ON THE ROAD AGAIN Today, we leave Utah for good, heading south to Arizona and the south rim of Grand Canyon. There are many sites to see in the Kanab, UT, area; one we missed is Antelope Canyon near Page, AZ. The canyon is on the Navajo Reservation and has unbelievable formations earmarked by swirls and changing colors. The Navajo reservation lacks a lot to be desired. Most families do not have running water, and poverty appears to be widespread. Most houses have hogans in close proximity for family worship, etc. The roads in Arizona are mostly rough, and we banged, clanged, and rattled our way to Grand Canyon in DunnGone.

KARYN’S BIRTHDAY Today is daughter Karyn’s birthday. Happy birthday, Karyn. Is this number 30? Sure! We mailed her card from the North Rim of Grand Canyon. Kay spent a good portion of the morning on the road trying to get in touch with her to sing Happy Birthday, and finally succeeded.

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, SOUTH RIM Everything you’ve heard about Grand Canyon is true. It is deep, and it is wide.

We just weren’t prepared for its awesomeness. Looking over the side, it just goes down, then down again, then down again, etc. After a brief stop at the Visitor’s Center, we hiked most of the rim, and took untold numbers of photos. Kay was a brave soul, but stayed away from edges of the trail where there were sheer, steep drop-offs. During our hike, we heard lots of sirens, and mused that someone had gone off the edge! After the rim hike, we mailed Jenny’s birthday card, from the South Rim of Grand Canyon, hopefully to arrive on October 13.

After a quick supper in DunnGone, we drove over to Shrine of the Ages for a park interpretive program on the Canyon. The ranger was very knowledgeable and had a wonderful sense of humor. They have an interpretive program every night. He did show us pictures of how many people are here on holidays. It was scary!! Here are these jutout bluffs, some with fences and rails and some with nothing at all and these people just jammed against each other! Not for Kay!! Kay just shivers everytime someone steps off the rim trail and walks to the edge to take a picture. The numbers of people here are incredible also. Bus load after bus load pull up every day. The ranger said most people stay about 3 1/2 hrs. and that’s it. No way can one see something of this magnitude in that amount of time. We walked more than half of the rim today and will walk more tomorrow. We are boondocking (no hookups of any kind) and we’re packing on the blankets tonight because they’re predicting a low of 26%.