Chloride tour

March 20 (Tuesday)
The town of Chloride is roughly 45 miles east and a bit north of Bullhead City on highway 93 toward Vegas. It's an old silver mining town that first got a post office in 1873, although mining started in the area in 1860. The town got it's name from the Silver Chloride mineral found in the hills. It is considered the oldest silver mining camp in Arizona. Although not a ghost town its population is only about 300 or so residents today. At one time prior to 1930 there were 75 mines in the area and about 3500 people called the town home.

We headed over today to have a look around. Many of these small towns are pretty much shut down on Monday and Tuesday. Their big tourist days are on the weekends. This being Tuesday many of the shops were closed, but it also meant there weren't too many people wandering around.

Interesting fenceline

Well weathered wheels.

Cyanide Village. They use this area for the gunfights held every Saturday.

A lot of hard miles on this horseshoe.

The 'village' is just a row of facades. Still, pretty cool.

Yesterday's was closed today as it was yesterday but it would be open tomorrow. Got it?

This is also the tourist info place. A friendly lady gave us a map of the town and directions to the rock murals.

Many homes had interesting yard art. This is a balance beam. See the two large stones at either end? No real purpose to this, just kinda neat use of old steel, a couple of rocks and ingenuity.

Heated and air conditioned. What luxury!

The bar was closed.

Old bank vault building. Now a residence.

A bottle fence.

Another feature of the area is a number of rock murals just up in the hills outside of town. These were originally painted by artist Roy Purcell back in the 1960's, and then redone by Purcell and his grandson in 2006.

The 1.3 mile dirt road is a bit rough in spots.

On our return to highway 93 we come to the junction. This is called Grasshopper Junction. It has seen better times.

A bit further along hwy 93 is this oddity, called Santa Claus. Wanna buy a town? It's a bit of a fixer upper!

After a great day trip, we headed back to Bullhead City.
........and that was Our View From Here!

The Riverview Casino

March 19 (Monday)
We have visited a number of the casinos in Laughlin but we hadn't spent much time inside the first and original casino, the Riverside. This is the only family owned casino left in Laughlin. The Riverside Casino is owned by Don Laughlin and his family. Don was also the namesake of the town, he donated the bridge across the Colorado from Bullhead City, and has been a major force in the development of casino drive and the town of Laughlin.

We started by getting a players card for the casino, which also gets you discounts at some of the casino attractions. After a frustrating wait and lengthy process to get our cards we headed off to the penny slots to make a donation to the Riverside Casino family business, but only five bucks or so.

Our main purpose of visiting the casino was to see the classic car museum upstairs on the third floor. Many of the cars are from Don Laughlin's personal collection and many others are on loan from other collectors in the area. Some items are for sale. It's a very interesting display with some unique and rare items.

Looks like a robot, but it's a 1947 outboard motor.

This trike was built by Rupp. I remember them building snowmobiles in the early 1970's.

$143,000 seems like a lot of money!

OK, so this is the reason the price is so high. Still too much.

This motorcycle has been driven over 485,000 miles and around the world. See the stats below......

Impressive!

The very interesting story of Emilio Scoto and his motorcycle. You can read more here.

One of the oldest in the collection.....1914.

One of the newest......2002

Race cars to.......

.......cruisers

Muscle cars to .......

.......not too much muscle!

This is a fun way to spend a couple of hours........
.......and was Our View From Here!

A little cruise, and a little fun!

March 16 (Friday)
We hadn't been out to do much the last couple of days so this being Friday (aka Gambling Day!) we headed over to Laughlin. Before we hit the high stakes poker tables (aka penny slots) we decided to take a short river cruise on the USS Riverside. This boat is run by the Riverside Casino and the cost is $12/person for a 75 minute ride. Not a bad deal.

The boat leaves from the Riverside Casino and makes its way under the bridge toward the Davis Dam. The trip is narrated both ways and provides some interesting facts about the river, the Dam, and background on all the Casinos on the river.

The only cruise boat that can get under the bridge.

The Colorado River is very clear. You can see the bottom easily.

Lots of fishing on this stretch of river.

The Davis Dam......

....spillway and generating station.

Davis Camp day use and campground.

The Casino row along the River.

Taxi service from the Arizona side to the Nevada side.

The Colorado Belle Casino.

A great way to see the shoreline from a different perspective. The narration was very good and the price was right.

We went back to our favorite casino, the Pioneer, and played a few slots and some video poker at the bar. We had a couple of drinks and walked out only short a couple of dollars. Not a bad way to spend an afternoon!

March 17 (Saturday)
They had some special events going on for St Patrick's Day so being good Irishmen we felt it our duty to partake!

Harrah's had a great buffet lunch that included corned beef, cabbage, potatoes, Irish stew, and the usual fare you would find at a buffet. All the food was very good and I would rate this buffet in the top three we have ever eaten. To top this we used our new Players Card and won just enough on the penny slots to pay for one of our meals. WooHoo!

We headed down the street to the Colorado Belle casino where they had a couple of live Irish bands playing outside. Good entertainment and watching the merrymakers was even better. It was only 3 PM but there were a few folks that would not make it to suppertime! We behaved and were home by late afternoon......still full from lunch.

.....and that was Our View From Here!