Motel Pool locations 3: Hoover Dam

Over the next few weeks I'll be posting about some of the locations featured in my new novel, Motel. Pool. Today is the third stop: the Hoover Dam.

 

Hoover Dam was built in the early 1930s. Take a look at this photo for a moment as you let that sink in.

 



The dam is damn enormous. And it was built well before computers and lasers and whatever other things modern engineers use to do their magic. Even through modern eyes, it's damn impressive. (Okay. I'll stop.)

It took a lot of people to build the dam, and although I suppose most of them were glad to find work during the Depression, it was a dangerous job.

I'm not too fond of heights, so just looking at the photos makes me a little dizzy. Also, that guy on the left looks like he's in danger of losing his pants any second, and this doesn't strike me as a good location for nudity. In all seriousness, though, it's important to know that around 100 men lost their lives building the dam. They probably came from all over the US, hoping for decent wages, and I wonder what it must have been like for them to die so far from home. That thought helped inspire a scene in Motel. Pool., which takes place right here:

Nowadays, the dam's a pretty safe place, I guess. Although my phone received this alert when we were literally atop the dam:

Does tend to make one uneasy, no?

In Motel. Pool., Tag stops at Hoover Dam on his way to Las Vegas. He gets more than a good view, though--while he's at the dam, he makes a couple damn important discoveries. (Sorry. Can't help it.)