I spent the morning doing some trip planning and a last catch up on emails before leaving my wifi area. We went for a walk to go see the mules again and checked out one last viewpoint before leaving the Grand Canyon. Hoover Dam happened to be on my route, so I stopped to take a very quick look, dogs weren’t allowed on the bridge, so I did not want to stay long. The drive was supposed to be 5 hours, but took closer to 7 with some re-routing I had to do to avoid paying $20 to drive through Lake Mead Recreation Area. I parked in a Mcdonald’s parking lot in Boulder City to use their wifi to find a new route and ended up meeting a couple from New Brunswick there as they had seen my Alberta plate. I did drive through Las Vegas, but was really only on the outskirts of it, so saw only a little of the flashiness. Last time I drove through there was almost 4 years ago with my brothers and the billboards were quickly interchanging between divorce lawyers and marriage chapels, it was both a little sad and extremely entertaining. I arrived at the Valley of Fire State Park area around 7:00 pm, which was 8:00 pm at the time zone I had been in earlier in the day. It was pitch black and the winding, middle of nowhere road seemed to go on for much longer than it should have. I finally came across 2 RVs parked a little ways off the side of the road, I drove on, saw another parked in a similar manner a ways down and turned around to park at the spacious, first area I had seen. I don’t often sleep in areas I know I’m probably not supposed to for fear of waking up to police officers hammering on my window and the desire for a good night sleep, rather than being paranoid someone is going to come around. I chose to this time as I guessed, by looking at these RVs parked there, knowing it was a weekend and spring break, that the campground was full and I was too tired to keep going. I quickly let Luna out for a pee, then hopped back in my car, anxious in this unknown, dark expanse. The light pollution from Las Vegas, even an hour away from the city and with terrain that blocked some of it was incredible. I read for a short while, then settled down to sleep, disliking how incredibly hot it was and how strong the wind that pushed at my car was, I have become much more accustomed to sleeping in the cold.
So many with these white scarred areas and rubs where the tack sits.
Hoover Dam
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