Yeah, its not the Blooze Bar, it's the Grand Canyon.

I had a hotel room in Flagstaff set up to crash later (I had no idea of the prophetic nature of that one). Having never been to the canyon before, I made some mistakes as you will hear about later. But the drive up was a hoot. The Max was loving the cool air and breathing deep with its 120+ HP. I am sure that I never exceeded the posted speed limit. Ever.

Upon getting to the canyon area, I quickly ditched to take some pictures. Here I will let the pictures do the talking.

Following some good advice from an oldtimer up there, I was advised that Hopi Point is one of the best places in Arizona from which one can view a Righteously Good Sunset. I was not disappointed (that is, me and many other people). I attempted to shoot the entire sunset, in whatever manner struck me at the time. To wit:

At this point, the sun had dropped (and if I was thinking, I would have left long before :-0....):

Then a nice bonus: La Luna.

The camera flash worked well on the reflective sign paint:

Here is where the plan went all to hell. When the sun dropped, it got c-o-l-d. Too much for my paltry jacket. But it was the danger on the road that I had not bargained for. The locals at the outer gas station looked at me like I was nuts.

"Are you riding a motorcycle on the 180 tonight?" they would ask.
"Yeah....why?" I would respond.
"That's pretty dangerous....there's lots of wildlife on the road at night", they said.
"You got any coffee?" I would ask.

Short story is that I got home alive.

Gentle reader, if you drive a motorcycle and are planning on visit the Grand Canyon, either stay there or give yourself plenty of time to return in the daylight. Reasons for this observation: