G.A.S.P.

I left the Grand Canyon area (11-13) after another Tusayan Omlette (on the house) and rode south about 55 miles to the town of Williams. From there, I will head west again.

Today could have been a real "downer" because Grand Canyon is the last of the really spectacular National Parks that I will visit. I’ve already been to all of the others that I consider to be on a par (or better) with Grand Canyon: Rocky Mountain, Yellowstone, Glacier, Olympic, Yosemite and Zion, and I still have six months of this journey to go. I refused to let that ruin my day, however, so I spent time just thinking about all of the other great places I will visit in the next six months. For starters, there are still a number of National Parks that I’m greatly looking forward to visiting (Death Valley, Sequoia, Carlsbad Caverns, Big Bend, Everglades, and Acadia to name a few). Also, there will be some other great scenic attractions (Big Sur, Padre Island Seashore, Florida Keys, Blue Ridge Parkway, White Mountains, etc.). Last, but not least, I still have a large number of interesting places to visit (Hoover Dam, Arizona–Sonora Desert Museum, Tombstone, Sanibel Island, St. Augustine, Charleston, Gettysburg, Hyde Park, Concord, and many more). So I ended the day very enthused about the second half of my journey.

I learned one important lesson today – don’t put a Heath candy bar in your pocket (at least not in a desert environment). M&Ms are okay; Heath is not okay. At least I didn’t get chocolate all over my pants.