Our Dam Hangout

It was another very gusty day as we trekked across more of America's desert lands.  We passed by the Mojave National Desert Preserve.  I scratched my head...what a name...Desert Preserve...like this place needs any help being preserved?!  Then again, I may not be a smart man and I'm slow!
Well, we made it in one piece with no incidents on the road...praise God...and we settled in at Lake Mead National Park. Enjoy the pictures from our stay here!

The view as we cross the Mike O'Callahan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge.  This bridge spans the Black Canyon portion of the Colorado River, which is a  900 feet below! The Arizona-Nevada State line cuts the bridge in half. 

Here is a look at the bridge from below at the Hoover Dam visitors center.

Heidi at the Lake Mead overlook. Lake Mead is the largest reservoir in the United States and is formed by the Hoover Dam by holding back the mighty Colorado River. The lake extends some 112 miles behind the dam and can reach a depth of 500 feet deep.

 

Heidi decides that Stacey and I should be in the requisite "state line picture" this time.  

Hailey points out to you where in the world Team Breitmann is located!

Lake view site #30 on in Lake Mead National Park, RV Village.  

This is the view out of our front window of our motor home, while we stayed at Lake Mead.  To quote one of our kid's favorite characters, King Julian, from the movie "Madagascar"..."Look at that!  That's not a bad view!"

A road runner bird right outside our door.  These characters sure do live up to their fast reputation and they are fearless!  I guess you gotta be if one of your diet staples is rattlesnakes!  Our dog, Molly, was tormented by this guy.

Our second campfire, since departing a little over two months ago!  It was nice to have a campfire to roast marshmallows for s'mores!  What a beautiful night sky in the desert.  We could see Mars, Saturn, and Venus among others!  

Hailey breaks out the sidewalk chalk in the cool of the desert evening!  Nothing like coloring with sidewalk chalk by the glow of a Coleman lantern!

The girls overlooking the mighty Hoover Dam.  It is one of four dams along the Colorado River.  It is one impressive piece of concrete! It's construction commenced in 1931 and was dedicated by President Franklin Roosevelt in 1935. The purpose of the dam is to provide flood control, irrigation and hydro-electric power.  It has successfully done all three and has generated enough money from the sale of hydro-electric power to more than pay back the cost of the entire project.  Now, that's something, considering it is a government project!   

Dude!! What's up?!  Awesome lake, eh?!  

Hailey on the cat walk over looking the massive hydro-electric generators.  We took the tour down into the power generation room on the Nevada side.  Very impressive.

This is a view I had not seen of the dam.  I have been to the Hoover Dam many times before but, had never seen the "back side" of the dam, which holds back the lake.  We rented a boat from the Lake Mead Marina for an entire day and played on the lake.  That's how I got this shot. It seemed like the thing to do because the temperatures were well above 100 degrees.  I saw that my thermometer outside my motor home door read: 108!  Holy hades, Batman this is only April!  

The girls take a dip in the lake, while we anchored in one of the many side canyon inlets.  While it was "Africa hot", the lake was a bit chilly and certainly got your attention if you just jumped right in!

Hailey hams it up!  Look, Dad!  I'm walking on water!

Seems that Stacey has friends everywhere!  It turns out that her friend, Tiffany and her husband Tony live here in Vegas.  So, we invited them and their two boys; Evan and Eli to join us on the boat for the day.  Hailey got her first taste of trying to corral pre-school boys!  Seriously, these two were really good kids and well behaved.  We enjoyed our time with Tiffany and Tony! We had a blast with them!

The girls coax me into the water.  It wasn't too hard to do, considering how hot is was!  I just did a cannonball into the water...yikes!  It was a cold one!  Not too bad once you got in.

Can you see the long horn sheep in this picture?  He was really close to us, while we were at anchor in the side canyon we picked to swim.  Unbelievable how camouflaged he is and how sure footed.  Molly, our dog, was whining and wanting to jump out!  The sheep just looked confidently at us and minded his own business.

There he goes!  It looked like he was just walking along a sidewalk, although this was a near sheer cliff!  Impressive footing these guys have!  No wonder he looked at us so confidently!  There was no way a dog or anything else was gonna get to him!

Some wore out puppies!

Hailey's favorite thing to draw...hearts.  This heart was carved out of stone in a tribute to all those who built the Hoover Dam.  This photo was taken in the nearby town of Boulder City.  Boulder City is the "town that built the dam"...literally.  Before the Hoover Dam construction project, the town of Boulder City did not exist.  The town was literally built to house all the workers that either worked on the dam or supported those who worked on the dam.  It is a nice little town and we enjoyed grabbing some ice cream and browsing around.  Nice place to visit but, we wouldn't want to live here.  The desert is just not our thing.
Well, our next stop takes us all the way to the Pacific Ocean!  California, here we come!  Our next stop will probably be extended to do some needed oil changes and repairs.  Oh, I forgot to mention that one of my two a/c units on the motor home died in the midst of the 100 plus degree heat.  The rear a/c was working as hard as it could but, without the second one in the front, it just could not cut the mustard.  Boy, did it get warm inside...yet another reason to play in the lake!  It may be awhile before our next blog update.  Looking forward to Southern California weather!  Stay tuned!  God bless and God Bless America!