Kingman is the seat of Mohave County and founded in 1880 when the railroad was built through the area. It’s here where the longest existing stretch of Route 66 runs. Forming the main street of town, it was given the name "Main Street of America." An access point to lakes Mead, Mohave and Havasu, Kingman is at the junction of I-40 and US 93. There are ghost towns in this former mining community, Oatman being one of them. In 2000 Linda and I came through Oatman on Route 66. Many of the original buildings are still standing here and we especially enjoyed the burros that roam the streets.

After a pancake breakfast here at the KOA we hit the road around 9:30 a.m. headed for the Grand Canyon. We travel east on I-40 through Williams where we catch 64N to take us up to the canyon. The south and north rim of the Grand Canyon differ considerably. We take the south rim, going through Grand Canyon Village where the Grand Canyon train stops, and are stuck in the midst of tour buses and "leaf peeps" (visitors looking for fall colors). Upon entering the Park, we go through the third degree with Miss Congeniality, the park ranger who takes our fee. "What kind of group is this, anyway" she barks at us. Not knowing just what she means we tell her we are three adults and three dogs. She then tells us, very sternly, just where we can park, that because we are an "oversized" vehicle we can only park in certain areas, and on and on. Marge the Sarge doesn’t win any points with us, but we have a few laughs, try to obey her orders and enjoy the park anyway, in spite of the collllddddd weather.

The weather is a very chilly, 46 degrees, misting and windy. Not the Grand Canyon, AZ weather Linda and I remember when last here in July of 2000. Much preferring the warmer temps, we quickly jump in/out of the car to get pictures. We’re sure the other tourists think we’re crazy traveling in shorts. We pass through the Hopi Reservation, with its desert-like landscape, dotted with old cars. We stop at one overlook to view an 800 ft sheer cliff and looking over the edge, we imagine the cowboys on horseback sitting at the top of the cliff deciding which way to go next. In the parking lot we talk with an Indian woman selling jewelry and pottery.

It appears there has been some building since 2000. New parking lots and guardrails we don’t remember when here in 2000. A considerable crowd is around, although far less than during the summer months. Elevations in the park range from 1,200 to 9,000 feet (North Rim). The canyon is 277 miles long and averages 10 miles in width rim to rim. The canyon bottom is 5,700 feet below the North Rim, roughly 1,200 feet higher than the South Rim. The landscape and view varies, from multicolored walls to desert-like brush. Havasu Canyon is on the western side of the canyon and home to a small number of Havasu Indians. According to the AAA tour book, the region "possesses five of the seven life zones ascribed to the Northern Hemisphere…Each stratum of rock distinctly marks a period of the Earth’s history from 2 billion to 250 million years ago. It was in 1540 that the first recorded viewing of the canyon took place; by a European member of Francisco Vasquez de Coronado’s expedition in search of the Seven Golden Cities of Cibola..

The South Rim is open all year while the North Rim is subject to heavy snows from late October until mid-May making it impossible to get around. Although snow accumulates in the pine and juniper forests along the South Rim during winter, the trails are usually open. As in most national parks, there is a lot to do here in the canyon, including backpacking, camping, geology walks, mule-and-horseback trips, flying over the canyon in a helicopter or small plane, white river rafting and even an IMAX theater. One must be on the alert at all times for wildlife. On our way into the Grand Canyon Village, we spotted two elk. Warnings abound on the roadside as well as in the stall of the restrooms: Don’t Feed the Wildlife. These warnings are not to be taken lightly. After conducting a study on the cadavers of dead deer it was found they had become so accustomed to being fed by visitors that their natural instinct to collect food for the winter months was interrupted causing them to starve to death. In other areas, the deer were eating litter (plastic bags, Styrofoam, etc.) that clogged their organs making it impossible for them to carry on normal body functions.

Next we drive through Sunset Crater Volcano National Monument, one of my favorite areas. Approximately 12 miles north of Flagstaff via US 89, Sunset Crater is two miles east on Sunset Crater-Wupatki Loop Road. Here lies the 1,000-foot-high cone of Sunset Crater Volcano, surrounded by fields of cinders, lava flows and spatter cones. It’s so beautiful and serene. I remember coming through here in 2000 and finding a place to just sit and take it all in. Bright red hues are all around, created by the decomposed, water-stained sulfuric rock. They contrast beautifully with the black basalt of the adjacent rocks. There are also shades of red, yellow and orange around the volcano and rosy tints at the summit. John Wesley Powell named the cone on his way through in 1892. Sunset Crater Volcano first erupted in A.D. 1064-65 and was active on/off for almost 200 years.

According to a 2002 summer KOA survey of 26,700 campers, the demographic profile of the "average" KOA camper reads something like this: Fifty-two years old *Income of $69,000 *Still working, traveling without kids. We pull into another KOA here in