Now, where was I? Or, where am I?

Okay, I got it. After leaving Lake Havasu we headed north onto I-40 and into Kingman, Az.

Not one to travel an interstate if there is an alternative, the obvious choice was to follow historic Route 66 north east out of Kingman through the quaint towns of Hackberry, Valentine, and Truxton. Somewhere along there, night fell and I was able to find a nice area, full of widely spaced and scenic juniper trees, with cliffs and mesas visible in the distance. With the higher elevation, it was cool at night.Route 66 took me back to join I-40 at Williams, where I cruised through town looking for a place to eat. Much to my surprise, a Jeff Gordon (Nascar champion driver, if you are not in the loop) semi-trailer pulled in and parked right beside me. I could not resist some photos that I knew would be enjoyed by some race fans I know, specially since Jeff won the most recent race in Texas.


Trying once again to avoid the freeway, I turned north again to the Grand Canyon. But to avoid the crowds there, I checked out Google Maps and Google Earth, and consulted with the local forest service to find forest roads in the area where I could travel, camp, and avoid the crowds.
The ploy worked! There were no crowds, fairly nice roads, and they were even well signed.

Found a fire lookout tower to give myself a view of that big canyon. It's the first fire tower I have seen that had stairs to the top instead of a ladder. But, at 90 feet high, and being able to look straight down through the metal grate steps, it was fairly airy, and breezy!


But, since I was that close to the GC, I decided I would fight the crowds for a quick look-see.
We found a pen full of canyon mules resting up between trips - in downtown GC village.


There was this big gorge at the edge of town.
It was deep and wide.
It almost wore out my camera.
Snapping.

And more snapping.
At least I got to see the sign - as I was leaving the park - to the east and north.