...off to see the wizard !

I like road trips...

sometimes... I enjoy the planning phase...
especially if it's to somewhere far away...
packing snacks... checking the weather along the route...
making motel reservations, if needed...
making sure that I have CD's, cell charger...etc...

sometimes, for shorter jaunts...
I just "go"...
Friday...I just "went"...

when I used to go to casinos often...
I would just go, if I felt lucky...

my last casino jaunt was over a year ago...
the one before that, at least a year previous...
I just don't consider myself a "gambler" anymore...
I can't afford to... it's too expensive..

so Friday, it wasn't so much that I wanted to gamble...
or "felt lucky"...

I just wanted to have a break...
to have some "fun"...

to be somewhere... other than Mudville...

before the "busyness" would begin...
[responsibilities at church...my bath redo...]
and since I didn't get to visit my friends...
who live on the Oregon coast this summer...
it was now... or never...

so I watered all my plants...
fed the kitties...
and around 8:30 AM...
rolled onto I5, Northbound...

traffic on I5 wasn't too bad for a Friday...
but by the time I had gone through "Ahnoldtown"...
and took I80, westbound...
I found myself in some heavier traffic...



moving with the last dregs of the morning commute...
which really began to thin around Rocklin...
a place, where on a clearer day than yesterday...
the looming mountains begin to peek over the horizon...
I eventually got out of the heavier traffic...



as I climbed up into and through, Auburn...
the highway rolled into a series of hill climbs...
rolling curves and steep descents...
which can be fun when the traffic is sparse, as it was...



my car has a really smooth V6 engine, with power...
so when traveling longer distances...
I use "cruise control"...
otherwise, before realize it... I get going too fast...

but the rolling hills...
with curves are a problem for "cc"...

it's not loosing power on climbs that's problematic...
it's the curves & descents...
and the other cars who "coast" ...
speeding up and changing lanes...
causing me to abandon "cc" in favor of better control...

so I had turned off the cruise control earlier...
during the heavier traffic...
and when I saw the speed limit sign...
at the crest of a hill...
accompanied by the ominous...
"radar speed monitoring in use"...
it caught my attention...



then, I looked at my speedometer and saw 80+...

very conscious of a need to slow down...
I took my foot off of the gas...
but as I was in traffic...
AND going down a long hill...
it took a bit to get below 70...
[there was someone behind me...
so sudden "braking" wasn't a good option...]

then, suddenly... there he was...
red & blue lights flashing in my rear view mirror...



a very nice CHP guy...with his citation book in hand...
after a brief discussion of how fast I had been "clocked at"...
he took my license & registration to his car...
returning a few minutes later with my "ticket"...

he told me that the fact that I'd been slowing down...
before I saw him... didn't matter...
he pointed back down the hill...
where I could see a motorcycle unit and 2 other CHP cars...
also giving tickets...



he said that the motorcycle CHP guy...
had got me with his radar...
and it was that speed...
that he was ticketing me for...



I'm looking at the others also being ticketed...
and think...
"speed trap...I fell for a speed trap !"

the ONLY other time I've EVER gotten a speeding ticket...
was in the mountains...with NO traffic...
on a fairly straight downgrade...
where you will pick up speed...
unless you consciously avoid it...

that... and a speed trap at 3AM, near Elkgrove...

so...

NOT a propitious sign for a "good" trip...

but then...

perhaps that would be it...
for the bad luck...

anyway... that was my hope...



so...continuing on... the road climbs quickly...



by Kingvale...just below Donner summit...

it was time for a rest stop...

but no gas...the prices there were like 6 weeks ago here...

*OUCH*



so after a "rest stop"...[too much coffee...]
and a brief refueling moment...
[fresh popcorn smells SO good...]

AND a brief nature moment...
[looking back behind the parking lot...]
smelling the trees and the mountain air...
it was back on the road...



continuing on "up"...
then, going over the summit...

marvelous vistas...

but bad air quality this day...
and extreme brightness "over the top"...

NOT ... a good picture day...



then heading down the eastern side...
now in the shadows...
an almost sudden absence of trees...

NOT helped by the widespread devastation...
left by fires a couple of years ago...

then... the CA/NV border...
crappy, torn-up roads on the CA side...
becoming very smooth and new on the NV side...

I learned a few years back that the NVHP...
are "ever vigilant"...
and 65... MEANS 65 !

I got stopped once... right across the border...
doing 68... got warned...

I ALWAYS set "cc" in NV now...

so I'm behind a large truck...in the slow lane...

and over a rise... off to the right...

THERE IT IS ...



Reno..."the biggest little city in the world"...

and in the center of this picture...
see the "dome" ?

that's the Silver Legacy casino...my destination...

I park "free" in "self parking"...
level 4, right in front of the elevators...

I generally can't get this close...
but it's only 11:45 AM on a Friday...
so this means that they aren't "packed-in" yet...
[I HATE crowds...]

so, I enter the casino after a brief stop at the ATM...
[I said I didn't plan this...]
and head for the "slots"...

I "wander"... waiting for a machine to "call my name"...



I like "Double [or Triple] Lucky 7's"...
"Wild Cherries"...
"Red, White & Blue"
or "10 x's"...

mainly because I've WON on them...

I generally play $1 slots...
although I will play $.25, $.05 & $.01 slots...
if I find one I "like"...



then... there's the "Wheel of Fortune" machines...

the pay out on "payline winners" isn't too good...
unless it's "loose"...and you win often...
but it is "progressive"[you could win millions...]
and then, there's the "spin"...

sort of like a "bonus round"...
it supersedes any other winners on the payline...
and gives you a spin on the "wheel"...
amounts go from $20.00 to $1000.00...
[I've won the $1000.00...twice...]

but, on this day... the best I could do was $75.00...
[a person next to me won $500 on a spin...]

and so... after only about 1 1/2 hours...
I wasn't feeling it...

AND...I had lost all I cared to...

so I got back on I80...
and headed west...



as I neared "Boomtown"...
I started feeling lucky...
so I pulled off [I needed gas anyway...]
and when I saw the price of gas...
[the same I had just paid in Mudville...]
I filled-up and drove around to the parking lot...

so I wandered in... and saw this...



I don't generally play these kind of machines...
because they don't often "pay"...
and you could spend $100,000...
and STILL not "hit the big one"...

so I didn't spend much time or $ on this...
it did give me a bit of a "roll"...
but not enough to get me to "invest"...

I spent about an hour...wandering...

playing a $.25, $.05 or $.01 machine that caught my eye...

but ... nothing fun...

not wanting to lose any more $...
I was making my way "out"...
when I made "eye contact"...

with this...



I LIKE Double/Triple Lucky 7's...
I have won BIG on them...
and lost too...
I had actually tried to find a "friendly" one earlier...

I was "feeling" this one though...
so I sat down and put in a $20...
several "plays" in... it hit...

2 green 7's...and a Double Lucky symbol...
[matches a winning symbol & doubles the win...]

$300.00 !!!

setting a "short limit" for myself...

I continued play...
*ding* *ding* *ding*...
3 green 7's...

$150.00...

*TIME TO CASH OUT*

I had replaced my losses... and then some...


on the way back to Mudville...
things went smoothly, although "slowly"...
[no more tickets for me, thank you very much...]

I passed a jack-knifed big rig...
stopping eastbound traffic just above Kingvale, for miles...

westbound... the road was deserted...
until I got closer to Ahnoldtown...
where it got congested with "rush hour"...
as it was now around 5 PM...



the real problems began on I5, southbound...
by the southern edge of Ahnoldtown...
it was a barely moving gridlock...
which would last for miles...
until well past Elkgrove...



around 6:30 PM... I arrived back in Mudville...

I had been to Oz...
survived... and made it back home to Kansas...

as I made my way onto the porch...

I remember thinking...

"...there's NO place like home..."