Day 17 - Boulder City to Cortez, CO

We planned to get an early start today due to the very full itinerary. The plan was to leave at 7am but breakfast at the Boulder Dam Hotel started at 6:30 so we decided to leave at 7:15am to give us time to enjoy the breakfast.

After breakfast was done and Tom and Mike joined us, we made the short trek over to the Hoover Dam to take a quick look at the structure. Although we were unable to take the tour, we thought we could at least get a few pics.

 

 

 

Rob and Michele were amazed at how rough the terrain was at the dam. This makes the accomplishment of those workers all the more impressive. We will come back at another time and hopefully be able to spend more time at the dam and take a tour.

We continued south along 93 to I-40 East.

We took I-40 a short distance to Historic Route 66.

We then followed Route 66 until it connected back to I-40. We saw lots of motorcycles on Route 66. One group in front of us looked like they were were visiting the US on a motorcycle tour. They were all riding Harley Davidson motorcycles with HD gear and having a great time.


We took I-40 to AZ64 North into the Grand Canyon NP for our lunch at the historic El Tovar lodge. We arrived around 1:15pm. The park was very busy and parking near the rim was non-existent. We found a lot with space about half a mile away and walked over to the lodge. Lunch was very good. It is always nice to take in the decor of the El Tovar Lodge.

After lunch we continued along AZ64 along the south rim and down into the painted desert.

 

 

 

We then took US89 North to US160 East. The scenery along US160 was very pretty.

As the day stretched on, it became apparent that we would not be able to stop at Four Corners. Four Corners closed at 7:45pm (sundown) and our ETA was about 8:30pm.

We finished the last hour of todays ride in the dark, arriving at the hotel at 9:15pm. Temps also cooled down rather quickly from the low 70's to the mid 50's. The stretch of road during sunset was beautiful. Rob said that the landscape and rose colored sky was like riding in a painting.

 

After we arrived at the hotel, Diane, Mike, Rob, and Michele walked over to Classic Denny's Diner for a late night dinner. Today's ride was long but we saw tons of awesome scenery.

Tomorrow we head for New Mexico.