Tag: moto

Our return ride to Boulder was in a lovely, golden dusk so we decided to stop at the Hoover Dam before returning to the motel.

From WiKi:

Hoover Dam, once known as Boulder Dam, is a concrete arch-gravity dam in the Black Canyon of the Colorado River, on the border between the U.S. states of Nevada and Arizona. It was constructed between 1931 and 1936 during the Great Depression and was dedicated on September 30, 1935, by President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Its construction was the result of a massive effort involving thousands of workers, and cost over one hundred lives. The dam was controversially named after President Herbert Hoover.

Hoover Dam impounds Lake Mead, the largest reservoir in the United States by volume (when it is full). The dam is located near Boulder City, Nevada, a municipality originally constructed for workers on the construction project, about 30 mi (48 km) southeast of Las Vegas, Nevada. The dam’s generators provide power for public and private utilities in Nevada, Arizona, and California. Hoover Dam is a major tourist attraction; nearly a million people tour the dam each year. The heavily travelled U.S. 93 ran along the dam’s crest until October 2010, when the Hoover Dam Bypass opened.

The security when entering the dam area is very high, following the 9/11 terrorist attack; many vehicles are searched thoroughly, other vehicles are simply not allowed.

Acces closes at sunset, so we just about made it in. I wanted to cross the dam on the bike, so Jan rode to the Arizona side  – and here’s that sign again ( and this is where the sign actually was – I missed the Arizona sign as we rode on US93, so I cheated in the previous post)

The video of us riding across the dam.

We parked on the Arizona side and I walked back across. Jan met me on the bridge and made an illegal stop so I could jump on the bike and, wouldn’t you know, a police car appeared just at that moment. Fortunately, they didn’t stop us.

Once we had left the high-security area, we stopped again so I could put my jacket and helmet back on and rode the 7 miles back to the Hoover Dam Lodge for a decent meal and a wine or two.

These photos were taken a couple of days later, whilst in Boulder City. We moved hotels after riding there the next day and both of us loving the look and the feel of it. We booked two nights in the Historic Boulder Dam Hotel which is, in part, a museum dedicated to the history of the dam and Boulder City which was a town built specifically for the men who worked on the dam and, gradually, their families.

 

Next: Boulder City, an all- American small town.