We felt like we needed a bit of salvation to get our trip back on track after the humiliation of the night before. So where better to go than a place called Salvation Mountain?!

Anyone who has seen the film Into The Wild will remember Slab City and Salvation Mountain. Slab city is an unofficial city that is, I guess, best described as a hippie/RV type community that live out in the desert on a big slab of concrete where a military base once existed. There are no facilities (water/power/sewers etc) and we had been warned that it's not all that it was painted to be in the film. Meth heads have moved in, and especially in the low season where their presence is not diluted by more RVs and campers. Crime and sketchy high people are not what we were hoping to experience. That's why we opted not to stay there and instead swing by in the morning after "that night" in the desert.

As you approach Slab City the first thing you come across is a huge multi-coloured "mountain" that must be 2 or 3 storeys high with a "yellow brick road " to walk around the thing. There are all kinds of bumps and bulges and messages (mostly psalms I think) painted over it with a crucifix on top. Apparently a hippie guy moved out here in the 70s and had a calling from God, so he got a load of junk and hay bails and stacked it all up and covered it in what looks like waddle and daub and then painted it. I believe that volunteers come and help and I think the guy still lives on site. Weird? Tacky? Brave? Tenacious? Totally nuts? I don't know how to describe it. But I'm glad we took the time to come have a look around.

The rest of the day was spent on the road, but we we got a great range of landscapes across the California/Arizona border, through the desert, up, up and a bit further up to the pine forests on the outskirts of the Grand Canyon. We got our first taste of a stretch of the old Route 66 by Flagstaff. And trust us when we say they let you know you are on the old Route 66. Iluminous signs and diners everywhere.

Just before dusk we managed to find a free camping pitch less than a mile from the entrance to the Grand Canyon Park. We couldn't believe it, the village with shops was a couple miles away and we were on a nice flat private pitch in the woods with 100m at least to the next nearest campers...and all for $0! We pitched up our crappy tent (remember the one we used in Big Sur?) and popped open a bottle of red.

2am. Tucked up in bed for a good couple hours at least, the moon is bright. It's cold, really really cold at this altitude. And then the coyotes start howling all around! Its was a bit scary but really cool at the same time. We felt like we were properly in the wilderness.

We may not have slept great, but after a cup of crappy coffee, we were perked up and ready to go see THE GRAND CANYON! Some days we wake up and pinch ourselves and remember how lucky/crazy we are doing this trip. Today was one of those days.

We left our crappy tent pitched at our site and headed off into the GC Park. After getting our bearings at the Visitor Center we decided that an easy hike for a few hours down and back up the canyon was our best bet. For those that haven't been, there is a north rim (you get to from the Vegas side) and a south rim of the Canyon (that you get to from Flagstaff where we were). Once you are in the park, there are a dozen or more viewing point along the south rim that you can either walk or get a shuttle bus to. So in addition to our trip a coupld miles down a track and back into the canyon, we stopped off at at least 6 or 7 view points.

As with a lot of things we have seen, but even more true here, you cannot really get the sheer scale of what you are looking at. It is absolutely tremendous. It is one of those views that you can admire all day and then get up at 4.30 in the morning and admire during sunrise a bit more (which is exactly what we did :-) ) before spending the rest of the day in the car across Arizona heading toward Alburquerque.