Loads of KM's and finally some beer ! - Page, AZ
Page, AZ
Here I am again, in Page, Arizona, to tell you guys about the last couple of days. And there is a lot to say! The last time you heard from us, we left Cottonwood, and got to Sedona. It was a nice ride, not too far away. We got there early and immediately we were stunned by the beauty of this city. When we were coming down Mingus Mountain, we saw Sedona from far away. It looked beautiful already. But it was nothing compared to the explosive red mountains we saw when we got there. It's a great peaceful city. I guess it's kind of a place for rich, old hipsters. There were only beautiful big houses. But man, I'd probably want to spend my retirement there if I could, that's how beautiful it was. Anyway, we got there on a Sunday. But not a normal Sunday. It was Superbowl Sunday. If you're not familiar with Superbowl, it's final American Football game of the season. It's HUGE in the USA: everybody is watching. We decided we had to watch the game somewhere in a pub, to feel the whole atmosphere. It took us quite some time to find a place, but we finally got there, and followed the game. People were eating, cheering, and enjoying the famous Superbowl commercials more than anything. As a huge sports fan, I really enjoyed it, though the game was nothing special. Jonas and Yael called it a day after half time (already more than 2 hours into the game, so you can't really blame them), but of course I decided to stay and finish the game. In the end, the Denver Broncos won it, to the pleasure of more or less the whole crowd there. The commercials were kind of a highlight too. Some really funny ones, and some weirder ones (Budweiser making a lot of commercials to prevent drunk driving, and Colgate making commercials to prevent water wasting while brushing your teeth...all very well, but very American too, I guess.) We spent the night in a small campground, and the following morning we got up very early to catch the sunrise at the Sedona airport. It's up on a couple of hills, with a 360 degrees panoramic view of the whole surroundings. Absolutely stunning. No doubt the best sunrise I've ever seen. We ate our breakfast there while enjoying the beautiful sun. Next stop: Flagstaff. What we thought would be a simple ride ended up being one tough day. We had a big mountain to climb and once we got to the top, we were almost at 2200meters. And you could feel the cold, and see the snow. There was no campground in the city and we decided it was the right moment to spend our first night in a little hotel. I remembered Mike, who we met before getting to Cottonwood, who told us to give him a call if we needed help in Flagstaff. So I sent him a small text asking him for some help and a couple of minutes later, he made hotel reservations for us, gave us all the details, and so on. Unbelievable! We got to our hotel rooms and man, it felt good. Finally warmth. A warm bath. A warm shower. A good bed. You could actually feel how tough it was to sleep in tents night after night. We decided to go buy a good pizza to reward ourselves. We got there, obviously ordered the biggest possible pizza there (16 inch). It was HUGE. I managed to finish it, but not easily. Yael almost got there and Jonas barely finished half. Man, those Americans have some big stomachs. Crazy. We had a great night, slept tight for 9hours straight without waking up, a miracle. The next morning we called up Hertz to rent a car from St George to Las Vegas for one day. We will be in St George in a couple of days and the way to Las Vegas is nothing special, so by renting the car we will be able to enjoy more days in the Grand Canyon, and so on. The women on the phone was very helpful but...she had no idea where Death Valley was. "Sir, I'm in Alabama, I have no idea where Death Valley is. How would I know." Sounds weird to us Europeans, right? I guess the USA is just too big for some people.... Our next stop was the big one. Grand Canyon. A place we always envisioned as being kind of a myth, far away. It was more than 125KM away from Flagstaff so we planned to stop halfway through to camp a night. We got going and our legs felt great. The first part was going flat and downhill and we were going fast. We stopped for lunch and we already had 50km's in the legs. But we felt great. And our lunch was delicious: 13 dollars Swiss Gruyere we found in the supermarket here. Yes, buying good products here in the States can get quite expensive. And my two pals, Jonas and Yael, are both organic, bio, fresh products lovers. And Yael is a vegan too. (We saw a very funny quote in a restaurant here: "Vegetarian: Indian for lousy hunter".) Anyway, when you start buying organic stuff over here, it gets expensive, very expensive. I completely agree on the principle, it's important to buy organic stuff. Sadly, my budget is limited, and I can't afford it. But it's still funny to shop with them, and especially to eat with them. Cause I am damn lucky with Jonas. As I said before, he's a junior World Champion cooking. Yes, that's how good he is. So even simple pasta gets delicious around here. We're probably not going to lose much weight, but who cares ;). Anyway, so we were leaving after our lunch pause somewhere in the middle of nowhere, and that's when we had the best 30KM's of our trip so far. 30KM downhill, on average 35-37KM-hour. Unbelievable stuff. We got to Valle, 45KM before Grand Canyon, at more or less 14h30. So we decided to just go on. And we did it. It wasn't easy, the last bit up to the Grand Canyon was uphill, and tough, and cold, but we got there. On the way there, a car slowed down next to us, and opened the window. "Where are you guys going to?". San Francisco, we all shouted. "Where from?". Phoenix. "Sweet, good luck guys!", and off they went. Not much for them, but huge motivation for us. We finally made it to the Grand Canyon. 125KM in one day. In pain, but smiling and laughing most of the time. And very proud. Grand Canyon was full of snow. We had to pay more than car to get in because it was 15 dollars per vehicle, so three bikes equalled 45 dollars. Ridiculous rule, but hey, what can you do... We got to the campground at 17h45, and we realized the showers closed at 18h. We got in there as fast as possible, even had to PAY 2 dollars to have an 8 minute hot shower. But man, we needed it. We would stay another full day in the Grand Canyon, no bicycles, just enjoying. The next morning, we got to the Grand Canyon. Man. I didn't really know what to expect. How big would it be? How narrow? How wide? Well, it was bigger, more beautiful, wider, than anything I had ever imagined. It was amazing. I can only recommend to go there to everyone. As a quote says, "it's hugeness humbles us". And that's damn true. You feel very, very small next to this beautiful wonder of nature. We made a hike down. We didn't get all the way down (that was 22km round trip, and not recommended in one day). But we hiked for a good 5 hours, and it was beautiful. I felt like a real Chinese tourist making picture of everything, but who cares, it was worth it. That night, on the campground, we met another camper, who told us how lucky we were with the weather. We didn't really understand at first: it was freezing, snow everywhere, -5 degrees during the night... "Normally, it's around -17 degrees celsius this time of year. You'd freeze to death." Oh. Ok, I guess we are lucky then! After this beautiful day, we got on the move again. We met some great people along the route, just as always. Some give us advice about where to go, some simply congratulate us, and other are simply interested in what we do. But they all have the same effect: they make us love what we are doing right now. The next big point we wanted to reach was Page, the city next to Lake Powell. Getting there in one day was impossible, it was 215KM's away. But the trip was downhill, and on the first day, we rode 115KM. We were really getting the good feeling in the legs now. 125KM to Grand Canyon and 115KM's now...nothing could stop us! The trip was absolutely stunning. First through the Grand Canyon, then into the desert. Stunning views, nice weather, it was great. The whole way from Grand Canyon to where we slept, we probably saw only a couple of houses. We had to stop somewhere on the road and we asked Native Indian Americans if we could put our tent up behind their little shops alongside the road. No problem of course. At 8PM, we were in the tent, and ready to sleep. Yael and Jonas were asleep in a couple of minutes (Jonas has a talent...he manages to fall asleep in a minute or two. It's crazy!). I wasn't: I was reading John Grisham's first ever book, his last one I hadn't read yet. As always, it was impossible to stop reading. At 9h30PM, a huge light flashes up the tent. I was scared: it didn't seem like the most secure place. "Police! Who is here?". Oh ****. What did the police want?!? "Yes, I'm here", I answered with a very small voice. "The guys told us we could sleep here, I didn't know we weren't allowed, I'm sorry." "Oh no you're alright guys. I was just checking up. Watch our for your car in front, a lot of people come here to steal them at night." Of course it wasn't our car, and I told him that. "My bad then! Sleep well guys", and off he went. Even the policemen were nice in Arizona! So we survived that night too and made the final 100KM's in one day to get to our current campground, in Page. In our last 3 trips, we managed to ride 340KM's. We didn't even manage that in the 7 previous days! The campground here is amazing. It's big, there's water, electricity, internet, showers, and even a hot spa. A jacuzzi! And it's hot. Really hot. For the very first time, I slept without my pants and jacket on. It felt so good. We also watched a movie before going to sleep, a first too. The movie was hilarious ("Saint Jacques La Mecque", for the people who're looking for a movie. It's all about travelling too.). In this whole trip, the only thing we were missing was a good, cold, fresh beer. We had tried to get one in several places but it's 21 here to drink, and they really enforce it. But we craved for that cool beer: we really deserved one. In Page, we went to a restaurant to eat at night. While we were ordering, the waitress asked what we would like to drink. She was offering sodas, and then offered beer. We hesitated...She would probably ask for our ID anyway. But Yael asked for a beer. And he got it. So I asked for one too. And got one. And so, after 12 days in the USA, we managed to drink our first beer of the bike trip. And boy did it feel good. A good, cold, fresh beer, while eating a good burger...it doesn't get any more American than that. But I guess that's what you need from time to time. No thinking, no obligations to anyone but yourself, and just relaxing and enjoying. We're right there! Today was our second rest day of the trip. We went to visit Horsheshoe Bend, a beautiful place on Colorado River. It was well worth the visit. Otherwise, we did just what you are supposed to do on a rest day: rest. And rest. And it was great. So here we are, pumped up, ready to leave again. The next big stop will be in Zion National Park, if it's not too cold. We'll leave Arizona tomorrow and sleep in Utah for the first time. Yet another part of the country visited! Thanks for reading all of my big stories. Stay safe. Much love.