Grand Canyon – South Rim

Technically I was in California already, bumming around some random surf town, but the great map of the national parks told me otherwise, to complete the loop I had to visit the south rim of the Grand Canyon first. I had visited the north rim exactly one month before, but the south rim was the more popular place to visit, maybe due to location or because of the supposedly better views, I don’t know.

I drove west in direction coast, passing through Flagstaff and ending up in Williams, the town at the bottom of the T-crossing that led to the Grand Canyon. Some work needed to be done and I made sure I booked a room with a desk. Once I got there, there was no desk and a big argument which resulted in me being about to switch hotels. I was pushing through until the owner of the hotel saw my Canadian plated car when I was about to leave and all of a sudden became Canadian-level friendly, upgraded my room and started a conversation asking why I had them. One of the few positive experiences with the Canadian plates. Visiting the great canyon was pretty standard, drive the 50km to the park and then visit the different viewpoints. It wasn’t too different from the north rim, the main thing was the direction of view, which now was towards the north. Things were more organized here, there was no individual traffic allowed, people were using buses on different routes to get to the viewing areas. I arrived around midday and stayed until the sun set, but left early as blue hour wasn’t that great here, everything was in the shade and the canyon was pretty deep and black, just shade and a lit sky. It had gotten cold again as well, while I was standing in sand and shorts overlooking hills filled with cacti just a couple days back, here I was wearing my jacket, pants and double socks again avoiding the cold limbs with my feet covered in snow on some of the viewpoints. I stayed in the hotel for 2 or 3 nights, got rid of the workload the emails had brought me and finally left for California, could this have been the last time in the cold?
Another very lengthy drive, about 500km, which took me the whole day was going to get me to California and Joshua tree. Gasoline was super cheap in Arizona, I think the cheapest I found was about 2,20$ for a gallon. I didn’t think any of it until I missed the last gas station before entering California. (I hadn’t realized that the different states tax their gas differently) I did need gas and was on “ah well I ll just take the next one”, even though the thought of turning around and getting it had crossed my mind for a second. But normally there are so many gas stations I didn’t worry too much. But Once I had crossed over into California there were no more gas stations. I had to use my last 100km of gas in the tank to reach the first one after the state boarder and to my surprise the gas here was nearly twice as much. I couldn’t go back, nor could I drive any further, I had to buy the gas here. I am pretty sure only people in situations similar to mine bought gas here. The cashier knew my situation and gave me an understanding nod while I was complaining. Should’ve turned around but oh well… I was gonna be in California for a bit anyways so better get used to it.