Today we headed over to take the tour of Hoover Dam. We were going to get an early start, but when we got up it was raining, again. We knew it wouldn't last long, and rather than drag out the rain suits, we just decided to wait it out. Some desert, we've been here two days and it's rained both days. By 9:30 the rain cleared up and we were on our way. First stop was at the Lake Mead National Recreational Area Visitors Center where we got our passport stamped and watched the obligatory 20 minute video. Lake Mead is really beautiful, but since the water flow coming out of the Lake Mead has been greater than the snow melt coming in for the last 17 years, the lake is looking very low. But it still looked awesome as a recreational area, and we took a bunch of pictures.
     Along the way to the dam, we passed through the Historic District of Boulder City . Just a main street really, with some interesting souvenir shops. Since we were concerned that we had dawdled at Lake Mead too long, we hurried over to Hoover Dam so we could get our tour tickets before they sold out. As we got to the Hoover Dam parking garage, they had designated motorcycle parking right out front, but it was still $10 to park. It turns out my National Park Senior Pass doesn't help at all in Hoover Dam. It was full price for parking and tours, no big deal. We got there at about 10:20 and we were able to get on the 12:00 tour. So while we were waiting, we looked at the exhibits and watched the obligatory 10 minute video.
     This was the third dam we have visited on this trip, and the third time I've forgotten to wear my "Trust Me I'm and Electrical Engineer" T-Shirt on the tour. The time passed quickly and all of a sudden it was time for our tour. They started by taking us in a elevator down into what was originally one of the 56 foot diameter bypass tunnels they used to divert the Colorado River while they were building the dam . It reminded us of being back doing cave exploration as the walls were still the original stone. This one contained the 30 foot diameter pipe that routed water from the inlet towers to one of the banks of generators.
     Since the Colorado River forms the boundary between Nevada and Arizona, half of the dam is in Nevada and half is in Arizona. The elevators are called the Nevada Elevator and the Arizona Elevator, and the generators are also split into the Nevada Generators and the Arizona Generators. There were originally 4 of the 56 foot bypass tunnels built to divert the Colorado. Two are in Nevada and two are in Arizona. The two closest to the river are now used to route water to the generators, and the two outer tunnels are used as the Nevada Spillway and the Arizona Spillway, as the Hoover Dam does not allow spillway over the dam, it runs the water around the dam through the external tunnel spillways.
     They gave us a tour of the Nevada Power generators, and of the seven generators, six were on-line and delivering power . The Hoover Dam delivers about 2000 megawatts of power at capacity. From there they took us inside the dam itself as there are tunnels running through the concrete within the dam. The passage they took us through had an air vent that opened directly onto the face of the dam. We were able to walk out into the air vent and take pictures through the vent. Very Cool! Then they took us out near the edge of the dam, where if meets the walls of the canyon. It turns out the dam is not attached to the canyon walls. There is actually a 75 foot deep groove cut in the canyon wall, and the dam fills the groove without being attached. This allows movement in the event of an earthquake.
     Along this side of the dam is the staircase. In the event that the elevators all failed, there is a backup staircase with 783 steps that you can use to climb out of the dam. It is very steep, and is curved to follow the curvature of the dam. The final part of the tour, we rode the elevator to the top and were let out on the road above the dam . From here you could see down into the canyon on one side and down into Lake Mead on the other.   We took lots of pictures while on this road above the dam. Since they pass all vehicles through security when you enter the area, they still let you drive your car or motorcycle on the road above the dam. There were many motorcycles that passed by while we were there. It wasn't such a big deal for me, so we didn't bother dragging the bike down to the top of the dam and settled for walking across.
     After we finished with the top of the dam, we headed over to the old visitors center where they still had a model of the entire Colorado River system from Wyoming all the way to Mexico. There was a 10 minute audio presentation where Walter Cronkite explained how all the various dams worked and who got the benefit of each. The model had a series of lights where the section that was being talked about was lit when it was being explained and the rest of the model was dark. It was kinda cool for being a little low tech .
     By the time we were done,we were thirsty and a little hungry. Nothing like a little ice cream and a couple of sodas from the snack bar to take care of that problem. I never get tired of ice cream. It was getting abut 3:00 by this time, and time to head back. I had discovered when I went to take the Hoover Dam pictures, that there was no memory card in the camera when I took the Lake Mead pictures earlier. Luckily I had a spare, so when we left, we headed back over to Lake Mead to take some more pictures. Just outside of Hoover Dam is a spectacular scenic overlook of Lake Mead that we had skipped on the way in, but we took advantage now and got some great pictures. It was really evident from this vantage point how low Lake Mead really is. We could also see the paddle-wheel boat that we had planned on riding today, except that the boat cruises are closed on Friday in July and August. Wit our late start, I don't think we could have made the 2:00 cruise anyway.
     On the way back, we stopped in the Historic District of Boulder City for a little souvenir shopping along the way . We were planning on taking a trip into Las Vegas tonight to see the lights on the strip, but we were getting a little tired from the heat and activity so we decided to skip the nighttime adventure. When we got back, we wandered down the street to the local Mall. Stores all looked the same once you got inside. We had a quick dinner at Chevy's in the mall, but after having all the great Mexican food at all the various local Mexican restaurants, Mexican food from a chain restaurant is a little mediocre.
     Tomorrow we head north into Kanab, Utah, just outside Zion National Park. In the morning, while the weather is still cool, we are going to make that trip through the Vegas Strip even though it will be daytime. From there we will follow Tommy's suggestion and check out Red Rock Canyon before we leave. In Utah, we will be out of the desert for a while and back into the mountains and a little more comfortable temperatures. Unfortunately, there are not a lot of secondary roads heading out of Las Vegas into Utah, so we will have about 125 miles on I-15. That's probably our longest stretch on an interstate so far.

49.7 miles today
13,520.5 miles total

4.399 gallons today
326.680 gallons total