BUS TOUR - HOOVER DAM in NEVADA

Last Sunday morning as the sun began to rise we were on a Tour Bus headed for Boulder City NV. Gary and I and another couple from Mesa Regal Resort were the last pick up before getting on to the free-way heading north. Since we were on the east side of the bus we got to follow the sun rise as it continued to get light. Such Beauty! The desert and our progression on into the mountains made for lovely scenery also!

After two stops and lunch at McDonald's, we arrived at

Hacienda Hotel/Casino near Boulder City where we relaxed the rest of the day. It was a five and a half hour trip, surprise!

At 9 am on Monday our bus rolled up to take us to Hoover Dam for a tour.

We crossed over the new bridge before going down into the parking for Hoover Dam. We had heard that people did not want to go over this new bridge because of the height, but we found it to be a piece of cake. It is all level highway bridging the Colorado River, and four lane at that! In a car you would not be able to see much of the dam below, but since we were in a tour bus it was an impressive sight!

Here we are entering the power plant under the dam. This 35 ft diameter pipe is one of the intake pipes for water from Lake Mead for the power plant. Our location is where the vertical yellow line is on the top of the diagram picture.

We were then taken on in to the power plant where the huge turbines are located which power the generators that create the electrify that powers three neighboring states. Before going in to the power building we had to go through security much like at the airports. During World War II Army sharpshooters were on guard in a bunker built high up in the stone canyon wall. It was and still is protected because of it's economic value to the United States.

Here we are standing on a deck above the turbines that create the power from the water flow.

This turbine was removed for repair and it required both cranes (in the pictures above) to lift it out. It will take a lot of time to do the maintenance on it. There are electric power lines all over above the dam and canyon. There is a gift shop, restrooms and a cafe' in this building beside the dam.

When looking down from the observation area above the dam you can see part of the power plant. to give you a concept of the height, notice the truck beside the building. Little, eh?

Here you can see the dam and the old road over the dam that was used to cross the canyon. It is no longer used for public travel because of age and some deterioration.

A view of Lake Mead behind the dam. and then Lake Mead as you see it from the Hotel parking lot. It is known to be the largest man-made lake in the world.

As you can see, it was a very interesting tour and we enjoyed it. But now it is time to get back to the Hotel so that we could get lunch before leaving for Downtown Las Vegas on our afternoon tour. I will cover that tour in a separate Blog.

Stay tuned and we hope that you are staying warm! It is jacket weather for us!! But it is sunny!!

BR-R-R-R-R-R in MESA, AZ

I KNOW, I KNOW!! It's not as bad as yours!! But it is said to be the coldest in Phoenix for the last twenty-five years. This is what we saw in front of the Resort on the way to work this morning!! I'll bet that no one was in the pool yesterday or today. The chef here in the park has been making meals yesterday and today for all of the people at our sister parks who have not had power since yesterday. The workers at the office where I work were getting new transformer for one of the parks. Chef Joe's wife, who I work with, said that he has probably made 5000 to 6000 meals so far. I am sure he will b e glad when things are back to normal!! A couple weeks ago we got to see Three Men and a Tenor here at the park. They were great!! They sang and joked and never stood still. It was amazing how active the big guys were compared to the little tenor. He did not have anything over them!! We had seen them in western Ohio at an RV Rally, but I had forgotten how good they were!! We are headed for the mountains, playing follow the leader!! A few of us Workampers got together for a Monday out and drove over to Quartzsite AZ We started out at 6 am and had a good trip. We spent several hours going through the buildings and tents. It was like a big flea market. I am sure that we did not make a dent in seeing what was there. But we had plans to part from the others and meet up with out friends Bob and Donna from Salem OH. We had a great Chicken Tender salad at a restaurant out in the boondocks. We would never have found the place on our own so Bob came to our rescue. But they sure were busy and had a waiting list!! Then after dinner they took us farther out into desert from Quartzsite where they were dry camping. A beautiful mountain scene in front of them, but too much dust to suit us for too long. However, we did so enjoy our visit!! We look forward to doing it again some time. Donna has sent us their itinerary and it looks like they will be in Oregon when we will. So maybe there!! This past weekend our Workamper coordinators planned a summer picnic since the weather was so nice. That was just the weekend before the freeze!! What a change!!

Many of us do not work with fellow Workampers, so this fellowship is good.

We played bean bag toss. At least, those who were good enough did, but that was not me!! Gary did well, going into the final rounds.

The cheer leaders added to the fun!!

Our coordinators, "Cletus and Maude" read a skit dialog for us and about us and our life style. Funny!!!

Another entertainer comes from Vegas,

Greg Bonham singing and playing his trumpet. He was hilarious!! We are amazed at how good the shows are that they have for us here in the park.

We were then pleasantly surprised when Gary's former co-worker e-mailed to say that they were going to be in the area visiting other friends in Surprise AZ.

Phil and Linda came to visit and go out to dinner with us. What a wonderful visit!! We were blessed!! I think that Linda was a little apprehensive since she really did not know us, but we found that we had plenty in common. We will look forward to doing it again, or at least to meet up when we get back home.

We certainly hope that you made it home without any travel delays. I am sure the picture looked bleak this week.

Take care and God Bless!