November 15, 2012 Odometer 25344 Bullhead City, AZ Ten days on the road and we’ve finally reached Arizona! We are only 97 miles south of Las Vegas and we’ve taken 10 days to get here! 851 miles from Medford in 10 days gives us an average of 85 miles a day! PERFECT! In truth, we lingered a little longer in Las Vegas than we normally would have 4-1/2 days, but really this is what we set out to do- see the USA in a leisurely way. We now have a good working refrigerator and we have had the time to walk the Las Vegas strip, visit the Clark County Museum, the Freemont Street Experience, restring two day/night blinds, re-bush/ clean and lubricate our tow bar, and stock up on groceries and fuel. While we were checking off this list of accomplishments, we actually were having a lot of fun! Joan has friends we want to visit in Oatman, Arizona which is only about 27 miles from the RV park we are in here at Bullhead City. If we can connect with them to confirm they are home, we’ll drive over in the car tomorrow, and stay on here another night. Bullhead City is located on the East bank of the Colorado River, downstream from the Hoover Dam, in Mohave County, Arizona. No that’s not a misspelling of Mojave- they spell this county name with an “h” calling it the modern English version of Mojave- it's also the spelling used by the earliest documented explorer, Melchor Diaz in 1540. Bullhead City is directly across the river from Laughlin, Nevada. According to Wikipedia- Bullhead City was originally called Hardyville, named for New York native William Hardy who set up a ferry across the river in the 1800’s. When the railroad by- passed Hardyville in the early 20’s in favor of Kingman, AZ- Hardyville became a ghost town. Construction of the Bullhead Dam on the Colorado river started here in 1942, and a new town was born out of the remnants of Hardyville. The dam and the city were named after a local landmark and navigation way point used by steamboat pilots, know as Bull’s Head Rock. Bullhead dam was re-named Davis Dam, by the Bureau of Reclamation some time after it’s completion. It was named in honor the Director of the Bureau, Arthur Powell Davis. There is a steep decent into Laughlin and then a bridge crossing into Arizona and Bullhead City. All the while I am taking glances at these incredible mountains

Following route State Route 95 south along the Colorado river we spotted this huge "floating" casino called the Colorado Belle. We thought it was floating- turns out it's a ruse.