Grand Canyon National Park

The Grand Canyon ended up being Tim and Neeki's last national park since the tour group hired a different coach company to finish their tour of America. Neeki returned the rental car in St. George, took a shuttle to Las Vegas and awaited Tim's arrival. They obtained a great hotel suite in old town and are "debriefing" for a few days before they hop to Boise then to Washington DC.

Monument Valley and 4 Corners

Tsuji and Mexican Hat.

The tour company represenative, Sam, met the coach at Hoover Dam and picked up Neeki to take her to St. George so she could rent a car (at her expense) since the tour company cited legal liability reasons for wanting her off the bus. Later it was discovered the original complaint (alteraction witht he guide) was true and once we arrived in the Grand Canyon there were additional complaints of Neeki following the bus with the rental car and demands were made to make Neeki stay away from the group completely. We still have no idea what the offense was.

Having a grand time with each other and the beauty of this great land.

Mesa Verde National Park

Arches National Park

Bryce continued

Bryce Canyon National Park

Sunny days for the rest of the trip.

Tsuji

This is Tsuji (Sue Gee), our Japanese tour guide. He refused to introduce me as the coach host and reserved that position for himself and Ayumi (I You Me). The tourists didn't respond well to having the driver's spouse along and did not comprehend that I was asked by the company to come along as the concierge. I proved all sorts of fruits, food, water, and medicine (at my personal expense) to the guides for our guests and here is the result: someone called Tokoyo and demanded my removal from the bus and complained that they had witnessed an altercation between myself and a guide, which was a complete lie!

The worst part is that there are so kind and friendly to your face, so you have no idea what is going on or who is the mean spirited one.

The bus leaked during our three days of rain and we think that is the real reason for the actions - to get back at the bus company for the bus problems thru its employees.

Since we were in such a remote area I was relagated to the back of the bus, out of sight and out of mind. Geez.

Zion National Park

Next to Zion National Park!

National Park tour - update

So much to say! We arrived in Yellowstone National Park and it rained and snowed for 3 days solid.

On the bus June 3-4

Tim and Neeki pulled out of Boise Idaho on "the beast" (bus)dead heading for Bozeman, Montana, (to pick up 10 Japanese tourists) when we promptly had to return to the bus depot for some last minute repairs and paperwork, so our early start turned into a late start. We passed thru a severe storm with hail and tornado warnings in east Idaho where we discovered the bus windshied and overhead leaks!

The GPS took us to Bozeman on the state highways instead of the interstate, but we arrived so late (midnight) that we didn't get to see any of the beauty of the area. We stopped in a tiny town to get dinner at the Pond Lodge and the owner, mayor and newspaper owners pounced on us wanting to know who we had on the bus (no one) and how to get more coach business in town. The gave us free samples of their food, which was excellent BBQ.

We were awakened by Mr. Tsuji, the Japanese Tour Guide at 9AM, who wanted to inspect the Beast. we told him about me (Neeki) acting as the bus host and he was surpised and wanted to make sure I paid for my own meals ;-).

We pick up our guests from the Bozeman airport at 3PM today, take them to dinner, then the hotel. Tomorrow at 7AM we start our National Park Tour with Yellowstone.