Hoover Dam

Since returning from Ohio just before Christmas, the Minnesota weather has turned cold, cold, cold. It's been fifteen degrees below zero for three nights in a row here in Minnesota, forcing me to escape to warmer climes, all in the name of work.


Las Vegas is home to an antique motorcycle auction held in January of every year, and this year I’ve decided to attend. The idea is to take some of the bikes, slated for the auction, outside for photos. Photos that will likely find their way into the Classic Triumph calendar for 2011. The fact that it actually stays above freezing at night here is just a secondary benefit.


My plane hit the ground about 2:00 PM yesterday, and after the typical delays waiting for luggage, I grabbed a brand new Malibu from National and headed for Boulder City. The Rocky City is just a hop, skip and a jump from Hoover Dam. My idea was to ask the locals how I could park a Triumph motorcycle in such a way as to get the dam as the background.

Hoover Dam, built over 4 years starting in 1931, and a perfect backdrop for an old Triumph motorcycle.

But no one told me about the bridge. The new bridge they are building that sails right over the dam. As one of the locals explained, "there used to be some side roads that had good views of the dam, but now it's all fenced off for construction."

Probably costing ten times as much money as the dam itself, the new bridge will skate right over the dam and the river below.

I had to settle for a drive over the dam on the old highway, and a series of tourist photos. And though I'm sure the motorcycle photos I take this week will be dramatic and award winning, there won't be any with the famous Hoover Dam in the background.

Right where it says "Danger Keep Off Wall," that's where the motorcycle should have been placed for the perfect calendar picture.