On June 23, 1999 Carol Hills died. I will be leaving this page for as long as geocities allows. She enjoyed creating web pages and put a great deal of time and effort into making them work. She will be missed by all who knew her.

Laughlin, Nevada

A Residents View

Thanks For Stopping By

Let Me Be Your Guide For The Next Few Minutes Of Your Life!

This is where we are. 5 minutes from Arizona, 30 minutes from California and 95 miles from Las Vegas. Because Arizona does not observe day light savings time, 6 months out of the year we have a one hour time difference. That can cause a real problem with appointments. You have to remember to leave home an hour early.

A Stones Throw As you can see, the Casino's are located on the banks of the Colorado River. Water taxi's are used to go across the river to Bullhead City in Arizona.

Sand and Rocks This is pretty typical of the terrain around Laughlin. Good for hiking and getting sand in your shoes if you're into that sort of thing.

We have lived in Laughlin for 11 years and have witnessed phenomenal growth. There were only 6 Casino's on the river when we got here. Now there are 11 and one on the Indian Reservation. We have seen a whole community spring up. We now have 2 schools, an elementary and a high school. We also have our own very modern post office and library. It is definately different living in a tourist town like Laughlin. There is always something going on.

The town is gearing up now for the annual "River Run". Also called "Rumble On The River". April 22nd through April 25th. Approximately 50,000 people will descend on the community, all riding harleys. Another 20,000 people come just to watch them. The noise is deafening and we have to go through them just to go to the grocery store. I'm not going to say it's a bad thing, but remember, I am a resident going about the business of living just like everyone else in their own towns.

Motor Home Invasion Somewhere between October to around the end of April, we get the "Snow Birds". People who come here for our winter to get out of the snow of their winters. I can't say that I blame them, we don't really have what you would call winter. It never gets much below 40 degrees. Of course they are more than happy to go home for the summer. Our average temperature for the summer is about 115 degrees. I have seen it 125 and 130 more than once.

Colorado River One way to beat the heat is to go in the water. Because of a constant 7mph current, the water never warms up to more than about 60 degrees and that can really feel cold.

We are only 65 miles from Lake Havasu. Home of the famous London Bridge. You can travel the Colorado River from Laughlin to Lake Havasu. A must see if you come here.

By now you are probably thinking this is just another commercial. Well, it's not. There are some definate drawbacks to living in a tourist town. I'm sorry to say, the biggest one is the tourists themselves. No matter how badly we need them, we feel they sometimes get in our way. The traffic alone can be a real nightmare. We may only be needing to get to Bullhead to pick up a prescription or go to the grocerie store and the streets are full of people strolling around without purpose or destination. For those of us that actually live in Laughlin as apposed to Bullhead, we must deal with Casino drive to get across the one and only bridge across the river. Laughlin has no major grocery store or pharmacy.

Something new to Laughlin is pedestrian traffic. When the mall was built across the street, people began walking to it. Never mind that there is a traffic light and a cross walk. They just stroll across anywhere they want and dare cars to hit them. Worst of all, they usually have a couple kids in tow teaching them to jay walk too.

Aside from what goes on with the tourists and Casino Drive, our single most serious problem has been to get recognition in the residential area of Laughlin by Metro Police Department. Because Laughlin is Unincorporated, we come under the jurisdiction of Clark County. It was a fight just to get patrol cars in the neighborhoods. Every consideration is to Casino Drive. That is where the money and influence is and they look out for them first. I'm sure I will not make many people happy saying that but it is the way the majority of the residents of Laughlin feel.

We are no different than any other town when it comes to drugs and crime. In our neighborhood alone, there have been 2 "Meth" labs shut down. Bullhead City, in Arizona, has at least one a day, not to mention drive by shootings. At least, so far, we have been spared that in Laughlin.

Events for 1999

To Be Continued!

© 1997

If you have any special questions or comments please e-mail me

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