From Joshua Tree we ventured further into the desert and had our first panicky road trip moment of being stuck in the middle of nowhere when the 'soft shoulder' at the side of the road turned out to be very soft indeed.Sand in fact.And all because I wanted to take a Thelma and Louise-esque photo of the car driving down a road to nowhere.A joint rescue effort later and we were feeling peckish.Probably not the best decision to stop to make our lunch in Needles - renowned for being the hottest place in the whole of America.Some big sweat patches and a long drive later and we had made it to red rock canyon country.Wow Sedona is stunning - the town is literally set against a backdrop of the red rock - and whilst it was a bit SAGA holiday touristy, you only had to walk a few hundred metres to get away from the beige brigade.Did some hiking and went to see this amazing funky church set right into the rock.

We decided to step up the camping from a basic State campground to a private one complete with swimming pool.Funny how we always seem to be the only people in a tent with everyone else living it up in the luxury of their RV the size of a bus complete with air con, plasma TV, fitted kitchen, 3 piece suite, queen size bed, place for the 2 dogs and budgie etc - Americans literally do take the kitchen sink with them when they go on holiday.Got chatting to a hilarious pair of women, one of whom spoke soooo slowly in a real Hicksville voice about how she worked down the road but was really from Montana."I'm - one - of - 12 - kids" she told us.Anton replied with "where do your brothers and sisters live then" expecting her to say that they lived all over the place when her response was "huh?I - don't - understand - what - you - are - saying?They - all - live - in - Montana."

From that campground we made it up to a different campground near Flagstaff and more specifically along Route 66.Now what's all the fuss with this Route 66?It really is a complete farce.So little of its original route actually remains what with the government redirecting it along 6-lane interstates and when you do find a bit of it marked, you end up getting lost in some nondescript town wondering why you bothered in the first place.And if you look at the map, it passes through some crap territory on its way from Chicago to LA.The only people who seem to be doing a 'Route 66 trip' are fat, middle-aged couples hiring Harleys for a fortnight, bloke up front donning a handlebar moustache and bandana (but no helmet) and bird as pillion passenger sporting a helmet and Harley Davidson t-shirt.So unoriginal and so very sad.

So we raced alongside the loser bikers to the monster of all holes, the Grand Canyon.And it really is just that.You can't see any evidence of it as you approach until you are right by it and then all you can see is this whopping great big gap unnerving that bit of your brain that wants you to take one step closer.Amazing to watch the views transform as the light changed throughout the day before it was back to the campground for more RV envy.