14/15APR10 - Laughlin, NV (happy tax day!!!)

After paying our Freightliner bill Wednesday morning, 14APR, we got back on the road. We decided to head to Laughlin, NV, to test the laws of probability. Turns out Laughlin is the third most visited gambling city in Nevada, after Vegas & Reno; & one of the top 5 RV destinations in the USA! Laughlin is the result of Don Laughlin buying an abandoned motel in 1966, on the banks of the Colorado River in southern Nevada where there was no town at the time. At the start he had eight rooms, twelve slot machines, & two gaming tables. In the beginning the motel was more famous for its all you can eat chicken dinners for 98 cents, than as a gambling destination. The motel grew through the years to become the Riverside Casino, which employs 2000 people, has 1400 rooms, 900 RV spots, an 800 seat theater, 6 restaurants, 2 pools, six movie theaters, & a 34 lane bowling alley! In 1986 he used his own money to build a bridge linking his casino with Arizona, & in 1991 he donated $9 million to build a larger airport next door in Arizona to get more tourists to visit the area. The end result is that there are now at least ten major casinos in Laughlin, all because of Don Laughlin’s vision.

http://www.riversideresort.com/

After setting up camp at the Riverside Casino RV Park, we walked over to the casino to check it out. One difference we noticed between Laughlin & Vegas is that Laughlin does not cater to the high rollers. For example in Vegas you will see casinos heavily advertising the latest restaurant by Wolfgang Puck or Emeril, but in Laughlin they advertise their Denny’s or McDonalds! Instead of having highend boutiques, the Riverside has stores selling cheap watches ($19.95) or cheap rings ($9.95). After Dan did a little gambling he headed upstairs to checkout Mr Laughlin’s antique car & antique slot machine collection.

The next day after sleeping in, we had a pleasant desert drive to the Native American Avi Casino where it turns out there was a very big muscle car & hot rod rally. One owner of a Cobra coupe race car had the driver’s side window labeled “ticket window”.

http://www.avicasino.com/

From the Avi we crossed the river into Arizona to take a different route back to the RV for a little sun time around the pool before dinner. That evening we took a break from the casinos, but Dan did go out to photograph some of the neon signs & lights of the various casinos. Before he even got out of the parking lot, he ran across a gathering of 1930s Ford Model A’s.