(Tusayan, Arizona, and Las Vegas, Nevada, U.S.A.)
As depressing as Friday night had been, something very special happened in the wee hours of Saturday morning: the now-24-hour-old power cut suddenly ended. I was happily jolted awake by the clank of the radiator, as it began an extended mission to restore warmth to my frigid room.
Unbelievably, the power and heat remained in force for the rest of the day. Our group now had some decisions to make. Although we were scheduled to visit the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, would we be prepared to forego that and get a real glimpse of the Grand Canyon? We unanimously voted in favour of the canyon. There was a chance for redemption!
The canyon did not disappoint. Although we did not have much time, we still saw what we came here to see: a vast snow-covered canyon stretching out for miles, and gleaming in the long-overdue sunlight. I walked quickly to the east, to get some different views of the South Rim before our bus had to leave. Our walk into the canyon itself had to be cancelled, but at least we were getting some idea of what it was all about.
We returned quickly to our bus, ready to continue on to the legendary Route 66. But fate was not done with us yet. A much larger bus had skidded off the narrow access road to the bus parking lot. It couldn’t gain enough traction to get back on the road. As a result, we were now stuck too, as there was no other (plowed) way out.
After almost an hour, the large bus had still not made any progress. We made the decision to drive across the unplowed parking lot to the also-unplowed back exit, and just hope that the deep snow didn’t strand us as well.
Finally, we caught a break. We didn’t get stuck, and we could finally continue with our journey. For the first time in days, it felt like everybody would make their flights back home and/or be able to enjoy a final night in Las Vegas.
Not so fast. Of course, we encountered more challenges on the way back to Las Vegas. The roads were still very snowy, and we had to be very careful on the highway. Then, Interstate 40 was closed because of an accident, so we had to drive far longer on the not-very-direct Route 66 than we had been anticipating.
Our stop in Seligman, the most photogenic local remnant of Route 66, lasted barely a minute. Even so, we still managed to get an idea of how life used to be before the arrival of the Interstates. Family-run motels, soda fountains, and gas stations looked like they hadn’t changed for 70 years.
It was dark by the time we finally arrived in Las Vegas. Although it is not among my favourite cities, I was still very happy to get there. Our group had one final meal together, and absolutely nothing strange happened. It was a perfect way to end what had been a rather challenging day and-a-half. But we had survived, and we had some great stories to tell!
