This is our last full day at the Grand Canyon before we head out tomorrow to Holbrook. It’s an incredible sight (no matter how many visits, the colours and views are constantly different). You just cannot imagine the scale. Mr Fogg is stood right on the edge at approx 7,000 feet above sea level, the very bottom of the canyon is approx 2,400 feet above sea level where the Colorado river flows through. To reach the north side (we are on the south side) is a mere 10 miles across as the crow flies, and yet to cross you need to descend about 6 miles to the first plateau at Indian Gardens. In total to hike to the river bridge at the bottom it’s an 8hr trek, and a total of 21 miles to walk down, across and up the other side.

The area around the Grand Canyon is classed as high desert. We are camped in it. Around the rim there are Aloa Vera plants and gnarled trees of fir and juniper. Teeny chipmunks run between the trees, squirrels loiter around all the tourist food areas and mule deers (big things that are not shy) roam freely around.

Since it’s coming into fall here ( autumn to you) the deer are rutting. We saw two males last night with fab antlers and plenty of females. As we bbq’d last night a stag ambled past our grill, had a good look and a sniff then ambled on.

This really is wild country, populated by plenty of tourists, the major benefit of camping is that you can always find that quiet spot and listen to the wildlife all around.

Many of the park workers live in the RV park in big rigs- must be a nice existence each night to just be able to sit and watch the stars with no light pollution.

Next stop for us is new territory as we’ll cross into New Mexico on Saturday. Tomorrow I’ll post a pic of our campsite before we leave here.

Picture the scene, you’ve spent the day hiking the Grand Canyon rim (a leisurely 18 miles, fraught with the dangers of French people who spread out across the path and expect you to jump off the edge so they needn’t move and oversized American women who block your way, apologise for doing so but still don’t move, grrrr) , come back, had a BBQ and seared a steer, then the marshmallow munchy monster comes along and starts toasting on the embers of your fire.

A really nice day topped of with alcohol and star gazing.

Tomorrow we will chance the ensuite shower in the RV. Consider that the lav is a 3 foot square box with a shower tray attached and we are on a slope, I imagine balancing with 1 foot in the toilet.

And we have the daily poop trap emptying to do (something slightly disturbing about attaching the hose and releasing the waste then hearing it all run down the pipe). PS you can’t leave the hose attached in the Canyon since the ravens peck through to eat whatever is inside, YUCK!

Hurrah we made it to the Grand Canyon at an average speed of 50mph. On the 12th Oct we sat and watched the sunset at 6.01pm before heading back to the Foggymobile for home cooked spagbol.

Today Mrs Foggy wants to walk 18 miles around the rim (don’t she know this is the US and no-one ever walks).

Tonight will be BBQ steak under the stars, before the temp drops like last night to below zero, brrrrr!

So early start this am, up at 7, shower at the superb Blake Ranch, breakfast and then the unhook process, turning the tap to release the “black” toilet waste and it was quite clear by the sound and the volumes that it had not been emptied when we got it, either that or several large creatures were flushed away.

Anyhoo the Mrs drove her first 100 miles to Williams, where we went for fillup number 2 ($93) and a tyre check to find a valve damaged, so a call to the RV company to authorise around $80 to remove the wheel and replace the valve, fortunately at their expense. Didn’t want to mention I drove without issue and the Mrs takes over and we have a problem, mmmmmm.

So lunch at the Wild West Junction and then the last 60 miles up to the Grand Canyon for 3 nights.

Here in deepest darkest Kingman Arizona, the search continues for the highly illusive Duvet Monster. Last spotted curled up in a ball wrapped in a sleeping bag and snoring loudly.

I am told that she slept soundly and turn that blooming light off were the only other sounds to emerge from the semi waking creature.

The hunt continues.

So this is the 28 foot behemoth we collected today from Cruise America in Vegas.

Well it is big, has next to knack all steering and struggles to achieve 40 uphill. Our first gas fillup (half a tank) cost $76 and we have burnt a 1/4 of that to get from Vegas to Kingman.

But here we are at Blake Ranch RV Park at Kingman. Next stop will be the Grand Canyon and Mrs Foggies chance to drive the beast.

Well helloooo there! We picked up our 28 foot RV this afternoon after being made to watch an hour long vid explaining all the things about the RV. Yawn. So we picked up the monster and started the drive to Kingman, a comfortable cruise of around 2 hrs- or so it should be at around 65mph. Ah, but in a rattling bucket of an RV which has a top speed of 60ish (65 downhill!!), it takes hours and hours. Imagine trying to drive a removals truck with all your stuff just rolling around and you’ll get the picture.

So, by the time we reached Kingman, it was dark (oh dear) and Mr Fogg had to reverse our truck into the last bay on the campsite. Next was the fun and games to connect the pooper hose, water and electric. Easy.

We’ve just been to the local truck stop for a fab home cooked meal and are now back and tucked up inside after figuring out how to make the loo work (pump, prime, flush, done). Shame they don’t seem to have cleared the poop tanks before we picked it up (Eugh). Fingers crossed it isn’t broken, mind you Mr Fogg reckons a good bit of weight would shift it, over to you dear I say!

RVs are pretty cool things, if a little tired inside and very rattley to drive around, but Grand Canyon here we come tomorrow.

How cool is this? Lunch from the Top of The World restaurant at the Stratosphere. We thought it would be a small mortgage to eat there but we were pleasantly surprised- we only needed a bank loan!

Three courses each, two alcoholic drinks each and a 1hr 22 min rotating view. Couldn’t ask for more really, just very relaxing.

They have a new ride too. A freefall from the 109th floor while attached to a wire harness. Of course we would have gone and done it, just a shame we had eaten first and worried we would bring all the food back. Well that’s my excuse anyway and I’m sticking to it!

Next stop, more shops!!!

So after a long long kip the Mrs decided to take me for lunch at “top of the world” restaurant at the Stratosphere which revolves and takes 1hr 22mins to do a complete circuit, so we had lunch for that exact amount of time.

Tomorrow we head off to pick up the 28ft RV and head out to Kingman.

Thanks Bel for the emails, we’ll swap with you honest.