First of all, I apologize for taking so long to finally get this post up. As many of you know, Heather and I left on a road trip a few weeks ago. I wasn’t sure if I’d get the chance to blog during the trip, and obviously, I never did. My plan was to write about the trip as soon as we got home, but then we had to dive into the launch of our new facility, and last week was simply a blur.
So, here we are, a week after we got home, and I’m finally updating y’all.
It was another amazing trip to the Southwest U.S. I’ve said it many times, but if you’ve never experienced the Grand Canyon or Sedona, or that area of the U.S., you are missing out on some of the most spectacular beauty imaginable.
As you pull walk up to the Canyon you are caught off guard at the beauty. Even though I was here a year ago, that first glimpse took my breath away. You stand silently, knowing that words will not do the moment justice. It is that stunning a view. Unlike last year, this time we spent a few hours at the Canyon, taking in the view from a number of vantage points along the south end. It’s incredible how you can stand on a rock and just look out at the vastness. No barriers, no rails, nothing to keep you from falling over. Of course, that means idiots like me try to get as close to the edge as we can. Something that Heather wasn’t all that thrilled about!
Still, she did get this picture of me peering into the openness.
When I did the trip last year, I explained to Heather (and others) that the pictures simply don’t do it justice. Heather said the same thing this year when she would show someone the pictures from the trip. It simply has to be experienced first hand.
This year we used Chandler, Arizona as our home base. Jase & Kelly opened their home to us and we had an amazing time with many of our Arizona friends. It was great introducing them all to Heather and having the chance to be together in person again. I’ve said it many times before, but I’m amazed how Twitter & Facebook have been used to bring together this group of people from around the world. I truly consider these people friends and have an emotional connection to them.
After the Canyon, we headed to Vegas where I officiated at the wedding of a couple of other twitter friends, Fred & K2. It was such an honour to do their wedding and so very cool to be able to officiate a wedding IN VEGAS! Really … a blast.
We had planned to go to the West Coast from Vegas, but the weather was so hot and there were potential storms coming in, so we decided to spend an extra day in Vegas before heading back to Arizona. Good decision … sort of. By waiting the extra day, we allowed the storm to catch up to us in Vegas. We left around Noon and managed to get an hour south before being told by truckers not to go further. The storm, they said, was so bad, it was forcing them off the road. Motorcycles would be no match for the winds. We called it a night.
The next day we headed out and almost made it back to Chandler. Then storm #2 hit. In fact, storms came all day long. It was one of the worse weather days in Arizona history. And yes, we were on our bikes. We saw the storm coming in and we knew we needed to find shelter. We almost made it before the rain hit. Then came the hail. We managed to pull the bikes into a parking lot and ran for cover against the side of the building. Cars were pulling over everywhere, and I was positive the bikes would be damaged with the force of the hail. So much fell in such a short time period. We learned later that the hail was so powerful, it put a whole in Jase & Kelly’s garage door. Fred & K2’s place had windows shattered. And yet, no damage at all to the bikes.
It took us a few hours to get back to the house (since we had to pull off every few miles and wait for the next wave of the storm to pass). Once we got back into the safety of the house, we enjoyed nature’s display for the rest of the night. The lightning and thunder was some of the most intense I’ve ever seen and heard. Incredible stuff.
Over all, it was a great trip. This time, it was the people (and having Heather’s company) that made it so special. I’m thrilled that she connected with everyone as easily as I did. We both know we’ll be making many more trips to Arizona in the future.
