14 couples took part in this excursion. We left on Monday in the rain, and headed for Laughlin as the first stop. Lunch was at Peggy Sue’s of course. Tuesday we had a full day for a relatively short run to Williams, Az. We spent about an hour at Oatman, then another half hour waiting for a road crew to finish their work. A stop at a remote outhouse afforded some photo ops. In Kingman, we hopped on old Route 66 and headed north to the Grand Canyon Caverns in Peach Springs. In spite of warning the restaurant in advance, we arrived and there were no buns, not enough bowls for chile and slow service. It didn’t matter too much as most of us headed off for the cavern tour with Fran Drescher (actually our guide just laughed like her).
Next stop – Williams and the Grand Canyon Railway Hotel. We walked in and within 10 minutes we were all in our rooms. It was a very efficient operation. That night most of us went to Cruisers Café for good eats and some brew – local beers from the Grand Canyon Brewery.
The next morning, we watched a gunfight, then got on our (almost) personal train car for the 2 1/2 hour ride to the Grand Canyon and the Maswik Lodge. Tina was our personal car guide, and was a delight. She’s from Tennessee just like Fran Drescher (our Cavern guide). At Maswik we stopped for a buffet lunch, then hopped on a bus for a tour of the Grand Canyon rim. Our guide, Dick, was a character and ended up taking pics of all couples (painstakingly at times), and explaining more than many of us wanted to know about Indian culture and how they used natural resources – trees, bushes, etc. The next day we had until about 2:00 to use the free shuttle buses until it was time to return to Williams.
On the way back, Tina entertained us with jokes, made fantastic drinks from the bar, and warned us of the train robbery so we were prepared. That night, we all went back to Cruisers. On Friday, some headed straight back to home, while six cars stopped in Seligman as well as in Kingman at the Route 66 Museum and the diner, on the way back to Laughlin. Saturday we were all back home.
A very successful run and all the folks had a good time. Steve and Marsha planned the trip, but it wouldn’t have been successful without everyone being involved.
