It was another beautiful day in Vegas. We went about our morning routine and left the camper at 9:00 for a 30 mile drive to Hoover Dam.
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The road to the dam cuts through the mountains, Boulder City–“Home of Hoover Dam”, and the Lake Mead National Recreation Area. Parts of the road are steep and narrow without guard rails–a little hair-raising at times.
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We made a plan that I would drive once we got to the security checkpoint. We had to pass through this narrow tunnel first to get to the other side of the mountain and the Security Inspection Area.
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We knew that they would be asking us to look inside of the truck bed, so we had emptied it this morning of all of our boxes of valuables when we left Florida due to Hurricane Irma. That made the inspection go a lot faster. I drove from there along a narrow road to the parking structure build in the side of the mountain. The parking garage was so tight that Bob wanted to take over, which was fine by me. Once we got parked, we walked down to the dam level and proceeded to cross the street to the upper side.
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Bob was unsure if he would be able to walk across the dam with me because of the height, but he said he would give it a try.
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He walked along the outer edge of the sidewalk while I walked along the inner wall of the dam. Occasionally, he would venture near the edge to look out, but never down.
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We both made it all the way across the dam to the Arizona side and back again to the Nevada side.
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We stopped in the middle of the bridge to ask this nice couple to take our picture.
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The number of power stations and electrical towers was astounding! They were built perpendicular to the canyon and looked like they were suspended in the air. It was almost like they were defying gravity.
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Down below, we could see the river tour boats as they approached the security zone.
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We were standing 726 ft. above the base of Hoover Dam. At this point, it is 45 ft. wide at the top or crest of the dam and 660 ft. wide at its base.
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These are water intake towers for the dam. There are two on each side.
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This picture shows the water high water level on the rocks in Lake Mead. The last time the water was that high was in 1984.
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This houseboat was just hanging out in Lake Mead on this beautiful day near the dam.
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We learned that construction of the dam began in 1931 and the last concrete was poured in 1935. It was completed 2 years ahead of schedule and under budget. Lake Mead, Hoover Dam’s reservoir, is America’s largest man-made reservoir. Hoover Dam is completely self-supporting, financed entirely through the sale of hydroelectric power generated by the dam. It took 6 years to fill Lake Mead. Hoover Dam is an engineering marvel!
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By the time we left at 10:45, traffic was pouring into the area. I had read in our Tour Book that the best time to come to avoid large crowds was between 9:00 and 10:30. That seemed to be true today. We had come at the right time. The day was also heating up and the temp had risen to 93, but no humidity. We made a stop in the gift shop and checked out the Visitor’s Center before heading back to the car. On our drive back, we stopped at the Lake Mead Overlook.
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The views of the lake were awesome and it made us want to be on the water.
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We had a few places to stop before heading back to the campground. Bob wanted to pick up all the materials needed for the roof repair at Camping World and Lowe’s. We made it back around 1:00 to wait for the mobile RV repair guy to arrive. We decided to spend some time at the pool, so we left a note for him on the door and took the short walk to the pool.
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We relaxed for awhile at the pool and were joined by some Dutch and French people who were here on a holiday. They seemed to be enjoying Las Vegas and the area. We saw them at Hoover Dam this morning.
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We came back to the camper around 3:30 and continued to wait. Tom, the repair guy, told us he had 5 other repairs to do today and he would stop by after that. I was getting a little nervous, but around 5:15 he showed up. He got out his ladder and proceeded to climb up on the roof. Bob kept him company, but I stayed inside and kept my fingers crossed. After awhile, I heard some drilling on the roof. I hoped it was a good sign. He spent about a half hour here, talked with Bob, and then left. Bob came in and told me that Tom would be back tomorrow morning at 9 AM to finish the job and when he got done it “would be done right”. I like that kind of confidence. I think both Bob and I heaved a big sigh of relief! Bob cooked chicken on his new grill and we ate a later dinner.
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