Off to Nevada

The lighter side... playing for entertainment, less concerned about "the math."
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OTABILL
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Re: Off to Nevada

Post by OTABILL »

onemoretry wrote:
Sun Oct 23, 2022 7:01 pm
OTABILL wrote:
Sat Oct 22, 2022 7:13 pm
Doesn't Uber or Lyft operate in Canada? How about super shuttle? I would assume these would be financially viable options to exorbitant parking fees.
The Hamilton airport is a relatively small one, located about 80 miles from where I live. To be honest, the thought of trying to arrange transportation to and from it never crossed my mind.
At 80 miles from a regional airport, the options I mentioned would probably be financially prohibitive even if available. Guess I was thinking you and case lived in a metropolitan area.

onemoretry
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Post by onemoretry »

onemoretry wrote:
Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:06 pm
dinghy wrote:
Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:43 pm
Each leg must be at least 5 hours, so that's got to be close to 20 hours in total.
Actually, it looks like 6-7 hours is more likely. Fortunately, we have three drivers, myself, my wife, and our Vegas based friend, who also is supplying the vehicle.
The drives did, in fact, take a bit longer than that, since it's just about impossible to not stop once or twice along the way.

The drive from Las Vegas to Reno was the longest, at 8 hours. We left Las Vegas at about 10:00 am, and arrived in Reno at about 6:00pm. We stopped three times on the way, once for dewatering, once for refuelling, and once for a brief subway lunch.

Reno to Jackpot took about 6 hours, with two stops along the way, one for refuelling/washroom, and one to pick up some groceries. We left Reno at around noon, arriving in Jackpot at 6:00pm normal Nevada time. It was actually 7:00pm in Jackpot, since, because they are right adjacent to the Idaho border, they are on mountain time.

A new experience for me was driving on a road with a speed limit of 80mph. There are significant stretches of interstate 80 with that speed limit. Surprisingly, while driving at that speed, we were passed a few times by tractor trailers.

Jackpot to Las Vegas was about 7 hours, with two refuelling/washroom stops. We left Jackpot at 10;30am mountain time, and arrived back in Vegas at about 4:30pm normal Nevada time.

Even though we had three drivers, I did virtually all of the driving, with the exception of the final hour or so going into Vegas. I didn't mind doing that, and both my wife and our host were quite content with that arrangement.

There were some truly boring stretches on all three drives, more on Vegas to Reno than the others, but, also, some extremely magnificent vistas, with the mountains, rock formations, colours, etc.

With the exception of interstate 80, and a stretch of US 95 leaving Vegas, the drive was on two lane highways. I did find it a bit difficult, at times, to gauge distances, and quickly learned that if there was any oncoming traffic visible at all, forget about trying to pass. I may be wrong, but can't help feeling that visibility would be even more difficult in really hot weather.

Each and every two lane highway segment was clearly signed, multiple times, to drive with headlights on - obviously, to assist oncoming drivers to see you. It was very disturbing to observe the number of motorists who chose to disregard those signs and drive with headlights off. Perhaps this is selective memory or some kind of bias on my part, but it sure did seem to me that the majority of those bozos who drove with headlights off were driving big-a** pickup trucks.

Once I'm finished counting all our money, I'll do another post on the results of our video poker play.

case
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Post by case »

I always thought the headlights on was due to blowing dust making visibility poor at times. However your reason makes more sense. I have done that drive and agree Las Vegas to Reno is very boring. I did enjoy seeing Lake Walker as it was unexpected in the desert but also surprised at how large it was.

OTABILL
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Post by OTABILL »

onemoretry wrote:
Wed Oct 26, 2022 9:07 am
onemoretry wrote:
Wed Oct 05, 2022 10:06 pm
dinghy wrote:
Wed Oct 05, 2022 4:43 pm
Each leg must be at least 5 hours, so that's got to be close to 20 hours in total.
Actually, it looks like 6-7 hours is more likely. Fortunately, we have three drivers, myself, my wife, and our Vegas based friend, who also is supplying the vehicle.
The drives did, in fact, take a bit longer than that, since it's just about impossible to not stop once or twice along the way.

The drive from Las Vegas to Reno was the longest, at 8 hours. We left Las Vegas at about 10:00 am, and arrived in Reno at about 6:00pm. We stopped three times on the way, once for dewatering, once for refuelling, and once for a brief subway lunch.

Reno to Jackpot took about 6 hours, with two stops along the way, one for refuelling/washroom, and one to pick up some groceries. We left Reno at around noon, arriving in Jackpot at 6:00pm normal Nevada time. It was actually 7:00pm in Jackpot, since, because they are right adjacent to the Idaho border, they are on mountain time.

A new experience for me was driving on a road with a speed limit of 80mph. There are significant stretches of interstate 80 with that speed limit. Surprisingly, while driving at that speed, we were passed a few times by tractor trailers.

Jackpot to Las Vegas was about 7 hours, with two refuelling/washroom stops. We left Jackpot at 10;30am mountain time, and arrived back in Vegas at about 4:30pm normal Nevada time.

Even though we had three drivers, I did virtually all of the driving, with the exception of the final hour or so going into Vegas. I didn't mind doing that, and both my wife and our host were quite content with that arrangement.

There were some truly boring stretches on all three drives, more on Vegas to Reno than the others, but, also, some extremely magnificent vistas, with the mountains, rock formations, colours, etc.

With the exception of interstate 80, and a stretch of US 95 leaving Vegas, the drive was on two lane highways. I did find it a bit difficult, at times, to gauge distances, and quickly learned that if there was any oncoming traffic visible at all, forget about trying to pass. I may be wrong, but can't help feeling that visibility would be even more difficult in really hot weather.

Each and every two lane highway segment was clearly signed, multiple times, to drive with headlights on - obviously, to assist oncoming drivers to see you. It was very disturbing to observe the number of motorists who chose to disregard those signs and drive with headlights off. Perhaps this is selective memory or some kind of bias on my part, but it sure did seem to me that the majority of those bozos who drove with headlights off were driving big-a** pickup trucks.

Once I'm finished counting all our money, I'll do another post on the results of our video poker play.
In AZ the speed limit on Interstates outside the Metropolitan areas is 75. Vehicles going 90+ is not uncommon. Even where the speed limit is 65, drivers frequently go 85+. And as you observed, pickup truck drivers are the worst. BTW, having daylight running lights on are required on various 2 lane roads in AZ to increase visibility and safety to minimize head-on crashes. Most of the roads with these signs are not in blowing dust areas. Regarding dust storms, where visibility can often be zero, drivers should pull far off the highway, put the vehicle in park and turn off lights, until the storm passes.

L44
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Post by L44 »

Re the comments on pickup truck drivers:

The highest traffic fatality count in the nation is held by Chevrolet Silverado, with Ford F-150 in second place.

Now, to be fair, those are two very high selling vehicles so as a percentage of total vehicles on the road the fatality rate might need to be adjusted. But this is not highest *accident* count --- it is highest *fatality* count. Which tells me that these trucks are driven very fast and very recklessly, as all of us have seen.

Lord forbid I should drive down a highway at the speed limit --- within minutes I will have a huge late model pickup truck inches behind me, looking for a place to pass. And yes, most of the time it is a Chevrolet Silverado.

onemoretry
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Post by onemoretry »

So, we arrived at the Four Queens late afternoon on Oct 1 to an unusually quiet scene. There was some kind of internet problem affecting them (and other casinos, as well, we were told), and the machines were virtually unplayable, as all cashouts had to be handpays. The problem persisted and The Four Queens casino was closed all day Sunday. We were able to play some 25c 8/5 bonus poker at Binions that day, so the issue clearly wasn't universal.

By Monday, things had returned to normal. Over three days we played a bit of 25c 9/6 JOB at the Queens, some more bonus poker at Binions, and a ton of 5c 50 line deuces wild bonus at the Queens. And, we did have lunch a couple of times at the Whiskey Licker Up Saloon at Binions (just love that name!).

Leaving Vegas for Reno on Thursday, I was down around $300, but my wife had been absolutely hammered by the 50 line bonus deuces, losing close to 75% of her bankroll.

Our first day of play on 5c 50 play at the ROW in Reno didn't go very well, either, so we did hit the ATM that evening as a precautionary measure, since we do have a daily limit on withdrawals.

The very next day, things got a lot better - not for me, but for my wife. Over our five days of play there on the 50 line machines (around 20,000 deals, I estimate), we had just one dealt quad. But she got it, while playing super aces, and, you guessed it - it was the aces for a $5000 jackpot! Overall, I was down around $3600 in Reno, but, with that nice jackpot, she recovered nicely from the Four Queens losses.

The 7 Stars Signature Event and Italian Festival was on while we were in Reno and added considerably to our fun there.

I am not really sure if attaining 7 Star status at Caesar's is worth it anymore, but we did manage, with the help of daily tier credit bonuses and a triple tier point promotion at the ROW, to do just that. We arrived with just over 57,000 tier credits, and left with over 159,000.

At Cactus Petes, my wife continued her remarkable recovery from her early losses. We played mostly multiline (3 or 5) 50c NSU deuces there. She had a phenomenal number of sets of deuces (somewhere in the order of 14 - 16) in 16,000 - 18,000 hands, and a royal, to boot. She was up $6600 at Cactus Petes, while I chipped in with a very modest $300 profit, thanks to a royal of my own.

Nothing too significant happened in our final six days in Vegas , staying at the D. We played a bit of 25c 8/5 bonus poker there, as well as at the Golden Gate and Circa. And, we did put in some more play at Binions and the Four Queens, as well. Over those six days, we were, overall about even, or up or down $100 or so.

The final tally for the trip was: wife +$6800, and me -$4000, for a net of +$2800. Unfortunately, a little over $2700 of that is with the IRS, and we likely won't get it back (assuming we will), until some time next year.

dinghy
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Post by dinghy »

onemoretry wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 10:55 am
Over our five days of play there on the 50 line machines (around 20,000 deals, I estimate), we had just one dealt quad. But she got it, while playing super aces, and, you guessed it - it was the aces for a $5000 jackpot!
Very nice.

I'm not seeing the pic.

onemoretry
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Post by onemoretry »

dinghy wrote:
Fri Oct 28, 2022 5:00 pm
I'm not seeing the pic.
Sorry - no pics. We are one of the two or three couples in the world who do not carry a picture - taking phone.

dinghy
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Post by dinghy »

NP. If you like your old phone, you don't have to get a new one.

Image

olds442jetaway
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Post by olds442jetaway »

Nice trip story and come back. I have to agree on the pickup driver situation even here in Ct. The worst ones are usually jacked up with black out windows, various stickers on them, big motors and loud exhaust. I would love to see the driving and arrest records on some of them. I still love to drive myself, but the interstates and even local roads are being taken over by wackos. Minimal enforcement and speed traps. I’m no typical old man driver myself, usually averaging 70-75 on the highway, but the lunatics are really taking over. Sounds like a fun and interesting trip. When the wife and I travel, I am always the driver too, though the wife is an excellent driver. Sometimes I over do it with the selected words and phrases with the lunatic drivers. She reminds me when I do so. By the way I still miss my tiny flip phone. So simple to use. My sister gave me her cast off SE I phone a couple of years ago. I think it is on borrowed time due to memory issues and won’t be supported much longer I think. Works for me though it can be frustrating . Stay safe and well all.

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