Jacob's Lake, AZ to North Rim, Grand Canyon National Park, AZ
We both wake up to slowly deflated flat tyres, caused by staples that apparently come from trucks wheels or something but all that matters is that they are a major pain in a cyclists butt. On closer inspection, Luke's rear tyre is also getting very very worn, it's actually shredding in parts, and we're days from any sort of bike shop, but we'll cross that bridge if we ever come to it. We head out on the one-way road to the Grand Canyon North Rim, unsure if the road, let alone the Park, is open. We've had a lot on conflicting evidence as to whether it is or not, it closes every year at the first snowfall, which is right about now, plus there's controlled burning in the forest just outside the Park and there are rumours this may close the road too. We push on though, confident luck will be on our side. As we near the Park entrance we're both overcome with dread; dread that it won't be open, dread that we've ridden 3 days to get here and will have to pointlessly re-trace our steps back. The thick smoke doesn't look great. To cut a long story short, it's open! We're overjoyed. Fist pumping and yelling our way until we're forced to be escorted through the 'dangerous' smoke in the back of a fireman's pick-up truck to the end of the road: the Grand Canyon. The first glimpse knocks our bloody socks off. But it's late and we'll check it out tomorrow.
Sidenote: we meet Jerry, a tourist from Alabama, a total cliche southerner who is one of the biggest legends we've ever met, who, among other things, takes our picture while getting his own taken by his wife at another lookout.
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