Hoover Dam and Boulder City

We learned something today.  For what ever reason, probably lack of critical thinking, I assumed that after the building of the Mike O'Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, cars would no longer be allowed to drive across the top of the dam.  Not true!  One can drive over the dam.  After it quit raining this morning, we went out to see where the high wind warning signs for the bridge are.  Since we’re further east than the last time we were here and the bridge was denied to us, we wanted to see what the bail out is.  After determining how we would proceed in the event of high winds we decided to go see the bridge walking route.  Again, we thought we’d be parking somewhere and walking over the bridge.

When we reached the bridge, we saw two of these guys sitting on a large platform.  They are the Winged Figures of the Republic.  They were dedicated in 1935.  They have a great arc deco look about them.  They’re bronze, their feet are shiny from people rubbing them. 

After driving over the bridge, we found a place to park so we could look down at the facility.

This is some sort of a crane.  It’s anchored to the rock on the other side of the river.

Here is the other side of the damn.

Although GPS says you can drive up over the hill and exit out the other side of the dam, you can not.  There is a turn around at the top of the hill and the road is blocked.  Dam officials want all traffic going in and out the same way.  Look up the hill to the right of that RV, that’s the road down.  It used to be that all traffic on US93 crossed over this way.  Speaking of traffic, there is a security checkpoint on the way down to the dam.  When we were leaving, the backup to go through was incredibly long.  Get there early!

Our next stop was old town Boulder City.  Pictures we’d seen suggested that it would be cute and foo-foo.  Look at the arch way – they, too, have a Winged Figure of the Republic.

There are cool looking restaurants.

We saw much vintage neon; although we suspect the neon sign for “pool and wifi” is probably new.

Alas, alack, Boulder City was holding an Art in the Park event.  The city was over run with people and their cars.  Parking was impossible so we bailed.  Fortunately, we came upon a grocery store on the way back to the RV park and bought dinner and bottled water for our next stop.  Downtown Boulder City really is attractive, and hopefully next time it will not be over run with art aficionados.

Another view of Lake Mead from US93.

We really enjoyed Hoover Dam.  It was built in between 1931 and 1936.  People did amazing things back then, in the case of the dam they did it two years ahead of schedule.

Ely, NV to Lake Mead RV Village in Boulder City, NV

Today we exited the Ely KOA and went north on US93 towards US6.  I would like to note that the Chevron near US93/US50 and US6 was fifty cents a gallon cheaper for diesel than the Love’s just down the street.  The entire parking lot was recently paved.  In the back of the station are pump islands for big trucks that are easily accessible.  It seems that lately Love’s is the highest price vendor for fuel.  We went west on US6 and then south on NV318.  If you’re going to Las Vegas from the north, NV318 is the way to go.  It’s shorter than US93, prettier, less congested and it avoids three passes.  NV318 rejoins US93, which runs into I15 on the edge of Las Vegas.  We took I15 for a few miles and then the GPS took us off the freeway and ran us through city streets in Las Vegas, over by McCarran and Nellis AFB.  We went out through the hinterlands and drove for what seemed like forever.  There was a better route we could have taken.  The GPS has an evil sense of humor.
Anyway, this was this morning and most of the day.  It was cold, wet and just gruesome.



Shortly after turning on to NV318, the left wind shield wiper rolled over and died.  It flopped over to the left and would not move again.  It’s not the motor, it appears to be off the drive shaft, or perhaps the drive shaft is stripped.  Who knows.  After that there were no more good pictures taken through the windshield.



Up the road aways, traffic came to a complete stop.



Look in the field.  Some person was out driving their jeep off road, and managed to roll it.  The hood was all but torn off the vehicle.  The cooler and various belongings were out of the car.  I do not know how people accomplish such massively unnecessary car accidents.



By the time we were in the outskirts of Las Vegas, we were seeing virga as well as rain.  This was an impressive sky.



I totally disapprove of this activity.  The road we were on skirted the desert where there were little hills, covered in ATVs.  They should all get bicycles.



This is Lake Las Vegas.  It’s an artificial lake in the middle of the desert.  The project was begun in 1967 and apparently has only picked up steam recently.  I linked to the wiki on it in the previous sentence.  The recitation of bankruptcies, law suits and general malfeasance is funny.  Also interesting is the Zillow page.  There are several homes that have been on the market for more than 200 days.



This was our first view of Lake Mead.



I took this out of Jim’s side window.  See the white stripe running around the sides of the lake?  That’s called the “bathtub ring” and it indicates how low that lake is.  It’s low.



View from the RV at Lake Mead RV Village.



The blue line would have been faster and more direct.  Actually the way we went was a pretty drive and was worth doing.  I would have enjoyed it more if I’d been convinced that the GPS was taking us where we wanted to go.  Notice the Interstate 11 designation on the map.  I wish the software wouldn’t do that.  It’s actually Interstate 515.  I11 is merely a notion at this point.

Update to post:  I was ill informed!  There is a new section of road that is I11.  It may be time to buy a new atlas so we have accurate maps.  Details about the new road can be found here.  The new stretch is the yellow line south of the blue line on the map.  It bypasses Boulder City, to decrease the time it takes to get to the bridge next to the Hoover Dam.  I still  think google maps should call the highway north of the exit to to the new road segment I515.  That's been its name since 1994.  

 
We’re here for two nights.  It will be good to have a day out of the RV.  Did I ever mention where we’re going?  We’re going to Tucson.

Mountain Home, ID to Ely, NV

It’s a long drive.  It seems like there’s always one long day on this transit.  We took I84 to US93.  One turns off at Twin Falls and heads out into the hinterlands.  We had fog when we left Mountain Home, but then the sun came out.




This is the Twin Falls corn maze.  I’m not sure what those tall things are.  Maybe they’re for tossing pumpkins.



There is a lot of this.



There is also a lot of this.



Today’s scary moment was a paint striper coming at us.  He was slowly driving down the road, painting the stripes on either side.  Given how windy it was, we were just certain we’d have overspray on the RV or truck.  Mercifully, we did not.  While we were on the side of the road checking, we heard this coming towards us.  It’s towing a good size sport utility vehicle on a trailer.  The most interesting feature was the straps on the RV.  We wonder if they’re holding the roof down.  The straps were vibrating loudly as the RV went down the road.



Oh yes, and then there was the truck driver who passed us with insufficient time.  The on coming big rig had to drive off onto the shoulder and we had to brake to give the passing truck time to get back in our lane.  If those two had collided head on, we would have been in the accident, as well.

Parts of the drive are better looking than others.



There is snow in the mountains.



We’re overnighting at the Ely KOA, which I have previously reviewed.

Pendleton OR to Mountain Home ID

We spent the day on I84.  No navigational challenges for us.  It was a dreary day, at no time did we see the sun.  It was also cold and windy.  There’s some up/down on the route, but it’s not terrible.

This is amusing.  I love the ironing board strapped to the back of the ATV.

Gloomy.

Even more gloomy.  Look at those clouds over the mountains.

This is an enormous concrete plant, Ashgrove Cement.  The rail line goes right in front of them.  One wonders if those cars are full of cement.

The sign is not kidding.

The rain started in earnest when we hit Nampa, ID. 

We’re back at the Mountain Home RV Resort, which I have previously reviewed.  I’ve updated that post to reflect current conditions.

Issaquah to Pendleton, OR

Today’s route was all interstate; I90 to I82 to I84.  Under normal circumstances it would be an easy drive.

It was 42 degrees this morning with dense fog in Issaquah.  It rained a lot last night.  We know this because we tipped the nose of the RV down, and we got quite the run off of water from the slides.



As we got 5 miles east of Issaquah, the fog lifted and the sun came out.



Eastern Washington.  It’s a pretty place in its own way.



It was a speed limit drive until we almost reached the South Umtanum Summit.  Traffic came to a dead stop.  We inched along for awhile and then went over the other side, still doing about eight mph. That is the Fred Redmon bridge.  It’s hard to see, but no one is crossing that bridge.



There are two Washington State Patrol cars creating a rolling slowdown.  We were paused for about 50 minutes.



Finally, we reached the bridge. This guy (a WSP plain clothes detective) (notice the gun) and two other police were walking back to their cars.



Washington State Patrol and Yakima Country Sheriffs were represented here.



More Yakima police and some other departments were on the bridge as well.



Members of many police organizations were standing on the bridge talking.  See what’s right down the hill?  It’s a rest stop.  I don’t know why they could not have cleared the bridge and taken the conversations down to the rest stop so that the multi mile backup could start clearing out.  They did a good thing, WSP, Yakima County and Yakima City police talked a 61 year old man off the bridge – he was threatening to jump.  I just question why they couldn’t clear the dang bridge once he had been taken away in an ambulance.



That dark area far away is dark because of a huge grass fire.  We saw two fires today being put out along the side of the freeway.



Eastbound traffic is being diverted onto the westbound bridge at the McNary Dam.  It looks like that project is going to take awhile.



Tonight we’re once again at the Wild Horse Casino RV park, which I have previously reviewed.

Last Day in the GPNW

Aaarghhhhhhh!  We’re here two days too long.  It rained all day yesterday, varying between the annoying continuous mist and actual rain.  We accomplished much; did laundry, went to the grocery store, stuff like that.  Today we walked and did not get wet.  Tomorrow we’re leaving for the very last and very final time.

The problem with my new crown was excess cement that was not removed from the back of the tooth.  It formed a shelf, and when I flossed the back of my tooth, it caught and went straight into my gums.  It was not a difficult fix, but one that really should not have been required.

I have more reason to hate Verizon, and you might, as well.  For the last three or so years, when we left Tucson or Seattle, I would cancel my DSL service.  Then I would call Verizon and ask them to put me back on the 30 gig plan for 30 days.  It was an old plan, not mentioned on their website, but available.  Well that’s no longer the case.  The old plans have been cancelled.  All they have now is small, medium and large, and their “unlimited” plans.  That would be the plan that starts throttling each device (including the jetpack) after 10 gig of use.  They do have a “super unlimited” that doesn’t throttle the jetpack, but you can only start that service at the start of a new billing cycle – by which time we’ll be back in Tucson.  So, if you have one of those old plans, think twice before letting go of it.