10.05.2016 I'm riding, I'm shining up my saddle
Hey Now! Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends. We're so glad you could attend, come inside, come inside. And we're off!
Up at 2 a.m. and drive an hour to RIC. Park n Go shuttle. Delta ticket counter is amazingly open at 3:45. Sweet Ti bagged TSA Pre but for the first time in 5 trips I'm not. Doesn't matter anyway as we are the only ones going through. I booked us Econ Comfortable. I used way too many miles for a reward flight for me. 45k. Sweet Ti's ticket was $660. I paid that for 2 tickets for my A Pirate Looks at 60 trip. Crazy. But we had killer seats. Sky Pri boarding. As we people watched, we had a celebrity sighting. Jessee Jackson got on, and was re-directed up to first class. But his aide ended up in steerage. Quick flight to ATL, into gate A17- out of gate A24. Breakfast time.
Never heard of this place, Freshens. I figured maybe a fresh cooked crepe? Wrong. Pre- cooked, but freshly wrapped. Filling. And we wait. They are offering up to 5 hundy to give up a seat. Not a chance! Sky Pri again, and scored on our seats. A little slip of a thing has the window, I'm the Middle Man, Sweet Ti on aisle. Our flying waitress is a dead ringer for Pats from AbFab.
Pats put the whole premium snack basket in my lap to get my attention. It works. Biscoffs by the handfull!
Westward we travel and are soon making the usual bumpy descent into the valley. We deplane and shuttle to baggage claim.
There today's local, Warren is awaiting us. First thing I do is to toke him a twenty. Then it's off to retrieve our bags. Meanwhile, Warren never stops talking. Seriously. He is a Battle Born Las Vegan. He regales us with tales of his upbringing in Sin City. Roll it Jim!
I ask him if he's gonna tunnel us. He says only because he knows a super secret way to get us to the Orleans. "Russell Road?" I ask. Warren says "How did you know?" It's our 12th trip. We pull into the Valet and bid Warren farewell. We have arrived, and in style!
We go right over to Invited Guests and talk to Brianna as Linda is busy. She books us through for all 9 nights. No problem. I asked for Room 944. No problem, but it won't be ready for a couple of hours. Cool. Linda tells us to stash our bags in a spare office which we do. She also prints out tickets for some free play for me to use later on during our stay. I slip her a toke(n) of our gratitude. Next we kiosk in as it's YAH day. Sweet Ti & I both score 10x/6x points. I text Ziggy and Reneeee to let them know we have arrived. Time to GAMBOL!
Jim?
Off in search of Hank Bonefish we hit the Wally Gator and the Mardi Gras. No luck. So we try the Masquerade Bar- aka Poker Bar. No Hank, but we did run into another old friend. Mikey. aka Gollum. Walter the bartender shared this likeness of Mikey with us....
I swear it's all the same dude!!!!!!!
Lost a hundy at the Poker Bar shortys during those festivities and wandered back over to Invited Guests to check on the room. Brianna gives us the keys but asks that we wait a few more minutes before going up. So we grab our bags and stop by the Higher Limit for some Double Diamond Deluxe. Well, that ate up another hundy right quick. We elevate to the 9th floor and settle in to our abode for the next 9 days. Nice strip view, close to the elevators and ice, and first off and last on. Can't beat it! As Sweet Ti is unpacking, I have bizness to attend to. First I have to walk over to Budget to pick up our rental. Then it's over to Sliver Sevens to see Ziggy and procure WheelieŽ.
I very haphazardly
jaywalk across Tropicanna. I didn't feel like walking all the way to Arville to
catch a crosswalk. But the traffic was light and I didn't become a statistic.
Once inside, I waited in line for a few minutes and was finally called up by
Gavin. I had a bad experience with Budget last trip at the Rent-A-Car Center.
Wasn't expecting much here either. And they once again lived up to expectations.
All Gavin had available was a Chevy Crud Cruz. No AARP upgrade.
Even after I produced my card. Plus a 1980's computer system that took forever
to print out the paperwork. Never again y'all.....
It did have leather seats, but they looked like they came off of a 40 year old Bossie. And they were so low to the ground you had to kind of roll out of the door and stand up. Pulling into traffic on Trop was a joke. I had to floor it to merge. But at least I had a name for her- Hessie. She would hesitate every time you hit the gas. The XM did work, so I headed east to the strains of My Morning Jacket. At the Sliver Sevens I pull in near Ziggy's truck and hit the casino. Zig is on break, so I get a new card as mine doesn't work and kiosk in to check my comps. I have a few dollars left over from the last trip. I put a twenty into a Gold Line Buffalo machine and play to no avail. At the Sports Bar I settle in for a hundy at the shorty machine and play the now downgraded 8/5 .25 Boner Deluxe Progressive while waiting for Ziggy. He arrives and we hug and catch up on life. His wifey Bo is having her knee replaced next Tuesday. Sweet Ti had it done a couple of years ago, so the girls are gonna talk Bionic Joints when we get together this weekend. I get the keys to Zig's truck and take custody of WheelieŽ. Sweet Ti calls me to tell me that while she was playing the Wally Gator shorty and hanging out with Hank Bonefish, a dude walked up and asked her if she was Sweet Ti from my blog. It was elangrehr from the Boards. He said he recognized her. They had a great time talking. He would try to catch up with us later. Meanwhile, I lose the rest of my hundy and tell Zig adios for today. I need to be back at Orleans for the YAH drawing at 4:30. As I turn on Flamingo, I notice that the construction between Paradise and Arville has been completed. This is a good thing. Back at the Big Easy, I self park Hessie in the Emerald, the Shiny Green Card gated parking area. Sweet Ti texts that she is awaiting my arrival at the Gremlins machine. I find her at 4:25. While we are waiting, elangrehr walks up and we shake hands. He and his wife live in Co. and winter down south. It's always great to actually meet people who read these reports. Makes it all worthwhile! Well we didn't get our names drawn, maybe next week. But it's time to feed my Sweet Ti, so she walks over to the Courtyard Calf (MOOO!) to secure a table and I play Yen the Keno runner and do a 20/$20 5 spot. I really miss Yen. It was mightily nice to be waited on for Keno. We order up an Italian Frittata and a Prime Rib Dip.
Points pay for that repast. 600 pts.= $1. Not a bad deal. After that, Sweet Ti is toast. We go aloft and she settles in for the night. I grab a couple of more bullets (hundys) and hit the Wally Gator shorty. 2 hours of $1 8/5 BP yields no 4OAKS. But I did see that nice couple that run the Barber Shop upstairs. I watch the Mets play their last ditch effort to save the season. Kevin calls from VA. He's a long time Mets fan who accompanied us on our Royal Fire Monkeys Invade Clark County trip. He asks about the odds of the Mets winning the World Series. 15/1. Not worth it. As is proven a few innings later as they lose the wild card game. I bounce around from machine to machine. Wonder 4. Buffalo. 5 Treasures. DBDW. Can't hit shit. I try some Loose Deuces. Right away I hit 3 natural 4OAKS. Figures! Downloaded $15 dining credit on each card that are good for 24 hours thanks to YAH. I end up the evening playing MS/STP.25 7/5 BP.
No spinners to be had. But this game is kinda like coke. How do you say no? Got me- no one ever has. Lost that hundy. But I finally got a couple of real life 4OAKS. At this point, I've been up just about 24 hours. Runnin' on Fumes. But we have arrived.
Totals: RB-6083 pts. Sweet Ti- 698 pts.
NEXT:
10.06.2016 Well I know the odds ain't in my favor