On The Road Again - Part 2

Day 7 - Left Gallup at 7:00 a.m. for Kingman, AZ. This is our second trip this far west on I-40, so the scenery was familiar. Still, we were amazed at how the land form changed radically from desert to mountains and pine just east of Flagstaff. On what appears to be a plateau at about 7,000' ASL there are endless stretches of pine and meadow. I-40 follows the BNSF railline as it crisscrosses with the highway. Passed by Williams and the road to the Grand Canyon and then ....... wow, down the mountain we went. And I do mean down the mountain on a 6% grade all the way to the desert basin again and another 60 or so miles into Kingman. Stayed at the Kingman KOA (see my write-up in CG Reviews) for one nite.

Day 8 - While at the KOA we went on the net to review the practices at the check points for crossing the Hoover Dam. Also talked with a couple from CA that came east that way. We decided that a half-hour search at the checkpoint was not worth it and decided to by-pass the dam crossing and take AZ-68 to Bullhead City and over the Colorado River to Laughlin NV. NV-163 intersected US-95 iin the middle of nowhere (and I do mean no-where). Took 95 north to US-93 at Boulder city and made the trip into Las Vegas without incident. The Bureau of Reclamation web site says that it only adds about 25 miles to the trip.

On the way north in NV we saw one of the largest solar/electric arrays that we've ever seen. Looks like acres and acres of aqua-blue solar panels sitting in the middle of the desert basin, making power for Las Vegas. It absolutely dwarfed a large semi that was approaching it on a feeder road. All this was seen from about 3 to 5 miles away going north on US-95.

Day 9 - Spent about 4 hours at the Hoover Dam this morning. If you haven't seen this man-made wonder yet please try to get to it. It is an awesome accomplishment, considering that it was constructed in the midst of the Great Depression using muscle power, blasting powder and the rudimentary mechanical excavation equipment of the period. It is absolutely stunning.

As to Las Vegas, we made one trip down the strip from Boulder Highway, beginning at Las Vegas Blvd and Fremont Street. The DW yawned, took some pix on the way by and said, "well, we've done that!" As you can probably tell, we're not gamblers so we weren't too impressed with all the honky tonk.

Well, on to UT and Zion Park tomorrow.

Vegas aint all about gambling. You should have stopped in to see the "O" show, circus de selia or however you spell that, That is one show " circus " that will knock your socks off with what they can do......

Glad ya'll are having a great trip,,,,