I came upon this giant in 2010 during my cross country trip. I had left my brother at the BMW dealer in Salt Lake City and had done the 121 miles to Wendover by myself with a stop at the Bonneville Salt Flats International Speedway. It was one of the highlights of my trip, the Salt Flats had been a dream visit since childhood when my dad had shown pictures of the famous Blue Bird land speed record cars.
After arriving in Wendover I crossed the state line in the center of town, Utah/Nevada and was immediately struck by the size of the cowboy in the center of West Wendover, the two towns are separated by the state line.
Info from Wikipedia:
Wendover Will was named after the town of Wendover and William Smith, who founded the Stateline Casino. The 63 foot (19 m)-tall sign was intended to draw travelers in from US Highways 40 and 50, later known as Interstate 80. The sign includes 1,184 feet (361 m) of neon tubing.
When the Stateline Casino changed ownership, the sign was donated to West Wendover. The town spent approximately $200,000 to restore the sign; the restoration was done by The Young Electric Sign Company. Wendover Will was moved to Wendover Boulevard in the town's center
Wendover Will was included in the Guinness Book of Records as the "World's Largest Mechanical Cowboy"
I had nothing else to do but wait for my brother to arrive. I parked the bike in front of Wendover Will and walked to a nearby casino to get a drink and reprieve from the heat.
You can read the blog for that day here
