Inspiration to Admiration

We have been busy little campers!  I'm struggling to remember where we went after out night on the beach...  Well, we had to head East - this again was never going to be a pleasant drive.  After a night on the beach it was necessary to wash the Jeep so this was our first port of call in Santa Maria.  From their we headed east on 166, actually a very picturesque drive over the hills before we dropped into the valley. Most of the rest of that drive was rather unentertaining.  The highlight was stopping at the California Orange Co after driving through what seemed like 50 miles of citrus groves for a fresh date smoothy (yum!) pickled garlic and chipotle jalapenos.  For our efforts we scored some delicious free oranges that became breakfast for the next couple of days.  We eventually made it to the Mojave National Preserve (read: Mojave Desert) where we camped for the night.

Now we needed to make a beeline for Mormon Lake, Arizona, to check in for the Overland Expo.  We needed to get gas (petrol) but the prices in California were astonishingly high - $4.18/gal in cities and almost if not over $5/gal in the desert!  So we took the shortest road over the border into Nevada where we paid almost $1 less per gallon.  Crazy.  We didn't know if we would make it the 55 miles but with a little hyper-mileing (sp?) trusty frosty got us there with fuel to spare.  Onwards to Flagstaff for a few supplies and then out to Mormon Lake Lodge for the event.  By the time we got there around 5PM, it was already crazy busy but we found a spot out in the field.  It was super windy and we totally didn't envy the people trying to put up tents around us.  Little did they know that half way through the following day those tents were to sacrifice themselves to the wind gods.

J driving the off-road course

The Overland Expo:  What an amazing 3 days!  We had crammed our schedules full with seminars, panels, skills training and driving classes, splitting up for the most part.  I learned off-road driving and was very stoked to get very positive comments from my instructor (go me!)  Frosty handled the course very nicely.  We met some very interesting people - some who had travelled extensively across continents and others who were planning their adventures, learning and seeking inspiration.  There were vendors with many cool gadgets and installations designed to make life easier, we drooled over SnowPeak products and Kanz Kitchens among other things - generally it was just an awesome and inspiring experience.

Grandview lookout tower

Dusk view South Rim Grand Canyon

What next?  We realized on the last evening that we hadn't made any real plans for the next day.  Oh well, that is kind of what this summer is supposed to be about - not knowing where we're going and having fun along the way.  Well, we were awfully close to the Grand Canyon, a world wonder I had not yet seen.  After doing the laundry (3 days of wind and dust made this a requirement) - that was where we headed.  On the map I saw there were forest service roads all through the Kaibab and up into the Grand Canyon National Park so I navigated us in that direction.  We had a great time finding our way north off-road and eventually made it into the park.

Breaking camp on the East Rim

All the campgrounds were full so we ended up camping off the forest road and it was the best night sleep we've had so far.  A shower was necessary the next morning before we checked out the sights on the south rim then headed around towards the north rim.  Once again we camped in the woods with a beautiful view (which we didn't see till morning) over the East rim.

Skull head

Camped in the rocks at Tuweep

The next day we treated ourselves to lunch at the Grand Canyon Lodge - Ahwahnee-esque but not quite so massive - then headed around even further, via Lees Ferry, to take the dirt road into Toroweap.  60 miles of washboard "road" and 4 miles of rocky terrain later, we came upon the Tuweep campground, full of red rocks and an adventure to get into.  It was glorious.  The sun was setting and I snapped away before exploring further to try and get closer to the rim. We slept with just the bug screens in the windows and door, lovely, and woke up to snap more pictures of the sunrise over the canyon.

Cookie Monster

Toroweap Overlook

After a delicious egg burrito breakfast we drove
down to the Toroweap overlook and watched rafters heading over the rapids, just tiny specs at the bottom of the canyon.  (Apparently it's a 2 year wait to get on a Grand Canyon rafting trip!).  Another dusty drive got us to Colorado City which incidentally sits on the border of Arizona and Utah and has nothing really to do with Colorado... It is full of fundamentalist mormons, really huge houses and not much else.  As we are in the area, we figured we might as well swing by Zion National Park.  We haven't quite got there yet but here I sit in the garden of the Springdale Fruit Company writing this post.  It is quite a little oasis amongst all the canyons and rocks.

So for all ye who worry, we are alive and well, if a little smelly and touch sunburnt...