Day 82 – Williams, AZ

We tried to get off to an early start this morning, but sometimes everything seems to conspire to chew up the time. Like this morning, Don had promised to find me some grass for my morning exercise, but we had a hard time finding it in Williams. We finally wound up on a softball field, which was pretty small, but I managed to get in some running and rolling. We got on the road about 10, heading north to the Grand Canyon in the truck. It took about an hour to get there, giving me some snooze time in my private compartment. When we finally arrived, we parked and walked over to the Rim Walk. I took one look and stepped back; this was a hole I really didn’t want to fall into. It’s huge! It was really beyond my comprehension. They say there’s a river down there, but I didn’t see it. We walked along the rim for awhile, and met a lot of people who wanted to pet me, which was OK. Some people we met said that they had dogs too, but they had left them at home. It made me glad that Geri and Don think that I’m such a close member of the family that they take me on all their trips, though they don’t always go to places that I approve of. While we were standing there looking at the Canyon, Geri’s phone went off; it was a call from Buddy Waller, our friend that we had met up with in Mobile, Alabama, while he was between trips to Australia. He was just checking up on us to see where we were, and to let us know that he was heading up to Seattle soon.

After Geri gave me my lunch, they went to the Deli in the park to get a sandwich. While they were eating, some Dutch people came by the truck and talked to me, then went over to Geri and Don to talk with them about dogs. They, of course, had left their dogs at home during their tour of America, and I can understand that. When Geri told them that I had my own blog describing my view of our travels, they smiled uncertainly, said their goodbyes, and took a hike. Some people just don’t understand. Geri acquired another new friend during lunch, a huge black raven who perched on the table just a few feet from her, looking at the food left on her plate. The bird had kind of a demanding attitude, prompting Don to remark that it was Sooo Raven. Geri ignored him. We drove down to where the big hotel is, the El Tovar, which was built in 1905 at the outrageous cost of $250,000. We walked along the rim of the Canyon there, where there was a low wall to protect people from falling in. Don saw that I was looking over the wall, and encouraged me to do “pop-up dog”, like I do at PetsMart to get cookies. I had no intention of doing any such thing. I was as close to the edge as I wanted to get. We met a lot more people who admired me, even some who took my picture. One of the people we met was a young Chinese girl, who was visiting America for the first time. Her English was really good, and we all enjoyed hearing her impressions of her visit. We watched a performance of Indian music and dancing, which was really impressive; these people ought to have a TV show.

We got back in the truck and headed south, out of the Park and back to Williams, where we got on 40 and went a few miles west to visit the town of Ash Fork. This was a big railroad town in the early part of the last century, with a big Fred Harvey Hotel and other rail facilities. The historical marker in town says that when the railroad pulled all the facilities out, the town suffered a decline. That appears to be putting it mildly. Don said that the place made Tucumcari look like a booming metropolis. We headed home to Williams, got back to the rig, and crashed. Long, tiring day. We’re heading for Vegas tomorrow, hope it’s not too hot. I’ll let you know!