"Depend on the rabbit's foot if you will, but remember it didn't work for the rabbit."
--R.E. Shay

On to Laughlin
Predeparture check
We got radios, frequency designations and call signs; that's when we knew.... some people just can't be left alone in Sharper Image.

About 90 miles from Vegas is Laughlin, Nevada. Laughlin is located on the shores of the Colorado River, just across the river from Bullhead City, Arizona, and is a great alternative to Vegas. Like Vegas, Laughlin has gambling and lots of entertainment, plus it has all the recreation opportunities of the Colorado River. There's a "strip", however there aren't as many hotels and the hotels aren't as grand; actually Laughlin is a lot like Vegas maybe 20 years ago. We stayed at the Flamingo Laughlin, Sun-Thur rate $22, weekend rates are higher. Food was inexpensive. The Flamingo had a steak and egg special for $1.99 and of course all the hotels have breakfast, lunch and dinner buffets.

Water sports- because you're right on the water, there are all kinds of water sports available. You can rent a jet ski, ski boats, fishing boats or a pontoon boat for a floating party. I didn't do any of this, but that's because I get seasick in a bathtub, and remember, I did have that radio. There's a nice walkway along the river connecting some of the hotels, a great place to take a stroll, especially if there's a breeze, unfortunately there wasn't one. Which brings me to one of the negatives of Laughlin; it's HOT! It was over 100 with humidity around 19% every day, and this was the end of September.

As luck would have it we arrived in Laughlin the same time as the annual "Roddin' On the River" car show. Showcased were street rods, classics, customs, muscle, specialty cars and trucks, all from the 40's, 50's and 60's. The show was held in the adjacent hotel's parking lot so we could almost fall out of bed and roll into a pristine 57 Chevy Bel Air FI convertible with twin antennas, skirts, factory continental kit, orginal pump and filter with correct mounting bolts. (were we lucky or what?)

Outside of Laughlin
About an hour's drive from Laughlin, is Oatman Arizona. Oatman is an old mining town located on an old stretch of Route 66. Wild burros, descendants of those abandoned by miners, roam the town freely and I do emphasize the word "freely". You can see the the town in maybe 90 minutes, less if you don't have to respond to someone asking "can you hear me now", every 5 minutes.

One last thing about the radios, they were suppose to help keep us in contact, but we couldn't use them in the casinos because of security reasons and outside all I ever heard was VROOMMM-VROOMMMMM!

Keep'em flying



[This message was edited by Migflanker on October 02, 2003 at 11:52 AM.]