Road to Redemption - Day One - Los Angeles to Flagstaff

Well, we are officially on the road!  After spending a lovely long weekend visiting with friends and family in Los Angeles, Adrienne and I got up early this morning and finished loading my car (Indie) with the rest of our stuff, and after some gasoline and a visit to the market for ice and the ATM for some cash, we were on the road by 8:15.  8 hours later we rolled into Flagstaff, having driven about 500 miles.

Leaving Los Angeles on an early Labor Day holiday, the freeways were eerily quiet - like a ghost town!  It took us all of 20 minutes to go from Woodland Hills to Pasadena.  Amazing.  Indie drives and rides like a dream, so we were very comfortable being in the car all day.  We made a couple of pit stops because SOMEONE in my car has a tiny bladder........but it was always good to step out and stretch, grab some fresh ice for my water bottle, and breath in some fresh air while admiring the surrounding scenery.

We stopped in Needles for gas and decided to have a sit-down lunch.  There was a cute and well-rated (Yelp) diner called Juicy's Famous River Cafe.  After lunch we headed out again, in search of the state line into Arizona, and the Colorado River.  15 minutes down the road we struck gold.

Driving on towards Flagstaff, we were pleasantly surprised to see the landscape around us change as we slowly climbed up over the mountain passes, dipping into valleys - each cycle resulted in cooler and cooler temps until we at least reached Flagstaff in rainy 65 degree weather.  Ah, the air smelled so good!

When we checked into our hotel, the desk clerk told us that it is very common to get afternoon rainstorms here.  We never need an excuse to be happy about rain so it was just a lovely way to end the day.

Tomorrow, we will take an hour's drive to the Grand Canyon and spend the whole day there, and then tent camp at the campground at the Grand Canyon.  Good thing we figured out how to put the rainfly on our tent!!!