'. Needless to say no bears spotted. Came up with a plan for the drive into Yellowstone tomorrow. We are going to take two lots of food so if a bear with a gun ambushes us we can hand over our 'Picinic Basket, Booboo' and still have some grub left. I'm smarter than the average bear!

Arrived in Cody, Wyoming at 7.30pm after a 620 mile drive. Checked into the Cody Legacy Inn. Arrived too late to go to this evening's rodeo in town. Drove past it to have a look. Stopped at Bella Italia for dinner. Everything was smothered in garlic, at least we don't have to worry about being attacked by vampires now.

Back in hotel now about to go to bed. Hopefully will sleep although the fact we seem to have a room under a staircase means people are now clonking up and down. Also the extractor fan doesn't go off, although according to reception it is meant to stay on all the time. Funny idea as it just makes a bloody racket.

At least tomorrow doesn' involve driving hundreds of miles. Hurrah!