Holed up at the Grand Canyon

Route 66 sign
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We have ground to a complete halt at the Grand Canyon.  Matthew and Lloyd were a bit cranky on Friday, so we put them on Neurofen.  We wasnt sure whether it was the travelling, the heat, or Lloyd teething.  Lloyd has a white mark in the side of his mouth, has had it for a while, so has a tooth coming through.  He is drooling permanently.

When we arrived at the Grand Canyon and walk upto the view I start to feel very dizzy.  It seems we all have a virus of some kind.  Matthew is now better, though has a rash. Lloyd is better than yesterday, but still ill.  I feel terrible, too weak to do much at all.  Steve is fine, at the moment.

seems we all have a virus of some kind

Lloyd at the Grand Canyon
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So I decide we must stay at the Grand Canyon, as it is fairly near civilisation.  If we had headed onto Monument Valley then we would be miles from any real town.  Its a shame as we had planned to go to the Red Bull Air Race at Monument Valley today, which would have been terrific, but it is better that we rest.

We havent done much, Matthew has had a good day playing around the motorhome with the baseball bat and ball we bought him, flying a kite, and playing football.  The site is fairly empty during the day, especially where we are parked, so is nice and safe for him to run around.

A big hole in the ground - doesnt look real
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I feel much safer here than when we parked up in San Diego.  It is a tourist area, no permanent residents that I can see.  And everyone seems friendly.  I think we will stay here another day or so, then have to re-assess our trip plan a bit.  We have 3 weeks left of our holiday.  We want to ensure we enjoy these 3 weeks, so we are having a hard look at whats on offer.

In retrospect I have made 2 mistakes with the USA part of this trip.  We should have flown over to East America, rather than staying in LA, and all the heat.  And also we should have travelled north from LA rather than go down to San Diego.  We ammended this part of the trip late on as was originally only planning to be in the states for 10 days.  I suppose not everything is ever perfect, just wish I had thought more about the heat and the distances involved.

The campsite - our van looks small here
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Saying all that is much cooler here than Kingman, and is very cold at night.  But is still hot, there are no 2 ways about it.

Steve has been brilliant these last couple of days, looking after the kids for me whilst I sleep. He is a good man, sometimes I take him for granted.