This was one of the most amazing drives I have done. I found out that I had actually driven all around the geologic Grand Canyon: from Southern California, to Hoover Dam and Las Vegas, to Mesa Arizona. Then up to the South Rim, north past the Vermillion Cliffs up to Zion National Park, then all the way across Utah to Moab, and back to Farmington, New Mexico. I don't even want to know the mileage of this leg of my journey! And it took hours longer than GPS estimated because I kept getting in and out of the rig to take photos!
I traveled on some windy, stormy days, but it was worth the upper body work-out, because the storms bring skies like this!