Wandering West Day 3, Saturday, June 26
We started the day in a desert in New Mexico and ended it watching a sunset over the Grand Canyon.
No one can prepare you for the feeling you get the first time you see the majestic views of the Grand Canyon. I was absolutely awestruck, to the point of tears upon my first view. But, let’s back up and see how the day got started.
Our goal was to be leaving our campground in Gallup, NM by 7:30 am. That meant another early morning but it also meant we got to enjoy the peacefulness of watching the campground wake up. Anyone who has ever camped anywhere knows what I’m talking about. It’s a state of utter calm and quiet. You witness people slowly meandering out of their campers, most still in pajamas, coming out to walk the dog or enjoy a cup of coffee in the coolness of the morning. No one in a hurry to get anywhere. The friendly nod and smile to your neighbors. No one judging your bedhead or mismatched pajamas. It’s just another thing I love about RV life.
We made our goal, we were on the road just after 7:30 am and were heading west. First stop was Winslow, AZ. Johnny had already ordered a replacement bike for us to pick up at the Wal-Mart there and the McCains needed a place to have their spare tire fixed. Our thought was we’d hit up the Wal-Mart, stand on the corner of Winslow, Arizona, then be on our way again.
Well, things never go quite as planned. The Wal-Mart auto center was less than accommodating when it came to fixing the tire and said it’d be at least 2.5 hours. That was just not going to work. Kevin started searching and found a tire shop that could get it done much faster, he just had to get it there, no biggie. In the meantime, we all decided to do a quick shopping trip. This is about the time Noah told me that one of his shoes was much tighter than the other (in the middle of Wal-Mart). I took a look and sure enough, his left foot was red and swollen. I don’t think I mentioned before but he got stung by a bee on his foot at a gas station on Day 1. I’ve been giving him Benedryl ever since and thought he was fine. Apparently not! I, of course, went into mama mode. I wasn’t panicking, I knew he was fine overall, but I also knew we were heading into a National Park where we’d possibly have limited access to medicine and we’d be walking for miles. So, I started looking for some type of MedExpress Clinic (which could not be found in Winslow according to my Google searches), called his pediatrician’s office (was told someone would call me back but I never heard from them), and started asking our resident pharmacist (travel partner Tiffany) what he needed (steroid would be best but need a prescription). Then Jaci came to the rescue. She happened to have a steroid cream from one of her kid’s last allergic reactions to a bite. So, more Benedryl and some steroid cream and tonight his foot looks much, much better. In the midst of all this, we were still waiting on the tire so the boys decided to assemble Johnny’s new bike in the Wal-Mart parking lot. We were all just chillin’, hanging out in the parking lot. Long story just to say, we took longer at Wal-Mart than we thought! So, by the end of all this, we were all ready to just hit the road again, our destination was calling to us.
We arrived at Grand Canyon National Park mid-afternoon. We had heard horror stories of being in line at the gate for hours and hours. Thank goodness we only had to wait about thirty minutes to get in. We are staying at Trailer Village inside Grand Canyon National Park. I must say, so far it’s been amazing. We have literally been sitting outside our camper and elk just walk by. Also, our campsites are less than a mile from the South Rim! It’s actually an easy bike ride to the rim from our camper (so I’ve been told, I chose to ride over in the truck, LOL!).
We made ourselves an early dinner of grilled hamburgers then we were off to see our first view of the canyon. I was so antsy to get there. Everyone I’ve talked to who has been here has told me that pictures just don’t do it justice. They are right! We made our way to the South Rim via the Rim Trail that we picked up right at the Visitor’s Center. We walked out and the views literally took my breath away. The sheer majesty of God’s creation is amazing. Just think, He spoke and all of this came to be. I really had tears in my eyes as I was struggling to take it all in.
We spent the next couple of hours walking along the Rim Trail checking out all the different overlooks. Each angle offered a completely different view of the canyon. You’d think a person would get tired of looking at it but you don’t. It’s really that mesmerizing. The only issue we had was trying to wrangle some of the kids way from the edge. Yes, there are guardrails in most places but there are some places where the edge seems just a little too close for comfort. All of us parents were yelling “stop”, “no”, “back-up”, “get back over here”, and on and on.
Some of our group headed back to camp just before sunset but Johnny, Noah and I stayed back to watch the sunset over the canyon. I am so glad we did. It was a peaceful way to end our long last three days on the road.
We started the day in the serenity of a morning campground and we ended it in the serenity of watching the sunset over the Grand Canyon.
“Worthy are You, our Lord and our God, to receive glory and honor and power; for You created all things, and because of Your will they existed, and were created.” Revelation 4:11
“By faith we understand that the universe was formed at God’s command, so that what is seen was not made out of what was visible.” Hebrews 11:3