Mohave Daily News: Business

By DOMINIKA MASLIKOWSKI/The Daily News

Tuesday, September 11, 2007 11:01 PM CDT

LAUGHLIN - Brad Mays, owner of Extreme Adventure Tours, says his new location at the Preferred Outlet Mall will offer tourists a more nature and family-oriented alternative to casinos.

Extreme Adventure Tours offers mining tours of historical Oatman and lake tours of the Davis Dam area that are infused with fun, history and sport. Founded two years ago in Bullhead City, the company celebrated the grand opening of their second location on Tuesday with a skit, snacks and carrot juice.

The Ghost Riders, a gunfight re-enactment group from Oatman, were asked if they hadn't wondered to the wrong side of the river when they approached the crowd in front of the store.

Acting out a skit of a “turf war” between Laughlin and Oatman, the actors were covered with silly string by a group of children who came at them from inside the store.

“We're offering fun and we believe Laughlin was in need of this,” Mays said.

“We entertain. It's not just a sand ride. We'll entertain you, (the Ghost Riders) will rob you in Oatman and we'll educate you.”

The brightly colored store, downstairs in the mall's food court, has a corner where a part of Oatman is duplicated.

A yellow sand rail stands near the entrance.

Guided tours are taken mostly by tourists and locals looking for something to do with their visiting family or friends.

The new location in Laughlin will now serve as the launching point for both tours, which are from two to four and a half hours and cost between $79 and $149. Besides the Oatman and Lake Tours, the company also plans to offer a Secret Pass tour of lands at Laughlin Ranch that were once used as a secret hiding spot by Native Americans.

The Lake Tours, Mays said, take visitors to lower Grapevine Canyon to see big horn sheep, to the base of Spirit Mountain, holy land to the Mojave Indians, and swimming in a cave.

“The places that we take them, the skyline ... we don't take them on the highway, but down the dirt roads,” Mays said. “We take you back in time. Instead of reading it in a history book, you live it.

“We'll take the serious and make a kid out of you.”

For more information call 928-758-5080.