Crew 3’s ‘Epic Western Expedition’ – Yes It Was: Day 5

There's a lot of mountainous desert between Flagstaff, Arizona and the Hoover Dam, three and a half drive-time hours to be precise, but today is Dam day. So, we loaded up the vehicles with gas, food, adult leaders and scouts and set out for another long one, this is Day 5.

First, let me give kudos to our young men on this trip, the adults had a clue just how gruelling the driving was going to be on this "Expedition," but we weren't sure how the Crew was going to handle all of these seemingly endless hours of driving. They did great! Technology was the key for a change, texting, listening to music, playing games, whatever the heck they were doing back there was keeping them from pestering the driver with questions constantly. Other than requests for bathroom breaks or hunger we didn't hear much in our vehicle anyway. I can't really speak for the other two vehicles.

There it is! The Hoover Dam, built over four and half years from 1931 - 1936, it's 660 feet thick at the base, 1244 feet across and 726 feet tall.

These first few photos were taken from the walkway on the US 93 bridge that overlooks the Dam and leads into Nevada. It's also known as the Mike O'Callaghan - Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge, if you don't know the Pat Tillman story please click on the link and read about him.

The Dam that holds back the Colorado River and creates Lake Mead is a magnificent tribute to American ingenuity and hard work. The Dam generates over 4 billion kilowatt hours per year, and services over 1.3 million households in California, Arizona and Nevada. The Dam was made with 4.4 million yards of concrete.

Yes, you can drive across the Dam but your vehicle will be heavily scrutinized by TSA before you enter the area.

The inside the Dam tour does cost about $15 per person but it is well worth the price. Watch out for those Dam jokes though, they're everywhere! The lady took my Dam ticket... The tour guide told us to get on the Dam elevator! Seriously! But we laughed!

Our Crew 3 President, Matthew Desjarlais, took his personal Texas Flag with us everywhere we went that week, I personally think it makes the Dam look better.

Pretty neeto Dam photo area below.

Lake Mead is the largest man-made lake in the US when it comes to volume with a maximum depth of 532 feet. If you notice the lighter areas of the canyon walls, that is the normal water line of Lake Mead, it was very low when we were there. I guess the water keeps the rock cleaner than what is constantly exposed to the elements.

You can see how low the lake was at that time if you look at the Dam wall below and compare to the bleached out canyon walls to the right.

It was 106 in the desert that day, we ate our Dam lunch in the Dam parking garage.

Here are me and boy Tyler with our Dam picture!

Okay, Okay! No more Dam jokes!

Three and half hours back to beautiful and much cooler Flagstaff for a night of cleaning up and getting ready for our next destination tomorrow, Colorado!

What-a-trip!