Antique Chevy pickup truck. Use to people didn't care about the old Chevy pickup trucks, they weren't as cool looking as the Fords. There's probably not many Fords left so now people have had to collect and customize the Chevys.

When I got to Laughlin, I drove around the parking lot at the Tropicana Casino, and it looked pretty busy, I saw a couple of hot rods that were here early, but it was too windy to get out and take their picture. So I decided to go across the street to the Pioneer casino and boondock in their parking lot because it was less crowded than the Trop.

So a quick trip to visit the security desk in the Pioneer casino, and after giving them my name, rank, and serial number, they issued me a boondocking permit to boondock in their parking lot for a while.

Back when I first started coming to Laughlin, no one had to go through security to boondock in the parking lot, but my suspicion is some people ruined it by trying to live permanently in the casino parking lots, so security had to get involved.

I didn't do much of anything when I got here because it was really windy; it was windy enough that it made doing anything difficult, so I just laid up in the bronco for most of the day and wrote the rest of the day off as a total loss.

But when I got up Friday morning, it was a lot better. So I went to Home Depot, which is right across the river from me, and picked up a couple of things I needed.... Both of which I have in the Arctic Fox back in Denver, and I knew that was going to happen.

Getting back home to the Pioneer casino, I went across the street to the Tropicana Casino, and many of the cars were there already, but it wasn't all of them. I took a few snapshots, but it was really hot, so I moseyed back home to finish the day in the shade of the bronco.

I'll go back to the Hot Rod show late tomorrow afternoon when it's cooler and try to take some nighttime pictures. There's supposed to be a light show after dark tomorrow, but I don't actually know what that is, so I may have to stick around and find out.

                                                          Theboondork

This is a beautiful 57 Chevy, it's always been one of my favorites, and this one's fuel injected.

Does anyone remember the Rat Fink, this cartoon has always represented my teenage years and my love of Hot Rods, and fast motorcycles. Unfortunately I didn't have enough money to put gas in a Hot Rod much less build one.

A trailer queen.... But in this case instead of trying to keep his car clean for the show, which is the real meaning of a trailer queen. In this case the car probably wouldn't make it without hitching a ride.

A vintage fuel injected Chevy engine. This was a performance option mostly on Corvettes but also on a few passenger cars in 1957.

A 1928 Ford delivery. Notice how it only has two doors, and a long area where the passenger seats should be. And the dead giveaway is the door in the back. I don't know if there's room to lay down in the back, but if there is it would be the coolest camper van.

Boondocking at the Lone Tree BLM boondocking area just outside of Lake Havasu. The Broncos right in the middle of the picture.

  I made it to Laughlin, Nevada, just in time for breakfast, and I'm glad to be here. Of course, at my age, I'm happy to be anywhere, but if I've got to be somewhere, a gambling town is a good place to be, cheap food, free entertainment, and free boondocking in some casino parking lots.

Casino towns like Laughlin and Las Vegas always give me the same feeling, I'm really happy to be there, but in an amazingly short amount of time, I'm really glad to be leaving.

 I'm not sure why that is, but gambling towns seem to get old for me really quick. And it's not because I'm losing money; in fact, I seldom gamble, there's just something about the place that seems so exciting and interesting when I walk in, but in a short time you figure out everything's a facade, it's all fake, there's nothing real in a casino except the money flying out of your pocket and into the casinos counting rooms.

My favorite thing about a casino was the inexpensive buffets, but most of them are no longer affordable; in fact, some of them are now very expensive. And I don't even know if they're actually buffets anymore. I think the Bat flu stopped most of that, but I'm not sure; I'll have to go in the casino and see what's going on with the food.

The car show doesn't start until tomorrow, after lunch, I think. But I'm looking forward to the interesting part of the car show which will be Saturday late afternoon. There will be a best Halloween costume contest for the hot rodders; that sounds like fun, not to mention a serious picture-taking opportunity.

                                                             Theboondork

BLM Lone Tree boondocking area. I see a lot of vans wherever I go, their obviously very popular.

Up on top of the Mesa was too crowded for me so I parked down in the hole.

Up on top of the Mesa has the best view, but I was only staying for one night so it wasn't that important to me.

When I woke up this morning, I made up my mind that going to Laughlin, Nevada, for the Hot Rod show was the thing to do. I seem to make most of my decisions when I first wake up in the morning; there must be something to that old saying about "sleep on it before you make a decision."

I left Congress Arizona late this morning, and got to the Lone Pine BLM boondocking area just north of Lake Havasu before lunch. It's pretty crowded here so I had to park down in the hole instead of up on top where the high class folks boondock. If you've ever stayed here you will know what I'm talking about. It's only about 70 miles to my destination of Laughlin Nevada, so I should easily get there by breakfast in the morning.

Now that I've "lived" in the bronco for a while, I've been working on a list of things I like and don't like about it. Fortunately, so far, the list of likes is longer than the list of don't likes, but I'm not done yet. I have spent enough time in the bronco to know that living in it is something you have to get used to; it doesn't just come naturally if you are used to living in something substantially bigger.

It was the same way when I moved from my house into the Arctic Fox. The Arctic Fox seemed really small, and hard to find a place to put everything. But after figuring out that I had more things than I needed, it was a lot easier to get comfortable in the Arctic Fox.

I guess the same thing will happen in the bronco, although the change is a lot more drastic. There's a lot of things in the Arctic Fox that I don't need, but there's still a lot that I do. But I'm still at the stage where I'm just starting to get used to living in the bronco. I'm still trying to make it more comfortable, still trying to find a convenient place for things, and still trying to get used to having my home with me wherever I go. This means that when I come back from the grocery store, I don't have to camp in the same spot I was camped at before going to the grocery store.

I'm still at the point where I'm learning something every day about living in the bronco. And I've got plenty of time to determine if it's a full-time lifestyle that I want to live or not.

 I'm still working on my like and don't like list, and with any luck, I'll have enough things in it to make a blog post in a few days.

                                                            Theboondork

Usually when I'm watching a team roping contest I can't get anywhere near the starting gate, there is usually 30 or 40 cowboys on their horses all around the starting area waiting for their turn. But since these folks were just practicing I was able to get right next to the starting gate. That's the Headers horse in the foreground, you can barely see the steer leaving the gate in the mid-ground, and the horse in the background is ridden by the Healer

It takes a lot of concentration, and a tremendous amount of practice, to do what these cowboys and cowgirls do. There times to rope and immobilize the steer is measured in tenths of a second, and the seniors had better be able to do it in 7 or 8 seconds to be competitive.

So what's the world record for chasing down a steer at full gallop, the header roping the steers head, the healer roping his back legs and immobilizing the steer so he can't move....... 3.3 seconds.

This cowpoke looks like he's not too happy with his ropes location.

I'm always amazed that these older guys can do what they do. A lot of them have been tossed off too many horses, and tangled up in to many ropes to have survived this long and still be competing, it takes a toll on you.... This guy is only 23.

I'm amazed this cowgirl could actually see what she's roping wearing her holey hat. She probably thinks all the steers are spotted.

This might be where all those holey cowboy hats are coming from.