Marker to the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
It was going to be a long day of driving for me. I just got the rental car and I am driving out of Las Vegas and out into the desert. This would not be my first time in a desert but I would probably spend a lot of time there this time around. I know that this part of the United States is very dry but I wasn’t expected it to be this hot. It was summer and the car’s outdoor temperature reading appeared to be broken showing forty degrees Celsius outside. This was a shock to my system since I have not be exposed to such temperatures in years. I would get my first taste of heat in my first stop, which isn’t very far out from Las Vegas.
Walking Across the Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge
The Hoover dam is one of the United States’ great engineering achievements. This was done in the Great Depression and it was built all out in the Mojave Desert. It is mind-blowing to think about it now, but it is even more so back when it was being built. There are signs here which point to the dam and it was easy enough to get there. I still had my trusty Google Maps with me just to make sure that I get there. At the time of my visit, there is plenty of parking here and although I could have head straight to the dam, I thought to visit a site closer to the car park. The Mike O’Callaghan–Pat Tillman Memorial Bridge is a significant bridge in this area because it crosses the chasm formed by the dam. While you could theoretically bridge across the dam, it won’t be practical since you don’t want massive traffic to pass through the dam. The solution was to build a bridge across the gap.
[xmlgm {http://www.worldwanderings.net/kml/MikeO’Callaghan–PatTillmanMemorialBridge.kmz} zoom=19]