Day 2: Much better than Day 1, but not quite "vacation" yet

Start: Bakersfield, California
End: Grand Canyon National Park, Arizona - Mather Campground
Date: Friday, September 12
Highlights: Needles (?)

After recovering from a pretty crazy first day of our trip, it was great to be driving during the day! The mysterious Bakersfield Smell had disappeared, thank goodness - I was afraid that the A/C had broken in the car. Southeast California and Arizona pretty much look the same. We stopped in Needles, Calif. for lunch. We made a pact to eat at local places for at least one meal per day, so the McDonalds in Needles definitely did not count. I really don't remember the last time I ate at McDonalds...and this one was under severe construction. It's amazing what "making good time" will do to your eating habits! Interstate 40 pretty much parallels the Historic Route 66, or what is left of it, and I'm sure Needles had much more prosperous times in its past.

I also have to admit that our itinerary really planned for us to fly through the western US and spend more time in the Southeast with my family at the end of the week. If it seems like we're not appreciating something enough, then we probably aren't. Wouldn't it be nice to have all the time in the world to see all of the amazing places off of the interstate??

Southeast California and Arizona pretty much look the same; the Colorado River forms a stunning string of green vegetation in an otherwise brown landscape. Libby and I figure it will actually sink in that we're moving once one of the following happens:

• Rain
• Green trees
• Grass
• Corn

None of those happened on Day 2, so we're obviously still in denial.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon tired again and set up the tent. There are SO MANY foreign tourists at the Grand Canyon! We were definitely in the minority as American tourists.

Since we arrived so late, we saved the actual canyon-looking for Day 3. If we weren't also racing a moving truck to Michigan, we would probably go on a hike...but I think canyon-looking will have to do this time around. Stay tuned for canyon-looking tomorrow...

p.s. If you haven't met Bill the Monkey, let me introduce you. He was born several days ago at 6th and Market in San Francisco, and was rescued from squalor by our friend Jim and given to us, his new foster parents. I'm a big fan of Ghostbusters, so see if you can figure out the inside joke. Bill really doesn't seem to like elevation changes, temperature changes, or other ideal gas law variable changes...we'll see how he does in the next few days!