May 2009

More of the Grand Canyon

Wild? life...

Erosion at work... :o)

Yes, I like to take my shadow in picture!

Blossoming cactus.

Paddlers on the Colorado.

This was before 11 AM!

Resting.

Even down there, you have posting service! "Mail it by mule!"

On the way back up.

More on Monument Valley

Campground near Monument Valley. You get an idea why I didn't stay very long...! The sun is very strong there.

Moab's car show

As I explained in a previous post, this is a bit stupid. The participants simply go up and down the main street in the middle of the normal traffic...

Nice license plate.

It must have so much torque on the rear wheels, you need the little wheels to prevent the car from flipping...

Rafting pics

Preparing the rafts at the put-in.

The government only allows a maximum of 75 persons to go down that bit of the river per day.

Security speech. Or maybe he was just bragging.

Cruising to get to the rapids.

Pause for lunch.

Sorry, there are no pics of the rapids themselves, as my camera was secured inside a watertight box during that time!

After the rapids. I survived! This was minute before my camera fell in the sand... :-(

Canyoneering pics

In nice company (Mina and Jonalyn).

Going down, pretending I was scared. :o)

Down in the canyon.

Waiting for our guide, Jayce, to get down after us in the second rappel.

Many thanks to Jonalyn for sending me the pics she and Mina had taken!

This is me getting out of my car on the day I was moving out. Notice how the mattress is tied to the roof in a way that prevents the doors from opening... This was a lot of fun, actually! I'm glad my friend Yuriko thought of taking a picture, thanks!

Phoenix suburbs. What do they need such wide streets for?

Inside an abandonned miner's building in the Vulture Mine near Wickenburg.

Haha.

Bikers catching up with me!

Saguaro cactus. They say each arm is a hundred years...! The name is pronounced something completely different. Sorry Gayle, I forgot how!

Nice curves going to Prescott.

The Governor's Mansion (an old shack in fact!)

They are so proud of it... :-P

The car I drive is already quite big, by my standards. Yet the white car on the right in the picture is much bigger. I leave you to guess how much bigger the one on the left is...!

A biker in Jerome.

First roundabout I've seen! There are a lot of them in France, and even more in the UK, but not many in the US.

The Oak creek in Sedona.

School bus.

Half-burnt tree. They have a real fire problem around here.

Driving to the Grand Canyon, I feel so reassured that there's going to be a McDonald's there!

You've got mail?

Real cowboys! Yahoo!

Old trading post.

So I was following these few RVs on the road and they were a bit slow (Like 60 on a 65mph road). They were not easy to pass as you have traffic coming in the other direction. I wasn't in a hurry anyway. Then you've got that truck coming behind me.

I couldn't believe it when he went to pass me!

It's huge!

HUGE "car".

The hood is at head-level...

Moab's public library has the crappiest internet access I've seen. The password they give you only gives you 15 minutes and then it locks the session. Then the next person unlocks it and can see whatever you were doing. How crap is that! Also notice the Symantec logo... (but I won't comment on that!)

This is inside a supermarket. You can try out your coffee!

Camping in Moab...

I wonder how you're supposed to fight back a Cougar...

Cryptobiotic soil. See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Soil_crust

"This is not a trail". They need to protect the soil crust. I like the big footsteps beyond the sign... Pfff!

Having fun with the balanced rock in Arches (Moab).

Delicate Arch. Symbol of Utah.

Nice bike.

Random dude taking a car in picture.

Me in car.

Stupid ad in a magazine. This is what I was talking about in my post about Arches... :-(

Up-the-creek campground. Very nice trees. (But too many caterpillars!)

"Drug free school zone. Enforced." What the hell does that mean? Is it Ok to take drugs anywhere else?

Here: desert.

Not far: you can hike in the snow!

Boob rock. [sic]

That guy took at least 5 minutes to maneuver his trailer into the alocated spot. It was fun to watch (I had to wait for him to free the passage anyway).

Recreation in America:

Tow your home!


You get an idea of the scale with the man standing next to the car.

Or you can also tow your car from your RV...

Add bicycles and you are all set.

I'm back to England now! :-(

Will soon post more about what I've been up to in the last few days, as well as more details and pics on previous posts. Keep watching this space!