Road Trip part 2

Monday morning...off to Williams, Arizona. When we left Sedona, we drove our GPS nuts because the road north was closed, due to the fire. We could actually see the flames coming down the canyon in the daytime. Through Flagstaff into Williams, and a comfortable hotel, albeit without high speed internet access.

Williams is an interesting town. In 1956, President Eisenhower, under pressure from the oil companies, signed the Interstate Highway Act. He wanted to establish a route of autobahns as he had seen in Germany during the war. Williams was on the last bit of Route 66 to be decommissioned, in 1984. Route 66 originally went from Chicago to Los Angeles. Now, one must travel on 5 different Interstate highways to go the same distance. But that's progress, folks.

The Grand Canyon railroad runs from Williams, Arizona to the depot at Grand Canyon National Park. The Atchison, Topeka and Santa Fe Railroad completed an extension to its line in 1901 that brought people to the Grand Canyon. In 1968, the famed line went out of business, but in 1991 an enterprising couple bought the right of way and over the past few years, have brought life and tourists back to Williams.

The railway is a very pleasant way to get to the Grand Canyon. It takes about 2 1/2 hours to go the 65 miles, but entertainment is provided in the form of folk singers, cowboy songs, train robbers, etc. When we got to the canyon, I had to pick Rudy's jaw up off the floor. He had never been there. I was there last in 1965 or 6, before the Glen Canyon dam was completed and when there was more water and less pollution at the Grand Canyon. It is still a marvelous sight.

We stayed over in Williams, drove through the Navaho reservation, and got as far as Page, Arizona yesterday. That's the site of the Glen Canyon Dam and Lake Powell. Lake Powell is over 500 feet deep at the face of the dam. But the dam has slowed the flow of the Little Colorado River through the Grand Canyon. It is claimed that the dam was needed to supply water for the southwest, mostly for agriculture. I wonder how the Indians lived in that area for so many centuries without Lake Powell to play in.

Today we took a secondary highway into Utah. Rudy kept looking around at the mountains, especially Big Rock Candy Mountain, and the changing colors of the cliffs, from vermillion to red to coral pink to white. We stopped for lunch in a small town, where the service station was advertising beer, diesel, gas and cappuccino!

On to Salt Lake City tomorrow. (Note: Friday night in Salt Lake City and my wonderful webmaster has uploaded the photos for me.. Thanks Brian) Go to http://www.reviewingtheevidence.com/roadtrippics.html to see some of the pics.

We have to be in SLC tomorrow for the 3:30 production meeting and then be ready for a 12 -13 hour workday on Saturday. Then a 6 hour drive to Boulder City, Nevada to see Hoover Dam and on Monday, a 4 hour drive back to LA. We may not make it in 2 days. On Thursday, I'm back in Arizona at Thrillerfest in Phoenix.