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Times are changing. Everything seems to be changing. The economy continues to struggle despite the Fed’s happy speak, and the Global Warming crowd seem to have lost their footing as a cold winter seems to linger on well into late spring.

This year’s Laughlin Run seems to shine a spotlight on these new realities. the first major run of the year, the Laughlin Run was always typified by high prices and a failure to deliver. Add in over 100 degree heat in the desert, and you have the makings of the Laughlin Run. And yet the biker’s always swarmed to this tiny desert town. And so did the vendors. Key word here is “did”.

Panman, Tallyho and his little “donkey”, and I  were going to make a quick overnight run for Laughlin this year. We packed up our Harley’s for this year’s run in last minute fashion. We were going to run out on Saturday, but a last minute schedule change set us out on Thursday. This year we are tenting it. Paying $250 for what would otherwise be a $29 room seems to grate on us more this year than normal.

The other thing that seemed out of place was the amount of cold weather gear we were packing. Light sprinkles were daring us to try the road, and we finally obliged, leaving out at 2:30 in the afternoon for the 4 hour ride to Laughlin.

As we moved up the 15 towards the pass, we were surprised by the amount of snow the current storm had dropped on the hills on both sides of the freeway. This is Southern California… and in late April! Strange! The temperatures quickly dropped below 40 degrees as we turned the throttles to work our way up into the high desert.

As we passed through Victorville, the showers once again began. This continued on and off until we were passed Barstow. And then the gloves came off! If you have ever been in a rainstorm in the desert, you’ll now what I am talking about. You can see the cloud coming. The tell tale sign of the rain falling out of it even before you get to it. The humidity rises quickly, and the smell of wet sage rises into the air. And then it hits you. Nothing to do but moderate the speed and get through it. Fortunately the highway is long a straight through the desert.

The number of bikes on the road seemed awfully low. And the gas stop in Ludlow lacked the long waiting lines at the fuel pumps that is normally typical. But it gave us an opportunity to see a few old friends. We ran into Betsy Huelkamp. Betsy is an avid rider and writer for Women Riders Now. She also occasionally pops up on Bikernet.com. I am sure she’ll have a great story to tell.

We also saw our old friend Dave and his crew as they pulled in to this desert choke point for fuel. A quick beer, a few laughs, and it was time to hit the highway again for our final leg into Laughlin. Funny how the 4 hour run seems to be taking closer to 6 hours. Go figure.

As we pulled into Laughlin, it seemed more like a ghost town than a biker rally. Just passed sundown, and the streets were bare. We made our way to the campground at the end of the strip and broke camp. We still had time enough for dinner and a few beers over a friendly game of dominoes before we hit the sacks.

The morning didn’t start as early as I expected. Must be getting old or something. But there seemed to be no end of visitors, including a visit by Jerry of Purple Slice. For those of you that haven’t yet met Jerry, make sure you catch it at one of the rallies and tell him Coach says hi! A real nice guy, and knows everything about cleaning your ride. Plus, he seems to always have a few samples of his Purple Slice spray. This stuff is the kind! Make sure you check it out.

After breakfast, it was time to check out the vendors. We parked our bikes at the Edgewater, and began making the rounds. I fully expected there to be less vendors this year, but I was amazed at just how few there actually was. Now don’t get me wrong. There were still plenty of vendors, but less than half compared to years past. I talked to a couple of vendors as we made our rounds and asked about the vendor fees this year. True to form, the vendor fees were higher this year, not lower. I guess someone didn’t get the memo that “it’s the economy, stupid!”

One of the blaring absences this year was the lack of custom bike builders. Big Bear Choppers was there, but not many others. And where were all the sexy girls? This is different! What a disappointment! Kuryakyn was  there, and had an equally sized area for installation of there parts. JP Cycles also had their big tent.

A couple of bloody mary’s  and a stroll through the vendors tents, it was time to make our way to Oatman. This was going to be a quick trip. First thing is first though. Gotta break camp.

Oatman is a little old (really old) mining town situated on old Route 66 in the hills of Arizona between Kingman and Laughlin. The narrow street is lined by old 1800 style flat front buildings offering t-shirts and trinkets, and a saloon and a couple of sandwich shops. The donkeys that wander the street now are more famous than the gunslingers that once played faro here.

In years past the temperatures would blast well over 100 degrees. Today it was comfortable around 80. What a huge difference as we wandered the streets of Oatman.

With the bikes already packed, it was time to leave Oatman and Laughlin behind and make our way home. Told you this was a quick trip! I had noticed that the Arizona police and sheriff were keeping a low profile this year. That is good. But the California Highway Patrol seemed to swarm the border like a pack of hungry dogs waiting for prey. It is sad to see a state try to settle their budget woes by forcing their police to become overtly aggressive. More signs of changes coming.

The ride home was generally uneventful, at least until the sun started gong down. Wow, it cooled off quickly. And as we once again entered into Victorville, the temps plunged below 40 degrees. And this time we weren’t wearing our cold weather gear. Wow, that’s cold. But we persevered and pushed on.

Laughlin was always the overpriced run that failed to deliver. But it is the first big run of the year, and typically packs a large crowd and lots of vendors and bike builders. A few good bands, a little casino action and some drinks with old friends and new ones too. It was all good. The sheer lack of numbers of both riders and vendors is concerning. I pray this is not a harbinger of things to come, but I am afraid it may be.

When you’re on your next run, look around for an Ultra flying US and Navy Jack flags. Panman and I will be out there looking for the next great ride. I hope to see you there too!

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