Part 2 – New Mexico to Grand Canyon, Arizona to the Middle of the Mojave Desert
This is Part 2 of our Route 66 Road Trip we took back in July of 2013. Part 2 includes our experience driving from New Mexico to the Grand Canyon and surviving the heat of the Mojave Desert.
If you have not already please read Part 1 of this trip where we traveled from Oklahoma to New Mexico visiting many great Route 66 attractions along the way.
We woke up in the beauty of the desert and mountains in New Mexico with the Grand Canyon set in our GPS. It was a whole new world to us, considering I had never been to any western states other than California when I was a young child. The desert was new to us but we enjoyed it.
We were extremely excited about viewing the Grand Canyon, it was Cash and I’s first time to see and Kayla’s second.
Despite some more overheating of my car we arrived at the Grand Canyon and I was awestruck by the natural beauty. I had never seen anything so majestic. I wish we had more time there. We plan on hiking, camping and river rafting throughout it someday. After hiking around some of the canyon and taking many photos we hopped back in the car hoping to arrive in Las Vegas before it was too late.
The car started overheating again in the Mojave desert, and we started becoming concerned. We luckily rolled up to a random hotel in the Mojave desert, one of the only things around at all. I pushed my car under the roof of the entrance to the small hotel. I brought my wife and son inside to cool off for a few brief seconds until the hotel owner rudely told us we could not park there and we had to leave. I was furious, here I was with a baby, in the desert heat and we could not park there for a few minutes while my car and family cooled off?!? I somehow was able to remain calm, get the car started and slowly drive up to another building that was not too horribly far.
It was some kind of a retirement home. It was very nice and obviously for some wealthy retirees. We let ourselves into the air conditioned building that felt like entering the gates of heaven. After a few minutes an employee kindly came up to us offered us water and told us we could stay for until we were cooled off. I thanked her profusely for her kindness.
By now it was getting late and so the temperature out side was not nearly as hot. We continued to Vegas with plans to get a room and find an auto mechanic the first thing in the morning.