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After seeing the layout of Hoover Dam last night we knew we wanted to take an early tour and get ahead of the crowds. We were there by 7:30 am (it opens at 9:00am). There was plenty of parking! Nevada is the warmest place we’ve been on the trip. It wasn’t unbearable, but it was hot. We took our time and walked the top of the dam (next to the road) down to the tour site (at least a half mile). Homeland Security operates road inspection stations in both states. RV’s are always stopped. They did a quick once over of CT and waved us through. I’m sure the chaos inside CT does not fit a terrorist profile. Another highway is being built to bypass the top of the dam.. They expect to be completed by 2011. The dam was built in 5 years; the road will take about 7 to 8!
The dam really is awesome! We’ve seen many of God’s wonders on our trip, but this is a man-made wonder. We took the extended tour and got to go into the dam (on the regular tour you see the generators and the original river bypass tunnels. We followed
several dark tunnels where we could see how they poured the concrete blocks and a spillway that channels the water that seeps in through the concrete. It was a small tour group and the guide had time to point out interesting things like how cracks were marked with dates so they could be watched over time for expansion. Hoover Dam really is something. By the time we left at 11:30 people were all over.
We decided to bypass downtown Las Vegas. Frank wasn’t up to fighting the traffic, which is heavy. It took about 2.5 hours to get to Death Valley NP. We went through the most desolate desert landscape we’ve seen on the trip - -not even vegetation. After checking out the park camping situation we decided to stay at the facility with electricity. The temp yesterday was 107 degrees yesterday and 75 degrees last night. We knew we’d need the ac. It’s a nice little resort with a golf course and a warm springs swimming pool that we took advantage of this evening. Water temp was great. The ac has been plugging since we’ve been here. Tomorrow we’ll do the car tour; no hiking here. Hope to catch
some good sunrise and sunset photos.
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