Day 40 – Grand Canyon to the Hoover Dam

Wednesday, October 20^th 2010

It rained again all night but I stayed nice and dry in my car after hiking back out of the Grand Canyon. I’ve been very lucky so far, not getting caught outside in any bad weather overnight since I left NJ. I suppose by writing that fact down in internet ink, I just about guarantee myself a sleepless night in a heavy rainstorm, inside a leaky tent, sometime in the next few days.

I got in touch with a friend of mine from FMC today. Kevin was going to be flying into Las Vegas to work booth duty at Supply Side West, a large event for ingredient, flavor, technology and service providers. He was scheduled to arrive sometime around midnight. Before I left on my trip we talked about how it would be great if we were both going to be in Las Vegas at the same time. Lucky enough, it turns out that our schedules synced up perfectly. Kevin and I were in Las Vegas for a conference about 12 years ago but unfortunately I can’t talk about that. You know the motto “what happens in Vegas, ………..”. Let’s just say we had fun. Our boss Graeme is also attending Supply Side, but he’s flying from Belgium, so the nine hour time differential might be causing some ill effects on him. Anyway, now that the next leg of my trip is set up, I’m excited to see these guys and I’m sure we’ll have some interesting Vegas stories to share, amongst ourselves that is.

I left the Grand Canyon area sometime around noon. On the way out of the park, I saw a couple of large, multi-point mule deer and two elk foraging for food. I made my way south, back in the direction of Flagstaff on US-89, en route to Las Vegas, NV, roughly 330 miles away. About twenty minutes before reaching Flagstaff, I came across my first encounter with snow on the road. I thought it was odd to see a snow plow driving in my direction only a few minutes prior. I had checked the outside temperature gauge on my dashboard and it was still 50F. Sure enough though, within two minutes I drove over a thin covering of snow on the road that only lasted about a mile. It must have been a small, concentrated weather pattern formed by the mountains nearby. Shortly after that, the sun came out and then quickly was covered up by dark thunderstorm clouds, followed by a strong hail storm. I took cover under an awning at a remote country store / gas station. This was some of the wackiest weather that I’ve ever encountered, all within a 10-15 minute time frame!

I headed west on I-40 and made it about as far as I could go without running out of gas as I was too stubborn to refuel at $3.39 near the Grand Canyon. I came across a truck stop in Williams, AZ to fill up at $2.79 and paid $10 for a much needed shower. I was back on the road and feeling refreshed but it was only about to get better. In another two hours I would approach the town of Kingman where I saw a sign for an “IN-N-OUT” Burger. I have been wanting to eat at one of these for far too long. I thought this was a chain only available on the west coast but my Uncle Phil alerted me to the possibilities that I could run into one in Arizona. My heart almost skipped a beat as I prepared to pull off at the next exit with the red, white and yellow sign just visible in the distance. I ordered the “Double Double” (double beef patty and double cheese), french fries and a chocolate shake. I’m a believer!

With a clean body and satiated appetite I turned north onto US-93 in the direction of Las Vegas. Along the way I noticed signs for Hoover Dam which is basically the border of Arizona and Nevada. I had never seen the Hoover Dam but it was already dark so I continued on across the border and stayed the night in Boulder City, NV, about 10 miles north of the Hoover Dam. I would backtrack to the Hoover Dam in the morning and then make my way to Las Vegas to meet up with Kevin and Graeme.

Mileage Update: 5,340 miles