17 April – Lake Mead – Williams

We got up early-ish for a workout, then packed up and hit the road on Route 66 through Arizona. 

Over the Hoover Dam bridge and into the desert. Very odd to see golf courses all bright green in the middle of such a parched landscape. 

We stopped at a lookout over the Colorado River for some photos and a leg stretch.

We followed Route 66 to the Grand Canyon Caverns. On arrival we met Wayne the cowboy who told us some tall tales, then cantered off wobbling around…him, not the horse. We suspected he had more than soft drink in his can.

The landscape is flat so you take a lift 122 feet down to the caves. They are really interesting. Only 6% humidity, so there is nothing living down there. The caves were created when the area was under the sea, so very different cave formations to a wet limestone cave. 

In one of the caverns there is “one of the 10 most different hotel rooms in the world”, we saw a Billy Connolly show where he stayed there. Cool, but $800per night. 

The caves also contain supplies for 2000 people to stay 2 weeks underground, it was a nuclear shelter during the Cuban Missile Crisis in the 60’s. The current owners keep the supplies refreshed “just in case”. Funnily though, in 1961 when they stocked the caves, they forgot to include light sources. No candles, torches or even matches!

We continued along Routes 66. It was quite sad to see how run down the towns are now that the I40 has bypassed them and Route 66 has been decommissioned. 

Finished up for the night at a great little place called Williams. It has withstood the decommissioning of 66 because it is the turnoff to the Grand Canyon South Rim. We are having tea, then a walk into town to look around.