McEwen Farming and Family Stuff

The huge rockface cliffs surrounding Boulder City, Las Vegas and Hoover Dam seem incredulous. I don’t know what we expected but not a tree, or  green anything in sight. Towering walls of rock and there in the middle of a tight spot between walls is the Hoover Dam! We thought how small the width is across the top-1,244 feet but high – 726.4 feet!!! the next thing that hits you is how low the water level is – drought conditions here have depleted the capacity considerably. We found the tour of the Dam wall really interesting.  Alison was interested in the social history with hundreds of families leaving  the mid west to travel to Nevada and California in the late 20’s and 30’s in hope of employment. Many arriving a year before construction started and camped out in the rocks, dirt. cold and heat  – `We will either be killed in these conditions or starve.’   construction started in 1931 and finished in 1935.

As it was 114 degrees we thought we would have a swim in Lake Mead – the water that the Dam is backing up from the Colorado River.  Eventually we found the `beach’ and as the water level is so low we drove down to the edge. We try to walk into the water and ouch!! the rocks hurt. We are in the water but the rocks are on the bottom so Alison crawls out to the deeper water!  Where is the beautiful sand of the Victoria beaches = not here for sure. The water was so warm because of the extreme heat so enjoyed our swim.

The next day- Friday, 27th June we travelled through more and more rock walls and cliffs. Coming to the Virgin River Canyon, we ooed and ahhed as we had to slow down for road construction (new bridge), walls towering over us – cars and trucks bumper to bumper, taking an hour to move through it. Alison dozed off and when she opened her eyes she thought she was on another planet. We had arrived in the Escalante Valley and destination, Beryl, Utah. Alison thought we had come from Hell into Heaven????

We have friends and relatives scattered across the this great land of USA and it is great to meet long lost cousins such as Arnold Studebaker and Lou Ann in Central Utah. Arnold is a Pastor of a small country Baptist Church here in a beautiful valley, again surrounded by mountains with centre pivot irrigators going flat out on lucerne mainly, with hay and hay cube production in top gear.

After the stark harsh conditions around Boulder City and Las Vegas it is a very pleasant change and we have had a restful day here and with a good wifi conection we are able to update our Blog and facebook etc.

We were shocked to get an email, today re Alan McClelland’s  passing away . We all will miss him especially around the Bowling Club.

Plan to move on after Church here tomorrow towards Salt Lake city and Yellowstone NP to get to Calgary for the Stampede by July 4