It was about 120 miles to drive today to meet the Tour people. Just to be sure, we allowed about 3 hours for the trip, figuring that we'd have lunch in St.George during the leftover time. It was all open highway, so this trip was done mostly at 80 mph and we got there with plenty of time. As we pulled into the airport we saw the tour vans already there getting ready.

Since we were early we took our time getting ready to go. Kim was making sandwiches to take with us and I was getting my bike converted to touring for the week. We sorted through all our stuff and figured out what we could leave in the van. Finally, we were all ready to go and so brought our bikes and bags over. They said we were the last ones on their list, so I figured we'd all be able to get into camp a bit earlier.

The bus ride.

I figured out that the big bus was also part of our tour and I was supposed to get on it, so I did. I met the bus almost totally full, and found Kim and Deb sitting towards the back, but not together. I was able to find an empty seat behind Kim. It was at this time that I found out about the time change. Oops. It seems that St. George is one hour ahead of Las Vegas, and so instead of getting here an hour early, we actually just got here just on time. But then we went about wasting all of that time getting packed. Oh well, it was better to find out now after it was too late, as I would have felt overly rushed if I found out before.

I had Jerry from Colorado sitting next to me. He was on this tour by himself, so I invited Jerry to join us for dinner, as they were passing around a signup sheet for dinner slots at the lodge tonight, and they wanted foursomes. Debbie had John from Dallas sitting next to her, and John was also on this tour alone, but too late as we got Jerry in first. There was also a guy sitting next to Kim, but we never did run into him for the rest of the tour.

I was impressed by the mix of people that we had. It seemed that the average age was about 45 or so, and that the percentage of women was maybe 40 to 50%. Of course I already had my women, and I told Jerry that Kim and Debbie were my two wives. Soon after this, the bus passed through Colorado City in Arizona (not Utah), and the bus driver announced to all that this was where polygamy is still allowed. I finally explained to Jerry that we three were not married but were just 3 friends from the same bike club, and that I had my wife at home.

It turned out that there were 58 people taking this tour plus another 12 people on the staff, for a total count of 70. Most of the staff were volunteer positions who would work one day and ride the other.

It turned out to be a 3 hour bus ride to get to camp, at the North Rim of the Grand Canyon, at an elevation of 8800 feet. Wow. I had no idea that we would be so high. There was lots of room at the campsite, so people were able to spread out. And we get 2 nights here, so packing the tent tomorrow. This would be nice.

The Grand Canyon.

The Grand Canyon.

It was a 1.5 mile hike along the rim to get to dinner at the Lodge. It was totally awesome to be able to see the canyon in person. But hiking along we could also feel the lack of oxygen. Lots of picture taking now.

The Lodge sits right on the edge of the Canyon, so during dinner we could look out at the view. After it got dark we could see lights out over on the other side. They were from the South Rim, about 10 miles away. It would be over 200 miles by road to drive over to the other side. After dinner the tour provided shuttle back to camp.

Night time view of the Grand Canyon.

This night was just a day or two past full moon, so late at night, when I woke up and couldn't really sleep, I decided to go check it out. With a full moon, I found that I didn't need a flashlight and could walk around safely by just the moonlight. I hiked out on the trail that we had taken to go to dinner. It was cold but not too cold. I had a good hike.

Go to the next day.