Chapter 419: A Group Voyage
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Page was a well-known town. All the local residents of Flagstaff knew about it.
Li Du told Sophie that he would be leaving for Page and Sophie took the initiative to give him an introduction of the famous town.
There were many tourist attractions in northeast Arizona, such as Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend and so on, with Page town being the place of convergence of these tourist attractions. The economy of the town was fairly well-developed, but there were no tourist attractions in the town. It was a place where visitors rested and recharged themselves.
Having heard from Sophie the various tourist attractions, Li Du said, "Wait for my postcards, then."
Sophie was excited by the thought of receiving more postcards. Last time, she had received postcards of the Cathedral and of Forest Park, which were very beautiful and precious. The postcards had been carefully kept by her.
The auction would be held on September 18th, which was a historic day for the Chinese, and Li Du always remembered the date. They embarked on their journey two days in prior to the day of the auction.
Before leaving for Page, Li Du and Hans told Turis and the other treasure hunters about the auction and asked if they wanted to come along too. The group of treasure hunters immediately agreed, and when they set off for Page on September 16th, the convoy of big trucks appeared on the highway again.
Hans did a count and noticed that this round, they had 36 treasure hunters from Flagstaff joining them in their voyage to Page.
They were driving in the northeast direction; at noon they turned onto Highway 89. They just needed to keep driving straight now and they could reach the town of Page.
Li Du noticed that Hans had prepared a lot of daily necessities for the trip and asked curiously, "What's with the pots, pans, and box of tissues? And these tents, hunting knives, and even a hacksaw. What are you up to?"
Hans replied gleefully, "Since we're going to Page, we must make a trip to the Hopi Tribe. We might be able to exchange something good with them."
"Hopi Tribe?" Li Du asked.
"Yes, the Hopi are descended from the Ancient Pueblo People. They are sort of similar to the Amish, as they have little contact with the outsiders and they are self-sufficient. They also like to barter trade with people from the outside world, just like the Amish."
"Their settlement is very close to Page?"
Hans shrugged. "Not really that near. They're staying in Old Oraibi. Definitely worth making a trip there, that's probably the oldest settlement in North America."
There were a lot of people and cars at the scenic tourist spots. They didn't go visit the tourist attractions; the convoy headed straight to the town first.
Page was a small town with clean and tidy streets. There were shops, restaurants, and many goods were readily available. There was also a cinema and a theater club. It was simply a smaller version of Flagstaff.
Hans told him that most of the tourists treated Page as a transfer station for going to Lake Powell, Antelope Canyon, Horseshoe Bend, the National Park or State Park and other places of interests.
However, Li Du felt that it was more than that. Although Page town did not have spectacular landscapes or scenery to offer, it was particularly elegant, clean, and chic. In his opinion, many people would like this type of scenery—he liked it a lot.
They encountered a lot of RVs on the road as well as some trucks. Hans had been in contact with other treasure hunters via the car radio.
In this way, when they met trucks on the road, the treasure hunters would communicate and disclose the identity of the truck owners: many of them were treasure hunters in Arizona. It was apparent they were also coming for the auction at Glen Canyon Storage.
On the way, Hans made a reservation for their accommodations. There were a lot of chain hotels along Highway 89. He made the reservation at a place called "The Lake Powell Hotel."
The hotel was not part of a chain. It had originally been the accommodations for the workers of the Glen Canyon Dam. Once the dam was completed, the workers' accommodations came under renovations and became a hotel.
The hotel offered five different types of rooms. There were four types that adopted the home-style theme with kitchens. There were options of two bedrooms and a living room, or three bedrooms and one living room, and so on.
Hans had reserved the largest of the home-style suites, which had four bedrooms and one living room. As this had previously been used to house the workers, the two-bedroom and three-bedroom types were too small and had poorer floor plan designs.
As there were four of them, the four-bedroom type was the best choice for staying together. They were far away from home and it was naturally better to avoid individual rooms when circumstances allowed.
The rest of the treasure hunters also booked the same hotel. The cost of accommodations at Lake Powell hotel was not low as their target customers were families. A two bedroom and one living room charged 150 dollars per night.
The treasure hunters would usually choose motels to stay in. They had made the change and booked the same hotel so they could communicate with Li Du and Hans in a timely manner when there was information to share.
When the convoy was nearing the hotel, Li Du gave Zhang Kai a call and agreed to meet up in the parking lot.
Zhang Kai was driving a red Ford Focus. Li Du told him that his truck was the Iron Knight. As this truck was very famous in America, when it appeared in the parking lot, Zhang Kai recognized it right away. Just when he wanted to go greet Li Du, he saw a truck following behind the Iron Knight, followed by two more trucks, then another three trucks …
There were more than ten trucks that entered the parking lot. The convoy of trucks was so impressive that Zhang Kai could only sit there gaping at them all.
Li Du saw him before exiting the Iron Knight. He shook hands with Zhang Kai and said warmly, "Hello Brother Zhang, nice to meet you."
As the treasure hunters treated Li Du as their leader, when they saw Li walking towards Zhang Kai, the whole group followed as well.
Zhang Kai was taken aback when so many men walked towards him; unconsciously, he took two steps back.
Li Du immediately said, "It's me, Li Du, we've been talking on the phone."
Zhang Kai quickly nodded his head and looked at the group in an uneasy manner. Forcing a polite smile, he said, "Oh right, Brother Li? I'm glad to meet you too. You have a really huge team—are they all your friends?"
Li Du nodded his head. "Yes, after you told me about the auction, I also brought my friends along to participate. Brother Zhang, thanks for informing me about this auction. Let me treat you to dinner and let's have a drink together."
Well, besides dinner and drinking together, Li Du also wanted to hear some insider news in regards to the storage units.
Page had a lot of tourist resources due to the large number of tourists visiting the town. The probability of finding good stuff in the storage units was very high.
Li Du was most interested in this type of unit. The Patek Philippe watch he wore was from this type of unit. That auction had been held by the Bureau of Land Management in Phoenix, and there hadn't been that many units up for auction.
Zhang Kai readily agreed to meet again. Li Du then made a whistle. Big Quinn and Godzilla hopped off the truck and started to help move the luggage into the hotel.
Zhang Kai's face turned rather ashen when he saw the two big brawny men. His eyelids twitched several times. "These two men are?"
"They're my workers." Li Du replied casually. "Anything wrong?"
"Oh, nothing," Zhang Kai laughed awkwardly.
Li Du felt his reaction seemed unnatural, but didn't think much about it. He concluded that Zhang Kai was a simple, honest, timid man and was probably unnerved by seeing so many people.
Indeed, he had a big group of people following him and was attracting much attention. And with such tough-looking men like Big Quinn and Godzilla working for him, following him around, it might be unnatural if one didn't relate him to gangs.