Road Trip USA!

So we picked up our hire car at McCarran Airport and set off. Actually their system there is really good, you get on a shuttle bus at the airport which takes you out to the rental centre and then you go to the counter of the hire company you wish to use. It was really quick and efficient and in no time we were off on the highroads of the Southwest, heading off to Hoover Dam and the Grand Canyon.

Hoover Dam, being our first stop, was actually pretty good. We took one of the tours there and got great views of the dam, which is just enormous, and watched a movie about the making of the dam, which was pretty impressive. The display showing the dam going up day by day on a time-release camera was very interesting too.

We were then back on the high road and literally 2 minutes later crossed the border into Arizona. Its funny how the road signs and so on change from state to state - in Arizona a sign helpfully informs you that highway littering will cost you $300 - in New Mexico it'll cost you $500 and in Texas $750. California? Don't litter there, thats $1000! Then there's the speed limits - mostly 65mph in most states we visited, although in Texas and New Mexico you could often do 75 - but in Texas and New Mexico they had special 'safety corridors' where if you were caught speeding there you would pay double. Like they were almost inviting you to speed everywhere else.

They mustn't have a "don't use your mobile phone whilst driving" rule here - because we saw lots of helpful signs inviting us to call 511 or so on for traffic condition updates - and in New Mexico they wanted you to text them if you saw a drunk driver! So, whilst the drunk driver, weaving all over the road, is causing great danger - you, on your mobile, weaving all over the road whilst texting to let them know about it - obviously isn't a problem. Hmm.

The driving conditions on the roads are pretty good too, the roads are well maintained and the service stations - well, they are something else. As you approach the servos you get signs about what is available there - gas, food, camping, Burger King, Wendy's, McDonalds etc - and in Texas we even saw a drive-through Starbucks! So of course we had to try that one.

But I digress and get ahead of myself - more on that sort of thing in posts to come... in the meantime, here we are in Arizona on our way to the Grand Canyon...

We pulled into our campground after dark and set up our tent by the light of the headlights... we didn't do too bad a job either, the thing stayed up. Sleeping in the tent was ok too, its a 3 man tent so we've got plenty of room, and at Grand Canyon village I managed to buy a 'boomer' torch which we suspended from the ceiling and it gave off great light... so tomorrow its off to hike the Canyon...