- We arrived at our RV park
in 115 degree temps in Las Vegas,
and apparently, the park can't handle the load,
so we are at our third RV site.
They have all tripped.
It can't handle our A/C, so the management is working
to see if they can find us a site that's not gonna trip,
where we can run our A/Cs.
Currently, the generator's going,
because it's about 97 in the RV with the generators going.
- Yeah, if they don't get this fixed soon,
I'm gonna trip. (uplifting music)
- We started already calling other RV parks, Tara did,
to see if we could find one that's not tripping.
I know she called the KOA.
KOA has three sites left and they're going quick
'cause people are getting off the road,
and apparently, they're not tripping,
so what, really, this means is
we might be canceling plans here and we might be moving on.
So we had some appointments
and some meetings we were gonna do here.
(door slamming) I just went dark here.
I'm thinking that we're gonna cancel them and move on,
because we can't risk leaving Giz here
in the rig if it's gonna trip, and if they don't have
the power, the electric, the wiring, I should say,
to handle this heat, we're moving north.
- Yeah, this is crazy.
I'm at my wit's end.
- We can't get the rig below 94, that's as low as it's been.
It finally just hit 94, and that's the generator, mind you.
That's not on their power.
- Yeah, and I'm not paying for full hookups
to run my generator, and they'll either have to refund us
or they'll have to refund us.
- (laughs) That's where we're both at.
We are moving to another site again,
so this makes site one, two, this makes site four.
Luckily, they finally called
their on-call electrician, who's also a journeyman,
so he actually knows what he's doing,
and he went and checked the lines
and made sure it's not going to be overloaded.
So there's only three rigs that's gonna be on that breaker,
so hopefully, this will do it.
I don't know, we've been here for three hours, maybe longer,
trying to get set up, trying to get cooled off.
(sighs) It's just crazy.
It's 90 in here, so we're down to 90,
and now we gotta shut everything off, close it all up,
and move to another site.
- What site you putting us in,
36? - 136.
- Okay. - Beverly's in the office.
She's trying to get this all straightened out for you guys.
- Well, I tell you, we drove six hours today,
and then we've been here three hours in the park
and still haven't got set up.
- I understand. - So if this works, Bill-
- It's gonna work. - You might move
to the top of my Christmas card list, I'm telling you.
(Bill laughs) All right, let's do it.
(RV humming) (RV squeaking)
- Just watch that rock beside your back tire.
So finally, after four sites,
we finally have one that would give us power.
- (laughs) Yeah, I'm telling you,
this was probably the worst travel day,
as far as getting to a spot and wanting to hook up,
especially in 115 degree heat!
- Yeah, and it was well over 95 inside the rig,
so of course, we were worried about Giz,
but they did make it right.
The manager stayed over
an extra two hours after they closed
to make sure we finally found a site that worked.
- Yeah, we were this close
to pulling out of here and finding another spot.
In fact, Stacy was- - I was already calling.
- Already looking. (Stacy laughs)
It's amazing that the campground was more interested
in filling up spots than the comfort of its guests,
because, just talking with people here,
they said it's a known issue.
People are complaining all the time,
the breakers are always popping,
whether pedestal or your rig,
and they're doing nothing about it.
And talking with the manager,
she says, "Yeah, we know it needs to be done,"
but nothing's getting done.
Now in her defense, she's retired once
and they brought her back because they needed help.
However, they're not listening
to the people running the park here,
the owners of the park.
- I will say that the campground did give us
50% off our stay here to try and make it right.
The manager knew that this was a problem,
and she was really nice.
She was an older lady, super nice.
She did the best she could with what she had,
to be honest. - Yeah, okay, switch.
(Stacy laughing) - See this is what happens
when you stand. - My arm's getting tired.
(Phil exclaims) - All right,
so needless to say, we have several weeks here in Vegas,
and it is a little warm, but we will make the best of it.
- Yeah, so our pro tip for you is don't come here
when it's blazing hot, don't come to Vegas.
- And when they're scheduled to break all kind of records
on the heat. (laughs) - (laughs) Yeah.
(soft music)
- [Narrator] Hoover Dam began
as a simple, square, wooden form filled with concrete,
followed by more than 3 million cubic yards of concrete
over the next 2 years.
Add the adjoining structures, and enough concrete was placed
to build a four foot-wide sidewalk
around the Earth's equator.
♪ Rising sun hits the sky ♪
♪ See it open before us ♪
♪ Take these hopes, hold them high ♪
♪ Every step takes you closer ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ The stars will show us ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ It's all waiting for us ♪
♪ Every turn in living color ♪
♪ Heaven knows what we'll discover ♪
♪ A story in the making ♪
♪ The world is ours for the taking ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh, oh, oh ♪
♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪
- There's as much mass surrounding you right now
as there is in the largest pyramid in Egypt,
so this is quite an engineering feat.
In fact, it was voted one of the top 10 engineering feats
of the 20th century.
- [Stacy] Ooh, it's warm, hang on.
- [Guide] Watch your step.
[Stacy] - Woohoo!
- Get the camera lined up. - What are you people doing?
I'm trying to get the camera lined up
to see how far this goes. (people chattering)
It's a long damn way.
- [Phil] How deep is it?
- Can you see the bottom? - You can see
the light shining down there.
- And it just goes forever? - Right there!
- Oh, the magnet almost pulled this out of my hand.
- Dude! - You just got it yesterday.
- (laughs) I know. - Let's not lose it today.
(Stacy laughs) - That's a long way down.
- [Stacy] You would have some explaining to do.
- [Chad] (laughs) No, I would just go buy another one
and pretend it never happened.
(Stacy laughs) (Chad laughs)
- I'm gonna show you the spot
where we were standing during the tour.
We were looking out through the vent,
about down here on the side of the dam,
how far down it actually is.
Tips for visiting the Hoover Dam.
- Come in a cooler month, (Stacy laughs)
'cause it's way hot.
- True that, we are under a severe heat advisory.
Big surprise when it's 120.
- Yeah, but number one tip would be get here early.
- And by early, I mean eight a.m.
The tours don't actually start 'til nine,
but if you get here at nine,
half of the day's tickets will already be sold.
- Yeah, so we got here at 9:30,
and we got a 3:30 tour ticket.
- It's $30 per person for the tour,
and that's for both sides of the tour.
- Yeah, it's well worth it,
'cause you get the dam, you get the plant,
and then you get the Visitors Center, the whole shebang,
so if you've never been here, or even if you have,
it's always nice to come here and check this place out.
- Yeah, it's really cool.
It's amazing what they did to build it
and how much new technology they actually invented
in order to create the dam.
So even the little 10-minute video
that, well, if you're like me,
if you like all that stuff, you will love it.
Phil kind of liked it,
but I love it! - Well, I like
coming back here because it is a modern marvel,
and I'm always giddy to see it again
because, I mean, you would not believe
that they could build something like this back in the day
with the technology they had-
- Or didn't have. - Or didn't have, yeah,
compared to what we have today.
- Hard hats were
(Phil laughs) the latest thing back then,
so what does that tell you? (laughs)
- And some folks worked for $3 a day, if that,
so I mean, it's just amazing.
That's all I can say, it is amazing.
- So we would love to know
how many of you guys have toured the Hoover Dam,
and if you've toured it, what was your favorite part,
or what stuck with you the most?
- Yeah, that's what I was gonna say.
Was there something that was an out-of-the-way
that most people don't know about?
I'd like to know that. - Yeah, and by the way,
behind us, the bridge, where's my hand, right there?
That is actually the Tillman Bridge.
- Yeah, the Pat Tillman Bridge.
- Memorial Bridge. - Pat Tillman was
a great American, one, but he was a NFL football player
who played for the Arizona Cardinals,
after 9/11, knew it was his calling
to reply to America's need,
and he joined the Army as a Ranger and died in combat,
and that memorial was named after him.
I mean, amazing story, so if you haven't heard
about the Pat Tillman story, Google that.
- Engineers predicted it to take 100 years
for the Hoover Dam to actually cure, the cement to cure.
- Yeah, and if that was true,
then they would be about 18, 19 years away
from this being fully cured. (Stacy laughs)
However, they developed a refrigeration system
to help cool the concrete as it poured
so that it didn't cause a work stoppage along the way.
- But it is still curing today.
- It is. - It is not completely cured,
but the refrigeration did allow it to cure enough
to keep throwing more on!
This statue depicts the most dangerous job
that there was here when they were building the Hoover Dam.
So guys would sit in this bosun chair,
swinging over the side of the rock,
and put dynamite into the rock to blow it away.
They got the best pay,
and of course, they had the most fatalities.
(somber music)
I just wanted to pop in really quick and remind you guys
that Full-Time Freedom Week is starting September the 20th.
It is gonna be a great time,
and for those of you who have not been a part
of Full-Time Freedom Week in the past,
it is a week full of amazing RV fun and information.
It's like a virtual summit.
You go online to their website, you sign up,
and they send you all these videos for free every day,
and then at the end of each night,
you go to their campfire session
and they give away free RV prizes,
so what is there not to love?
We are lucky to be participating again this year.
This year, we'll be talking
about Corps of Engineers RV parks,
so make sure you check out our video
while you are checking out all the other content
from Full-Time Freedom Week.
I'm telling you, it is an amazing week,
and you guys do not wanna miss out.
We've made it to the Las Vegas sign!
- Well, as you can see, the back of the sign
because the crowd in front is rather large and loud.
- So this place is iconic.
It is on a historical registry.
I think it was built in 1959.
- We'll go with that.
- (laughs) It sounds good, anyway.
- Yeah, 'cause we're always making updates.
- (laughs) So of course, if you come to Vegas,
you to make the iconic trek.
- Yeah, it's recommended.
We have a picture or two somewhere over there.
(bright music)
- It's exactly the same as what I pictured in my head.
- But I thought it would be bigger, actually.
- Did you really? - Yeah, I thought-
- Well, it looks- - It would be much-
- Like it goes on quite a ways.
- It's really so cool. - Here we are, doing
the double camera thing again. - I know. (laughs)
- This is- - You're always gonna know
when we're together,
'cause we're gonna double it. - Just how it is, yeah.
- So it's like, where do we look?
Which camera? (laughs) - I know.
Well, I say we just walk around and wait
for our tour guide. - Yeah, why don't we, yeah.
(bright music)
- Phil and I have been to Vegas a number of times,
and we've tried to come over here a couple times,
but of course, they're only open certain hours
and certain times of the day,
so we weren't able to get over here.
So this was actually on our Vegas bucket list-
- Nice. - And we're pretty excited
to be able to come through here.
- You guys are crossing off some serious bucket list things,
huh? - I know, I mean,
these signs are iconic, and- - Look at this skull!
It's a skull. - Oh, my gosh, it is a skull.
(bright music)
- A lot of these signs have been around
for quite a few years,
and many of them have come off of historic hotels
here in the Vegas area,
and the newest one that just popped up,
and you can see behind me is called Circus,
so it's pretty cool looking through all of these old signs,
and then standing right above it is
one of the newest hotels here in Vegas.
♪ It's a new day ♪
♪ Oh, oh, ooh ♪
(upbeat music)
♪ It feels electric to feel something again ♪
♪ To thaw out from the cold that felt so permanent ♪
♪ Suddenly, I remember the way things used to be ♪
♪ Life's pushing through the ice in sheets of neon green ♪
♪ For the first time in a long time ♪
♪ I feel something warm and bright ♪
♪ It's a new day, it's a new life ♪
♪ Feel the wind change, feel the sunlight ♪
♪ And tomorrow, better than it's ever been before ♪
♪ Winter came and now it's gone away ♪
♪ It's a new day ♪
♪ Oh, oh, ooh ♪
♪ World's alive and I remember now ♪
♪ All the color I forgot about ♪
♪ Sky blue as far as I can see and not a worry to be found ♪
♪ Yeah, I remember now ♪
♪ It's a new day, it's a new life ♪
- We thought the Neon was so cool during the day
that we came back at night so we could see it all lit up,
and they have a guided tour.
- Yeah, and let me tell you,
it was a smart idea to come back here to see them lit up.
During the day, it just doesn't do it justice.
- Right. - You get the actual shimmer
and glimmer and the lights blinking and flickering.
It's pretty cool, it's well worth it.
- Yeah, it's totally worth the guided tour.
They give you a bit of a history about the Neon itself
and some history about Las Vegas and really just talk
about each of the lights, so it's super cool.
- Yeah, another history lesson (Stacy laughs)
Stacy talked me into- (Stacy cheers)
- Sucked him in. - But it was pretty cool.
So if you were paying attention, Stace,
what's the oldest sign they have in here?
- The oldest is the first one with the 1905 from the Nugget.
Is it not? - No.
- What's the oldest sign? - The Chief Motel in the back.
- In 1840. - Oh.
- That 1905 was put on it- - I see.
- To pay homage to one Las Vegas.
- Well, I know, but I thought
that was still the oldest- - See, I was listening.
- No, I thought that was the oldest sign.
- I was listening.
- The cool thing is, what we really learned is
that this Neon graveyard is a nonprofit,
so it is not for profit.
They can only restore the signs a little at a time
through donations and through your tickets
or if you decide to shop in their little gift store.
So if you come, keep that in mind when you buy your ticket.
They're working really hard to restore these neon signs.
♪ Every season, every memory made ♪
♪ All the dreaming led us here today ♪
♪ Can you see it ♪
♪ We got a beautiful story ♪
♪ Every moment, on and on ♪
♪ We got a beautiful story ♪
♪ And we've only just begun ♪
♪ The best is yet to come ♪
(uplifting music)
♪ Never felt my heart beat so wild ♪
♪ While the sunset sets the night on fire ♪
♪ You and me here and it feels so right ♪
♪ We got a beautiful story ♪
♪ Every moment, on and on ♪
♪ We got a beautiful story ♪
♪ And we've only just begun ♪
♪ The best is yet to come ♪