The Grand Canyon stretches 277 miles; it is a steep sided canyon carved by the Colorado River in the state of Arizona. It is also one of the world's greatest natural wonders and attracts around 5 million visitors every year. In 2009 Ollie and Shay would be two of them!

After a full days drive from Las Vegas, we finally pulled into the one horse town of Tusayan, which is located one mile from the gates of the Grand Canyon State park. We easily located our campsite down the end of the main road and checked ourselves in due to the late hour. The drop in temperature was very noticeable, being now nearly 7000 feet above sea level. We were happy to have a fully functional heater in the camper.

A Couple of Cowboy Steaks and a Pint of Lager

We were tired and hungry after a mammoth drive, so we agreed to splurge on a restaurant meal. We had both seen a homely looking steakhouse not far from the campsite so the thought of red meat was just too tempting to ignore.

A friendly amigo welcomed us into Yippee Ei O, an authentic cowboy restaurant, and ushered us to the best seat in the house, right next to the crackling open fire. We ordered a couple of 'cowboy' steaks to go with our beers and eagerly waited, mouths watering. The wait was worth it, we were presented with the juiciest steaks we have ever tasted... cooked to perfection.

With full tummy's we wandered back to the camper and cranked the heater up high to warm up our little house. It wasn't long before we felt ourselves nodding off after a tiring day of travelling.

A Can of Thrust

The next morning in the Camper Village was a cold one. We set about trying to get organised as quickly as possible as we wanted to have a full day exploring the Grand Canyon State Park. Unfortunately the truck had other plans and refused to start. 'Oh no' we were thinking… flat battery? The truck was turning over fine so it was doubtful. After another couple of fruitless (and smoky) attempts we resigned ourselves to the fact that we would need to call in roadside assistance. We went to the Campsite office to inform them that we would probably miss the check-out time due to mechanical failure and generously, the old weathered man behind the counter told us he would come and take a look. He also informed us that the nearest tow truck was two hours away in Flagstaff!
　
Returning to the truck we turned it over again for the old man to make his diagnosis ...(in cowboy twang) "plenty of juice in that there battery, but maybe your engines a bit cold... a lot of diesels have trouble starting in the mornin up round these parts"... He told us to sit tight and wandered off to the garage, when he returned he presented us with a can of Thrust... "Give it a whirl now" he said as he sprayed Thrust into the air inlet..... BANG, BRMMMMMMMMM. The engine exploded into life.

Needless to say, our first point of call was the general store. Shay went to the counter and told them she was in desperate need of some 'Thrust'!

Hiking the Bright Angel Trail

Its true, Grand Canyon does takes your breath away...in more than one way...especially when your trekking up it! We spent the first day exploring the south rim and watching the sun go down and decided that it would be cool to do a day hike the following day down the Bright Angel trail. After a quick visit to the Grand Canyon shops for hiking supplies we set ourselves up for the night in the RV Park, eager to get an early night for our hike the following day.
　
Walking down the Canyon is a fun experience. The track started out icy, with a few centimetres of snow but the further down we got, the more desert like the terrain became. We end up making it down to the Indian Garden, an oasis at the bottom of the canyon, here it is green and leafy compared to the barren desert surrounding it due to underground springs. We relaxed and ate our packed lunch under the shade of the trees before starting the dreaded climb back up. After a 3 hour continuous slog straight up the canyon we finally made it to the top, absolutely exhausted and anticipating the pain we were going to feel in the coming days.
　
That night we decided to head back to Tusayan Camper Village, we wanted to get an early morning start out to route 66 the next morning and also tap into that free wireless we had found the last time we camped there. It was an extra chilly night but that was explained by the inch or two of snow we woke up to the next day. Considering the risk of driving in ice on summer tyres, we debated whether we should hang out another day or just get going. We waited as long as we could and then decided it was now or never… the mother road was waiting to take us back to California…