Las Vegas, Nevada to Kingman, Arizona via the Hoover Dam

THE dam exceeded my expectations – it’s engineering at its most beautiful - and the amazing bridge being built across the gorge above it will be just as spectacular. Ten and 16 year-old girls, and many wives for that matter, tend not to be as excited by such things, so the tour of the turbines and power station wasn’t going to happen. It would have got them out of the heat they were complaining about…

The big disappointment was the Grand Canyon West. I visited the site a few years ago by flying over from Las Vegas. Today’s visit by car was very different.

On the map, the journey looks quite straightforward, turn left off the Kingman road and head north-east for about 50 miles. If I’d looked carefully enough, I might have noticed the Rand McNally map told me 20 miles of this road is unpaved - hard on tyres and concentration for day one of the proper road trip!

Then, when we arrived at the canyon, tantalisingly out of sight from the car park, we had to pay $20 to park the car and get a brochure that told us that if we wanted to go ANYWHERE else or see ANYTHING we had to pay another $30 each - $150 to even see the canyon, plus another $150 to set foot on this “skywalk” contraption.

The whole operation at this end of the canyon is owned and operated by the Hualapai Tribe, on whose land the visitor’s centre sits. I couldn’t help feeling that maybe they were getting some small revenge for some of the great injustices they might feel they have endured over the years.

Anyway, it's a bit of a rip-off as far as I’m concerned and so we actually cut our losses and drove away. We’d lost half a day, 100 miles’ worth of petrol and $20. Still, we successfully negotiated some pretty spectacular dirt road and saw the Hualapai Valley Joshua Trees up close.

We washed away the dust in the pool at a Motel 6 in Kingman, Arizona and noted the number of French travellers we were meeting on the road.

Dinner ‘home-style’ surrounded by Route 66 paraphernalia. Bill and I took a walk after dinner and met an unusual German couple who were waiting for a taxi home. Chatted long enough to get their entire life stories. Click to hear what we will remember most about Kingman, Arizona.

Las Vegas to Kingman via Grand Canyon West = 200 miles.