Miles Travelled: 5,045
Miles Hiked: 73.7
Current Location: Nevada / Arizona state line
On our way out of Las Vegas we hit the worst traffic of the trip so far as we crossed Hoover Dam. We were anxious to get to the Grand Canyon so we were not sure if we were going to stop or not but when an easy parking spot opened up we pulled in.
We walked across the dam and took a few pictures. This one is of Lake Meade which is formed by the dam.
There are several monuments around the park and there is a legend that rubbing the feet of one of them will bring you good luck so we had LD do what she could to make the rest of our trip go well.
We only spent about 45 minutes at Hoover Dam and then headed for Grand Canyon National Park. Then the strangest, most inexplicable thing of the entire trip happened.
To understand what happened try to envision what driving through the Arizona desert is like. Straight roads, flat landscape, no trees, no animals and even the cars are few and far between. The radio was off and we were talking about the trip when all of a sudden something hit the windshield with so much noise that we both jumped out of our seats and I nearly swerved off of the road.
Again, we are driving along at 80 m.p.h. and there is absolutely NOTHING to be seen within miles of the car. The windsheild is covered with countless individual globs of what looks like sap but we notice that there are little pieces of stuff in this clear substance. It was basically like hundreds of birds shit on the car simuoltaneously.
I cannot begin to explain the shock we were in. The wipers could not clear the windshield and we were worried that whatever hit the car was all over our stuff in the back of the truck so we pulled over at the next rest area. When we got out we found that the sides, hood, roof, bed and back of the truck were completely clear. We had no idea what it could have been. Then I walked around the truck and saw this on the front edge of the hood.
Then it became clear what it was. We had driven through a swarm of bees. When we looked closer at the globs on the windshield you could see wings and other bee parts in them. Our idea was confirmed when we popped the hood. There were hundreds of bees stuck in the grill.
I'm sure that some of you are asking why hitting some bugs with the car warranted such an in-depth write up. All I can say is that it was one of the most unexpected and initially unexplainable things we have ever seen. Our surprise when it happened and curiosity in trying to determine what it was made me want to capture it in as much detail as possible.
Click here for the full Hoover Dam photo album
