I stopped in Las Vegas to grab a map to make sure I wouldn’t be lost in the desert on my way. One of the locals looked at me with my attire and questioned "There some kind of biker event going on?" I replied yes there was and told him a little about the run. "Well, I thought so, cause there must be thousands of 
bikers I seen riding around here." That made the hair on my neck stand up. Thousands! Nothing makes me happier than lots and lots of bikers! 

So off I headed towards Laughlin on what the map said was a 75-mile trip. The longest 75-mile ride of my life, due  in part to the landscape.  While the beauty is there, there is also a starkness that intimidates. The thought of being out here alone and lost is enough to be sure everything is in working order, on you and your bike!  So many bikes past me going the opposite direction I began to wonder if I had turned myself around.

At last, I crested the ridge and saw the valley and Laughlin at once. The lights from the casinos were bright even during the day. Traffic was horrific but was 80% bikes. It was a show of shorts for the locals who line the main street watching the bikes.  Some had even brought out picnics and lawn chairs. 

The casinos had striped the regular parking down to bike-size parking. There were motorcycle vendors for Indian, Excalibur and Harley, all offering bikes for  test rides and plenty of folks taking them up on it too.  Believe it or not it took me about 25 minutes to get not more than 2 miles from the turn off to the hotel!

The River Palm was the meeting point for me and Billy and "Miss B.B." who had invited me to share their room.  This was my first trip to the Laughlin River Run and Billy Gordon (of Billy Gordon and the Blue Rockers) and "Miss B.B." had told me there would not be a room to be found. Billy's band plays exclusively for biker events and he had been booked at the River Palm Casino for the weekend along with accommodations.  Lucky for me I was sharing because I did call before I left home and was given a number to call that tells you where there are vacancies in the area. The lady on the phone just laughed and said that there was only one room within 100 miles from Laughlin! That means a lot of riders had to ride in every day from pretty far out. That one room, 42 miles away,  was at Ramada Inn going for $250!!  If you plan to go next year, I suggest booking a room now!  Unless of course, you enjoy a long ride in the morning and each night and missing a lot of the fun!  There were a lot of camping sights and it appeared to be free.  It was really nice at night for camping but hotter than the devil during the day. 

Once I had settled in, I had a chat with the band about the events of the weekend and their schedule.  They were booked to play each night in the River Palm lower level bar called The Bermuda Room. If you have never had the pleasure of hearing Billy Gordon and The Blue Rockers you should check them out when you get the chance. A lot of their songs are biker inspired.  I especially love "Let Me Ride in Peace" which is on their C.D. Helmet Laws Suck.  Billy grew up hanging out as a kid at the biker bars and knows no other life. That reminds me, there is still a helmet law in Nevada!

As the band began their preparations for a long night ahead, I headed out to meet, greet and generally party down. There were bikes everywhere you turned. The terrain was wonderful for bikes with hills and twists and lots of places to go. There was a parade of sorts going on constantly on the main drag. I met one woman who rode down from Sturgis but I’m sorry to say I can’t remember her name.  She said that of course, this Laughlin thing was a lot of fun but is tiny compared to the one in her hometown every year.  She said she grew up with the biker’s yearly commute to Sturgis and had wanted to get a bike the minute she could get her license.  She had to wait though until she could afford it and also until she moved out of her parent’s home since they didn’t think it was to good of an idea.

Although I never made it there myself, I heard there was a ghost town not far away. I did check out the Arizona side, which is Bullhead City, around the lake from Laughlin. There was a great little biker shop there with very friendly folks and fantastic prices, called Bullhead Leather and Cycle. If you make it to Laughlin next year, definitely check it out. The leather prices are a deal and they will sew on any patch for the price of the patch only.  I took advantage of that and got the ride patch.

Every night at all the casinos there were name band entertainment. I saw Kansas, Lynard Skynard, .38 Special and Humble Pie just to name a few.  The concerts were held both inside and outside of the casinos, so you could pretty much find a party anywhere.  There was bars set up outside too.  The price of the alcohol was amazingly cheap.   Although it was obvious that the casinos really wanted you gambling, and a gambler I’m not, there were definitely lots of options available. There were your entire selection of regular vendors, bike events and wet T-shirt contest.  There were drawing for several Harley's and even a pickup truck.  I never did hear who won but it obviously wasn’t me!

All in all it was a great trip and a good time.  I met people from Utah, Canada, California, Arizona, Missouri, Colorado, Washington… and that’s just a few!  If you get the opportunity next year, stop on by.