Nevada
Las Vegas, Goodsprings, Hoover Dam
 

Pioneer Saloon - Goodsprings, NV

Outside of Las Vegas, on your way to California there is a small town named Goodsprings, NV. located just 7 miles from Jean, NV.  It is practically a ghost town now except for few homes, a church, the remains of several old buildings and of course the Pioneer Saloon.

Some tourists find their way to the Pioneer Saloon, but it is better known to the members of an international club that has adopted it as home.  As you go through the weathered doorway, you enter a dark and dingy room that could be right out of a TV western.  There is a long bar on the right, a wood burning stove on the left and the air if filled with smoke and the smell of an old saloon.  Several local customers sit at the bar drinking their beers.  You hear one of the patrons call out, "hey ass-hole what are you doing here?"

After being shocked and wondering why you made the trip form Vegas to be insulted and perhaps find yourself in the middle of a fight it is explained to you that this is the home of "The Ass-Hole Club", where all patrons are ass-holes and you too can become a certified card carrying ass-hole.

Yep, we drank the beer, inspected the bullet holes in the walls, read about the shoot-out in the Pioneer Saloon and became certified card carrying ass-holes too.

If you are in the area you must make your way to Goodsprings, NV., just past the cemetery, over the hill and you will find the Pioneer Saloon on the right.

See you there ASS-HOLE!

- C Reed

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Hoover Dam
Hard Hat Tour

When you are in Las Vegas you must go see the Hover Dam. They have two different tours, the short one for the people with kids and for those who do not want to walk-and-walk-and-walk, and the Hard Hat Tour. If you have the time and the stamina take the Hard Hat Tour, it is an awesome look at an awesome structure.

Our dam guide's name was Earl. Although he was a bit corny, he did have a sense of humor to go along with the explanations of the dam. We learned about the length of time it took, the equipment needed to build this unique structure, how much concrete it took, the manpower, how many died, and on and on.

The best part was that we got to crawl through tunnels that lead to the face of the dam and look out and down at the swirling waters below. We saw the inner dam and the leaking waters that were being forced through the concrete walls under the extreme pressure of Lake Mead. We also walked past the huge General Electric generators to the pipeline that was feeding the water to the turbines, there was so much water flowing through the pipes that the floor shook.

Dam good tour, it is a must. We got to keep our hard hats too.

- C Reed
 

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