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Published: March 28th 2015
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This would not be my best idea of the trip. Driving to the Grand Canyon with limited sleep into a snow storm. I had actually been warned off by various people back home but I decided it was worth the risk.
I left the hostel at 5AM. It was a nice hostel but not overly friendly and I do prefer hostels have a friendly atmosphere. I drove on the same route that the bus took yesterday. There was a storm coming in later that day but it was not expected to hit until early afternoon and I was hoping to reach the Grand Canyon and get out before the storm hit. 4 hours later I reached the Grand Canyon at 10AM (Time zone change). There are surprising number of hotels, motels and other accommodations right next to the park. I paid the $25 fee to enter the park and parked near the south rim. It is a short walk from the visitor center to the edge of the rim. When I walked up to it I honestly thought I was looking at a painting in the distance. It just seemed too beautiful to be actually real. The trails were icy
and people were slipping but I managed to stay up by walking carefully. I wandered around the trails for about 2 hours admiring the view before heading back to the welcome center. I admired some of the exhibits at the visitor center and watched a brief movie about the Grand Canyon. It was about how the Grand Canyon was formed and the first inhabitants and the first Europeans to see the Grand Canyon. It showed how difficult the Grand Canyon is to traverse from end to end. I went next to the gift shop and both a variety of stuffed animals for little cousins back home. I hadn't eaten today at that point so I grabbed a breakfast wrap at the small food place on site and ate it in my car while I planned my next destination.
It was 1PM when I left the Grand Canyon and headed to Albuquerque. The storm hit around this point and it made a tricky drive down the canyon. I was feeling really tired at this point. It was the combination of the 4 hour drive and 3 hours walking around the Grand Canyon that had exhausted me. My combination of music
and caffeine pills was not working and I found myself drifting back and forth on the highway. I finally couldn't continue and pulled over on the highway and went to sleep. It was not easy but I managed to grab 15 minutes of sleep before continuing my journey. I maximized my caffeine pill intake to the limit of 10 pills. It kept me awake but I started to hallucinate. At sunset going thru New Mexico the shadow of my car looked like a bear and I panicked thinking there was a bear on my car.
I got to my hostel 66 around 7pm and after circling the block for awhile I managed to find a parking spot. I checked in and since I only had a breakfast wrap for food the entire day I went down the street to this hot dog place. The hostel was not in the greatest neighborhood and I could see people eyeing me as I went by. Thankfully I was just about out of money anyway. The hotdog from this place was very good and I wished I remembered the name of the place.
The hostel was fairly quiet which I found to
be a common circumstance in USA hostels. I did chat with a few of my hostel mates. It included some other people on a road trip and one guy who was starting to walk across the USA. He is taking hiking to get across the USA and it would take him months to make this journey. I am including his website at the bottom of this blog.
Trip is just about over. I just had one more thing to look forward to, my catchup with Kelsey, one of ladies from my Topdeck Tour.
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