Wherever I May Roam: 2015

Today is Mother's Day, so let me start with a shout out to my mom. She really is the greatest mother one could wish for in this world, the one person that I can share anything with, without fear of judgement, the one person that I know understands me as well as anyone can. There is nothing she wouldn't do for her children, and far too many times I take it for granted. If I could go back in time to change anything she did in raising us, I wouldn't change a single thing. Through it all there was a steadfast belief in God that she passed on to our family, through her actions as much as through her words. From the bottom of my heart, I love you Mom!

My alarm woke me from a sound and restful sleep, and I was overjoyed to look outside to see sunny skies. This morning was probably the quickest that I've gotten ready for the day, I wasn't going to waste any sunshine if possible. The sunshine made it feel warmer than it was, but it could have been -20 and I would have been happy. Riding up 64/180 from Williams felt a lot shorter than the ride down did yesterday and before I knew it I was in Tusayan. I fueled up the bike, grabbed a quick breakfast, and then I was off once again. Getting into the park didn't take long at all, I probably beat at least some of the traffic there.

Seeing the Grand Canyon in all it's glory was fantastic, and I spent a lot of time just looking and drinking it in. For someone with a fear of heights it takes a little getting used standing at some of the lookout points, it is insane how far down some of those drops are. The average depth from the rim is 1 mile, hard to believe that's even possible! Throughout the morning I was able to chat with quite a few people who I kept meeting at the lookouts, a nice chance to share the experience with other human beings. Not having friends or family to share the experience with is the one downside to traveling alone, but when there's people willing to chat it certainly adds to the experience.

After finishing up the Grand Canyon I continued east to Cameron, where I enjoyed a snack and a little break, before hitting highway 89 northbound. To anyone traveling from the north to see the Grand Canyon, take this highway, you will not be disappointed. The scenery is pretty much spectacular along that highway, at least as far as I took it. The area around Page, AZ is really nice and it just keeps getting better as one continues west to Kanab, UT. For the second time on this trip I crossed into Utah, this time with the goal of seeing the southwest portion.

I kept heading north on 89 until getting to the highway 14 junction, which took me into Cedar City. This little road takes one way up in elevation, though I saw no signs what the summit would be. There was still snow covering most of the ground at the summit, and man it was cold up there. Coming down into Cedar City was awesome, as the warmth quickly increased. The check-in to the hotel was quick and easy, really friendly front desk staff was a nice way to end the day. I ate a little dinner even though I didn't feel that hungry. I'm not sure that I've ever as little as I have in the last week, for some reason I just don't seem to have much of an appetite. Anyway, enough words already, onto the pics (just over 100 taken today)!