third thing that made it more fun was having to stop for a police check before
crossing the dam.
Looking down the road we could see that only some vehicles were
being stopped, and of course that included us (or to be less paranoid they
stopped all vehicles bigger than cars). When it was our turn a very polite
young policeman, complete with ranger hat and big gun, asked permission to
come aboard. He looked through all the big cupboards and then let us carry
on. Afterwards we were not completely sure if he was checking for illegal
immigrants or explosives to destroy the dam - maybe both? At least it broke
the journey up a bit.
I increasingly pined for the hotel room in Vegas - or indeed any hotel room –
as the day wore on. My cold descended over me as we ascended into higher
and colder climes. Late in the day we were forced to stock up on cold
remedies at a petrol station. Buying medicine in a foreign country is always
more difficult than at home because names and packages are so different.
While in New York we had to buy painkillers, ending up scouring the
ingredients list and taking expert advice. For my cold we eventually tracked
down alternatives to Lemsip direct - at least I think that is what it was. The
price was certainly high enough to reassure us that it was medicine.
Any hope that we would reach our campsite during office hours evaporated
when we lost an hour on the Hoover Dam. In fact, as the afternoon turned to
evening we began to wonder if we would be there for when the office opened
the next day. Progress seemed very slow, even though the clear roads
enabled us to maintain a steady speed. I think the illusion that we were getting