Day 3 - Off the Grid

Today ends with us "Off the Grid"...no phones, no tv, no internet, no nut'in honey!  I like it, it's quite and although there are a few other campsites occupied around us, the only sounds I was privy to earlier this evening were the laughter of my family while we enjoyed dinner and a fire outside on the "patio" of our tiny house and the soft sound of Eli's master mix of travel tunes in the background.

I am actually writing this post on my laptop in MS Word to later transfer here.  You were worried weren't you? What, no post for Day 3?!  Agh, ye hath no faith.  You figured...Day 3, she's given up, too lofty of a goal, blogging has gotten the best of her -well,
au contraire!! 

Day 3, in comparison to our first couple of days on the road was pretty laid back.  Waking up to 90+ degrees this morning was well, not the greatest but we were certain that Arizona would treat us right and cool down; at least a little.

Pirate Cove Resort - Needles, CAl  Awesome place to camp/ RV/ Stay in a (2) story
cabin, launch your boat, etc.  Right next to the Colorado River....HOT, but cool all at the same time - you know what I mean!

As we crossed into AZ, the Old Trails Arch Bridge was to the south of us hovering over the Colorado River – gorgeous.  We forged East a little farther and the landscape changed dramatically - the craggy mountains surrounded us, now THIS is an awesome skyline –  We REALLY felt like we were in the movie “Cars” at this point.

Crossing the border into AZ!

The first town we hit was Kingman - we went right into and right back out of Kingman…we weren’t impressed, sorry!

Hackberry was our next stop.  Not a very big town, in fact…I am not sure we even saw a town at all.  We popped into the Hackberry General Store for a cold drink and a snack.  Even though we were now out of the hot, dry Mohave Desert; the temperature here was still upwards of 100 degrees (not getting any cooler!!).  We had a good time here walking around inside looking at lots of Route 66 souvenirs and then we took a few fun photos outside before leaving.  I am loving the old Ford pick up truck that the kids and I are standing in front of – if I could have any car…this would be it!  

  

We decided that it would be a good idea to pull in somewhere to camp earlier in the day rather than later so that we could get the trailer set up and cooled down and comfortable for the evening.  The Grand Canyon Caverns were within an hours drive in Peach Springs, AZ so that is what we settled on.  Going to the Grand Canyon on this trip was initially part of our "Grand Plan" but after looking into it further, we all decided that we'd like to spend more than a day or two there camping on another trip so checking out the caverns instead seemed like a good consolation.  

The Grand Canyon Caverns/ Inn/ Store/ RV Park is an interesting place.  The campground was empty when we pulled in so finding a spot was pretty easy to say the least.  We hurried to get things set up so that we could go on the "must do" Ghost Tour of the caverns.  This tour was an hour in length and well, I am not convinced (nor is the rest of my family) at this point that is was a "must do".  We all agreed that doing the regular tour would have maybe been better?  These caverns are actually unique in the fact that they are dry.  Most caverns are wet so they continue to grow formations....dry caverns do NOT grow new formations.  Regardless, I am a little biased because the Shasta Caverns are just a 40 minute drive south from Mt. Shasta, CA where I grew up and they blow these caverns away!  I guess if you are out in the middle of nowhere (and hot) and need something to cool you down and curb your boredom, the Grand Canyon Caverns Ghost Tour MIGHT be a "must do".

The exterior of the Inn at the Caverns was pretty cool.  Lots of old cars, vintage

gas pumps and a little radiator shop and gas station named "Radiator Springs Gas"

The best part about these caverns is that there is a "Suite" down 22 floors inside the cavern that you can rent out and stay in.  (2) Queen beds, sofa that pulls out into a King bed, mini fridge, microwave, sink and a toilet (limited to 6 flushes!).  There is also a replica of a baby sloth that fell into the caverns thousands of years ago.  The bones found were enough to determine that she was 15' 4" tall and would have weighed around 2,000 lbs.

We exited the caverns just in time to catch the sun going down and the sky was beautiful.  Dinner, a fire, girls vs bugs, lots of laughs and star gazing took up the rest of our evening.  "Looking at the stars is my favorite part of camping!", Eli let me know as we were getting ready to settle in earlier - mine too!  Good night.