Day 6 - Hoover Dam - Fri, June 20th

 We said goodbye to Zion at the 11 am checkout time and hit the road west. Had a quick lunch in St George UT at the “Chuck-a-Rama”, a Utah buffet chain that puts Golden Corral to shame. That’s the first meal we’ve eaten out so far which is a testament to Liz’s planning and cooking.

Late afternoon brought us to Las Vegas where we sidestepped over to Lake Mead to see Hoover Dam. As it was an hour out of the way, we were debating whether or not to make the detour but decided it was now or never. Only problem was, it was HOT. Hotter than we’ve seen so far. Temps easily over 100 and a sun that would bore a hole through you. With my back still in pain and the heat, we decided against any walking over the huge bridge above the dam but we did drive across the dam and were able to get a few pictures at the overlooks. Lake Mead is strikingly beautiful, and it’s a real shame that it’s drying up, rather quickly all things considered. 

A few more hours and a nearly empty gas tank had us rolling into the sprawling town of Puhrump, Nevada. That’s not a typo. Puhrump is a variation of the native Southern Paiute tribe that lived there first. Pah-rimpi meant “Water rock” according to Wikipedia, so named because of the artesian wells in the area.  Hard to believe there was any water anywhere around here, and despite seeing road crossing signs for elk, bighorn sheep and even donkeys. Not a living animal was in sight. 

We are now just outside of the east boundary of Death Valley National Park, which we plan to ride through tommorow.  A good day to die. as any, I suppose, though we have no immediate plans for it. 

We are staying at a known boon-docking spot called “The Pads”. Apparently, it used to be an RV park so there are cement pads everywhere and some old filled in septic tank holes. Only one other camper out here, so the only sound we hear tonight is the steady roar of the warm western wind.

We had a fun little photo session at sunset so we’ll start with that.  













Here’s our current camping spot back in ‘82 when it was an RV park.

And now:

























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Day 4 - Arriving at Zion - Wed, June 18

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