Riding out of the Grand Canyon, we travelled 60 miles south to Williams, AZ. On our way there, we stopped by the Flintstones village and had lunch at the Bedrock Diner. The prices were quite prehistoric, which made us pretty happy.
In Williams, there was a big hill right next to our host site, so (with a bit of convincing from an eager friend) I decided to climb it. It turned out to be a 17% grade, and when I went down I broke my fastest recorded max speed reaching 55 mph. Pretty exciting stuff.
Later on we decided to check out the 7 o'clock gun show in Williams, so we headed to main street where a horse-drawn carriage had blocked off the street. A large crowd had gathered in a circle around several cowboys, one of which was narrating the quite hilarious story - an old western tale about the town's top gunslinging sheriff and some trouble makers in town. We had a great time with it and afterwards live music kicked off at several locations, starting with "Well I was standing on a corner in Williams Arizona, such a fine sight to see..."
In the morning, we all went over to "BEARIZONA" - a wildlife park just outside of town, where we got a free tour of the wildlife area in an old windowless bus. We drove through areas with bison, wolves, dall sheep, bighorn sheep, and black bears. Later on, we got to walk through the "kindergarden" of the park where all the baby animals were kept. White wolf pups, bear cubs fighting and climbing trees, and even baby racoons were almost too cute to handle.
In Williams, there was a big hill right next to our host site, so (with a bit of convincing from an eager friend) I decided to climb it. It turned out to be a 17% grade, and when I went down I broke my fastest recorded max speed reaching 55 mph. Pretty exciting stuff.
Later on we decided to check out the 7 o'clock gun show in Williams, so we headed to main street where a horse-drawn carriage had blocked off the street. A large crowd had gathered in a circle around several cowboys, one of which was narrating the quite hilarious story - an old western tale about the town's top gunslinging sheriff and some trouble makers in town. We had a great time with it and afterwards live music kicked off at several locations, starting with "Well I was standing on a corner in Williams Arizona, such a fine sight to see..."
In the morning, we all went over to "BEARIZONA" - a wildlife park just outside of town, where we got a free tour of the wildlife area in an old windowless bus. We drove through areas with bison, wolves, dall sheep, bighorn sheep, and black bears. Later on, we got to walk through the "kindergarden" of the park where all the baby animals were kept. White wolf pups, bear cubs fighting and climbing trees, and even baby racoons were almost too cute to handle.
The ride to Seligman was rough, as the water in Williams was not good to drink and we ran out pretty quickly into the desert-filled ride. I must have drank a bit of the bad water because I threw up 3 times through the day. As you can imagine, I was excited to get into town, use a bathroom to clean up, and drink some good water. Upon entering into town, though, we heard worse news - the water mane had burst, leaving the town with no water – indefinitely. Finally around 5 o'clock the water came back on and we drank our fill. We stayed on the football field in the small down surrounded by desert badlands, which was pretty cool. Until the sprinklers came on soon after dark. We went from not being able to get enough water to having a bit too much. Soon, a violent windstorm also kicked up and blew many people's belongings away. Finally, we found a few snakes on the outskirts of the field. Burly man Aaron Miller and I wrangled the snakes and moved them far away from the sleeping quarters, so if any of you out there need snake wrangling services you know who to call. Despite all of these challenges, the night was one of the best we had, and there are sure some good stories to tell from it.
