OVER MY SHOULDER

Last week, Christine and I took a bus tour to the Grand Canyon. It was an eight day trip, from Erie through Oklahoma City and west primarily along Interstate 40 (which in general follows old ‘Route 66’) to Williams, Arizona, the Grand Canyon, Laughlin, Nev. and Sedona, Arizona. We had never been in that part of the United States, and found it to be beautiful country, but quite different than Eastern Kansas. (We did start with a Kansas flavor, as when we left Erie, there was a report on the radio that a tornado had touched down in Wichita---our last pick up for the trip was at Augusta)

When one goes from Kansas to Williams, Arizona you find that the first two and one-half days are pretty much on the road. As we moved South from Wichita into Oklahoma, we noted the land starting to flatten out more. There were quite a number of fields of wheat---which by the way looked pretty good, as did all of the wheat on west to Amarillo and past. The irrigated wheat around Amarillo look much better than the dry land wheat.

We noted that the land in the Amarillo area is quite flat, the air appears much clearer, and it seems that one can see for miles and miles. Near Groom, Texas, we stopped at a very large cross (I believe it was_____feet high) that had been built as a memorial to an individual’s wife. It was a beautiful sight in the early morning sun as we walked around the base in and out the shadow of the cross----which we do every day, but it may not be physically visible.

The area West of Amarillo across West Texas and Eastern New Mexico is still pretty flat, but as we moved into New Mexico, we began to see large ‘bluffs’ of rock formations in the distance and along the Interstate. Rock formations along the route on the entire trip ranged from a limestone gray, to browns and even red in some areas. The variation of colors in the morning and evening hours provided a beautiful sight. There was even an area near Grants, New Mexico where the road was lined with lava rock----which was left over from a volcano eruption that took place at least one million years ago.

To an old Kansas boy, the route across New Mexico and Arizona did not appear to be very productive. The cactus had not yet begun to bloom, and it did not appear to have much growing except sage brush, scrub pines, scrub cedars, and in some places pinion trees. As we got in around Flagstaff, there were some Ponderosa Pines in several areas and had been designated as forest areas.

Much of this was ‘Indian land’ or Government land-----I believe that the guide at Acoma told me that the tribe at Acoma had 335,000 acres in the area just east of Grants. There are very few ‘green’ spots, (I told Christine that I would not complain about having to mow green grass---that lasted until the second day that I was home)--- very little livestock---a few cattle and horses, and an occasional herd of sheep------ (although we would occasionally see an antelope or two). Much of the land is ‘open range’, except that the Interstate is fenced----can you imagine hitting a cow or an antelope at 80 or 85 miles per hour?

The highway seems to always run in the valleys (except when it was necessary to go over the bluffs or go through a pass)----with beautiful plateaus and mesas atop of high bluffs of various color--depending on the area that we were in---- on each side---sometimes close to the highway and other times in the far distance. For the most part the Interstate is in good condition---on several occasions, my count indicated that about 70% of the vehicles were large trailer trucks--apparently hauling freight, commodities etc, and it was all fast. (I was glad that we made the decision to go by tour bus instead of driving).

We encountered nearly every kind of weather---strong winds the first couple of days, with gusts to 50 mph or so, rain, sunshine, one section of about 30 miles of a dust storm, and at Flagstaff a blizzard that the driver began to think would cause the highway to be closed---(15 miles further West, we had dropped down in elevation, where there were only flurries). We had temperatures from 65 on the day that we left to 14 degrees in Williams when we got up one morning.

We enjoyed the Mission Church that was built in 1706, the little shops, and the street venders in old Albuquerque town. We went by the Laguna Pueblo where the old Mission that was built perhaps as early as the 1300’s still shines in the sunshine. We toured the “Sky City” Pueblo of Acoma. This is Pueblo billed as the oldest continuously inhabited Pueblo in the United States. It covers 70 acres on the top of a solid rock mesa that is approximately 300 feet in the air. The 70 acres is occupied with a large Mission Church built in 1629 surrounded by many adobe homes and a large cemetery. Essentially all of the food, water and supplies have to be brought to the mesa from the canyon floor, and human foot paths were the only available approach until recent times.

From Williams, Arizona, we took a train 65 miles to the highlight of our trip-----the Grand Canyon---this is the first time that Christine had ridden a train. It was an extra treat to travel across the Arizona country side at 40 mph---through scrub pine and cedars, a large pine forest, canyons, and hills and suddenly break into an open spot and see the inspiring sight of the Grand Canyon.

Words can not describe, and pictures can not capture the magnificence of the Grand Canyon---- over one mile deep and eighteen miles wide in some places. The National Park is about 277 miles long, and covers almost 1,218, 375 acres (1,904 square miles). The day that we were at the Canyon, we were blessed with sunshine, a haze free bright blue sky under which one could see for miles, and a reasonably small crowd. I was surprised (although I should not have been in today’s world) at the commercialism in the Park and along the Rim of the Canyon. A lot of little shops, just like all other tourist attractions.

At the few overlooks that one can see the great Colorado River, the water looks like a thin ribbon of blue winding along the bottom of the canyon walls. Because of the various shapes, sizes, height, colors and variations of the canyon walls and buttes, each view changes every time that one moves, and every few minutes as the angle of the sun changes. The spectacle of the Grand Canyon next to Niagara Falls, is truly one of the most inspiring sights that I have had the privilege to witness. Next to human beings, these are God’s most magnificence works.

We spent a day in Laughlin, Nevada---the two hour trip from Williams to Laughlin was an interesting drive---many rock formations in various colors, and of course a large variation in altitude----the last nine miles into Laughlin the road dropped from 2500 feet to 540 feet. Laughlin sits on a beautiful river of clear blue water that comes from Lake Mohave (I think) that is just above the town. The main part of this town is centered around Casinos. It was interesting to see these large layouts------(Christine and I broke even---we did not put any money in, and did not get any money out)

We traveled down Oak Creek Canyon---to Sedona. The Canyon was beautiful in its own way----many trees, shear cliffs along the switch backs that took us to the canyon floor, and one rock formation after another, starting with limestone at the head of the canyon, and changing to red sandstone, as we approached Sedona. Sedona is a beautiful setting in a valley (as are many of the towns in this country) surrounded on essentially all sides by beautiful red rock formations. It of course did not measure up to the Grand Canyon, but it was certainly worth the time to visit the area.

We enjoyed every part of the trip and feel so blessed that God has created so many inspiring vistas of nature in this country, and that we are able to visit a few of them. We look forward to seeing more of them in the future.