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John: When I drive down to work I chant; and I chant because that frees up your spirit. It allows you to listen to people and to meet people and to enjoy them as well.

My name is John Roddy and I work at the Laughlin River Lodge in the Bighorn Cafe Bar. I've been working in Laughlin for 29 years. We have a nice amount of weather that's just agreeable to folks. Then, of course, we have the Colorado River which is very inviting.

So as a bartender the drinks that I get to make are pretty much original drinks that I create myself. So I use a lot of recipes from the 1900s to the 1940s and then develop them for the products that I am able to use today. I carry a recipe book that I started when I first started tending bar and I'm still carrying that same book today, 32 years later.

People come back to Laughlin to have their favorite experiences and their favorite drinks because things are hand-crafted. I begin by making a drink that I think is correct and the customer can then tell me what they like better what they like to have different and I can build a drink to do that for them.

The most important thing about tending bar is just actually paying attention to people. It's very important to me to make people feel like they’re part of my family and so that's where you get the people that come back time after time.

John: We're going to call it Mark's Drink.

Mark: I'll be a legend.

Two and a half years ago we decided to get married and we asked John to be our witness. When we got married here at the bar, it was the two of us, a minister, and John.

Vikki: My husband and I fell in love with him. That smile, that personality, it keeps us coming every single time.

John: I have a general warm feeling for Laughlin that makes me feel like this is really home. It makes me feel like I was actually born here and when people ask me "Where are you from?” I always tell them Laughlin.