18/6/2014 From Vegas to Grand Canyon, through Monument Valley and over the Rockies into the Great Plains...Read NowAfter enjoying a rest day in crazy Las Vegas with our friends Greg and Dawn, it was time for us to say goodbye and hit the road again. This took quite an effort, we would have rather hung out some more, but the "race across america" had to go on... Other than on our open trip through South America, where we could always stay at places we liked for as long as we wanted, we have already booked our flight ticket back to europe. The first stop on our way out of L.V. was the post office, where we sent home our recently purchased cowboy boots from the boot barn in Vegas, along with some little souvenirs like license plates... It took more than half a day to get to through the city and to its outskirts, and later in the afternoon we went by hoover dam, crossing over the deep gorge of the colorado river deep down below us- now we understood the lines in the Johnny Cash song "Highwayman", where he sings of a dam builder on the wild colorado.... Crossing over, we get into Arizona, Grand Canyon State! And all the sudden, the landscape changes, all looking like very little Grand Canyons! After fixing 2 flat tires (another wire and, next time, a big nail in my rear tire!) we think its time to look for tonights rest place, and I find a neat flat spot just 100m away from the highway, with a nice panorama over the hills and small Canyon. We decide it won't rain during the night, and sleep without a tent, only the stars above us- how beautiful! People have told us that during the cool morning hours, rattlesnakes like to come cuddle up with anything warm, but we thought if they do come sleep with us, they have to be friendly... Waking up in the fresh morning air and being right in the middle of a landscape painting is just an amazing feeling! So we make the hot chocolate and our daily granola and head on towards the next big sight: Grand Canyon! We take legendary ROUTE 66 between Kingman and Ash Fork, with many old gas stations, diners, motels and other places looking like museums. We are getting excited more and more, and finally, we stand breathless on the rim of maybe the most impressive sight we've seen: GRAND CANYON! It left us looking for words to help us express what we were feeling upon seeing this sight, but there are no such words for such a sight, and all the pictures we have seen before coming here just don't manage to prepare you at all for what you are going to see! We gazed and awed at the sight until the sun went down, we biked to the campsite to celebrate this beautiful day with a nice meal and a glass of wine. The entire next day was also dedicated to the Canyon, since we visited as many of the beautiful view points all along the south rim. It was hard to say goodbye, but the next sight was just a few days away. Just between Utah and Arizona sits picturesque monument valley. Iconic, as it is, it is always very special and of course more impressive, to get to such places you have seen many many times on photos, postcards, etc. We manage to arrange for a special price to enter, our argument, that cars should be more expansive than bikes, meets open ears. The Navajo managed "tribal park" has also a very basic campground, with an amazing view of the rocks right in front, and they are nice enough to let us stay for free! Our attempt to camp without our tent is ruined by too much wind blowing sand into our faces coming along with about ten drops of rain at 2.30 a.m. so we set up our tent "Hugo" in the midst of this stunning scenery. Of course there was no more rain once we had the tent standing... Just about one day of cycling in Utah and we're already in Colorado! We got excited about crossing the Rockies, but soon figured out that there is not so much left of them in this southern part of Colorado... The first pass, Wolf Creek with about 10800 ft marks the continental divide, which means that water on one side goes to the pacific, from the other side to the atlantic. Good for us, since we want to reach the atlantic! After the next pass, even smaller, we could already see the great plains below us, stretching out endlessly against the horizon. It just looked so infinite, it was hard to imagine that we will ever reach our goal...But it was not the great distances that made our cycling even harder for us from now on- it was the wind! either coming from northeast of southeast, it did not anything like we have always heard before, like going west to east and helping us out! Hand in hand with the headwind came episodes of thunderstorms and even tornado watches. But we were still enjoy Kansas, because we can say we have made only good experience with the (few) inhabitants, and those people have been very helpful and kind to us on our trip. We still didn't take a rest day since Las Vegas, and when we finally did, we had been going for 24 days without. Covering over 100 to 140 km each day, we gain a lot of ground. Finally we reach Missouri River, and the small town of Atchison, where Matt, our friend hosts us and our bikes for a few days off, and we get to rent a car to drive to Iowa to visit Christophers host family from 95/96- the Hembergers. The rest days go by quickly, as there is a lot to talk about with Jim and Roz, Chris's host parents, but bodies and souls can regain their energy for the few miles left to reach the east coast....
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