Day 12 The earth is moving, but very slowly

---

Distance driven today: 259 miles / 417 km

Cumulative distance driven: 3,695 miles / 5,947 km

Today’s trip: Panguitch, Utah, USA to Flagstaff, Arizona, USA

Grand Canyons driven through, in and around: 1

US state border crossings: 1

---

Most of the day today, I was either riding around, through or inside the eastern rim of Grand Canyon. Even though this is my fourth visit to the canyon, over the past 15 years, it never ceases to impress. The eastern canyon rim, though less deep and spectacular that the western sections, is still beautiful and grand in every sense imaginable. For one, you can actually drive inside the canyon on the eastern side, something which gives a good perspective on its immense size.

Perhaps the biggest take away from the canyon today, is the fact that earth is constantly moving, transforming, morphing and changing its surface. It’s just that the time scale in which earth operates, makes it incredibly hard for humans to notice any changes during our own short life times. I read many information posts along the road today, about the geological facts and the process that had led to today’s Grand Canyon in Arizona. However, it is still difficult to comprehend exactly how vast amounts of time that are needed for flowing water to carve the surface of the earth, in order to get something like Grand Canyon. Some of the rocks are over 2 billion years old, while most of the sediments found today along the canyon were deposited along sea shores in what is today North America. It is hard to imagine that Utah and Arizona once were covered by a sea!

All in all, today’s ride was a tranquil 6 hour geological time rendering of how earth moves in its own pace. Well in Flagstaff, I was happy to find a great coffee place, which had recently opened. I really did enjoy a cappuccino, something which I haven’t had since I left Seattle almost two weeks ago.

Tomorrow morning, I will be meeting with the Flagstaff Junior Academy, to go through their Kindle e-readers. Then it is off to Phoenix, where I have an appointment with the BMW service shop in the afternoon. The bike has covered almost 4,000 miles in the past 2 weeks, and is ready for a service.

---