Back in Nevada to Begin our Winter Season

Hello again, welcome back. Our last chapter concluded on Saturday, September 29^th when we arrived at the Riverside RV Resort in Laughlin, Nevada for a five day stay. We are here for a rally with the Beat the Odds Chapter of FMCA. This is a small chapter that holds two events each year, one in February and one in October. The February one is always in Laughlin and the October one was always in Pahrump, which is how we became associated with the chapter. We went to a couple of their October rallies in Pahrump because that is our “home” of record and we are usually there in the Fall months. They had to move the October rally to Laughlin because the casino in Pahrump would no longer put on a slot tournament, which is kind of a cornerstone of their rallies. It is a gambling chapter after all. The rally actually starts on Monday but we wanted a couple of early days.

Sunday, September 30, I went out and got the Sunday paper from both Las Vegas and Bullhead City, Arizona, and we had a quiet morning. In the afternoon we ran some errands over on the Arizona side of the river, stopping at both Sam's Club and Walmart for a few things. After we got that stuff put away we went over to the Riverside Casino and gamed for a while, then went to the coffee shop for dinner. After dinner we went back to the coach and spent the rest of the night inside. Monday was the first official day of the rally, but other than picking up our registration materials in the morning, we didn't have any rally activities until the opening dinner at 5:00. For the rally this was the arrival day for most people. We spent most of the afternoon gambling at the Colorado Belle Casino. Neither of us had much luck so we went home for a while. At 5:00 we went back over to the Riverside for the rally dinner. There are about 50 people attending the rally and we already knew about a half dozen of them. The dinner was salad and sandwiches catered by the casino. The food was OK, nothing special but tasty. After dinner we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the night.

Tuesday, October 2^nd was the main activity day for the rally. We had to be at the Riverside Casino by 9:00 for the slot tournament. The tournament costs $50 a person, but most of that comes back to the participants in prize money. The last one of these we attended about two years ago we got more back than we invested and we didn't finish anywhere near the top of the list of high scores. The tournament is done in two 15 minute sessions on special machines where you just spend the time hitting the play button and hoping for the best, three sevens across the line. I had sessions at 9:00 and 10:00 and Jackie had times at 9:30 and 10:30. Your score is the total of what you “win” on the machine for both sessions. Both Jackie and I had totals of just under 20,000 points, which is about in the middle of the pack from what I gathered watching other peoples scores. We may get some small prize money on Wednesday, we will see.

After the slot tournament was over we went back to the coach and had lunch, then had to go back over to the Riverside for the afternoon fun, the Bunko tournament. Bunko is another regular activity for this group and it is a lot of fun. It is a very simple dice game that is great for large groups. You get to meet with and play with a lot of different people over the two hours or so it takes to play four sessions. We always enjoy the Bunko games. After Bunko was over we drove over to the Tropicana Casino, which to people who remember the “old” Laughlin, was the Ramada Casino, the one with the steam train. The train is now gone, as are all the railroad themed decorations. The reason we went over there is that Jackie's long time girlfriend Helen Reiley had just arrived after driving up from Los Angeles. Regular readers may remember that Helen lives in Pittsfield, Massachusetts and that we visited with her last summer when we did our trip to the East Coast. She and her late husband Joe owned a bar and restaurant which Helen just recently sold, so she has no more responsibilities and can now travel more. Helen flew to Los Angeles about a week ago to visit with family and was going to drive up to Pahrump to spent a few days with us up there. When she found out we were stopping in Laughlin for a few days before going to Pahrump she decided to stop here too. She loves to gamble, poker slot machines mostly, and likes to try different casinos. We found her at the bar and talked and gambled for a couple hours. The three of us then went to the Italian restaurant in the casino and had a nice dinner. After dinner we left Helen at the Tropicana where she will spend a couple nights, and we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the evening.

Wednesday, October 3^rd was a free day for the most part. There is a banquet with the rally tonight, but that is all. We didn't feel like gambling much today since we haven't been having much luck, so we just stayed in and did chores. We did go out briefly to visit the post office and get one geocache in Laughlin. About 4:00 we went over to the Riverside for the rally banquet. We did a little gaming before going in and went into the banquet about 5:00. We had cocktails and then dinner. Dinner tonight was a little fancier, with several salad choices, pulled pork, pot roast, fried chicken and potatoes and gravy. The potatoes, pot roast and salads were all very good, the chicken was cooked to death and the pulled pork didn't look good at all. After dinner they gave away the prizes for the slot tournament and the Bunko tournament. Neither Jackie nor I finished in the money in either tournament. Boo hoo. After the banquet was over we went downstairs to the casino and gamed for a couple of hours. Helen had come over and gambled with us until we left about 9:30 or so. We went back to the coach and watched some TV, then went to bed. The rally is now over and we will leave tomorrow to go “home” to Pahrump.

Thursday, October 4^th, another travel day. We left Laughlin early, about 9:20, heading northwest 150 miles to our legal home of Pahrump, Nevada. We left early for several reasons. The trip has several fairly long, uphill climbs and although it is technically Fall, it is still warm and I wanted to get the trip done before the afternoon heat set in. The other is that the trip takes us right through the Las Vegas valley, so I want to be sure to miss the rush hour traffic. The trip went well, the coach got warm a couple times, but did not overheat, and we arrived at the Wine Ridge RV Resort in Pahrump just before 1:00. Helen drove her rental car up from Laughlin, leaving quite a while after us, and arrived within five minutes of when we pulled into the park. She is renting a cabin at the resort for four nights. We got registered for our two month stay, then parked the coach and started getting set up. That took most of the afternoon, but we got all settled in. Helen came over and she and Jackie played cards for a while and then Jackie made a chili relleno for dinner. We had a nice dinner and watched the Thursday night football game because the Patriots were playing and Helen is a fanatical Patriots fan. The game ended about 8:30, Helen went back to her cabin and we watched a little TV until bedtime.

Friday, October 5^th, the three of us went out after lunch to run some errands. We stopped and got our mail and then did a Walmart run. We went back to the coach and I spent some time doing some chores while Jackie and Helen went out again to run some more errands. They came back about 2:00 and spent some time playing cards. Around 6:00 we again went out and went to Mom's Cafe for dinner. Mom's is one of our favorite places to eat in town. We had a great meal and after dinner went back to the coach. Helen visited for a little while, then went back to her cabin. We watched TV until bedtime.

Saturday, October 6^th, the three of us walked over to the Winery around 11:00 for the first day of the Pahrump Winery “Grape Stomp” weekend. The Pahrump Valley Winery is adjacent to the RV park, in fact, the Office building for the RV park is attached to the restaurant portion of the winery building. The reason for that is that the RV park used to be a part of the Western Horizons Resort system, of which we were members, and the brother of the guy who owned WHR built the winery on the same property. About five years ago Western Horizons went belly up and the RV park was purchased, renovated, renamed and opened as a public park rather than a private resort. However, the Winery wasn't included in the purchase and is still owned and operated by the same family. About four years ago they started holding an annual “Grape Stomp” festival in the Fall. They have a bunch of vendor booths, food booths, and live music for one Saturday and Sunday each year. The highlight is the grape stomping contest where a player gets into a sawed off barrel full of grapes and stomps the juice out. After two minutes of stomping the player with the most juice wins. The get a lot of contestants over the two days and many of them dress in costumes. It is really a lot of fun. We have been twice before since we are often in Pahrump during the October period when they hold the festival.

We got some lunch from one of the food booths, walked around and looked at the vendors, and then watched a few rounds of the grape stomping. We only stayed for a few hours because the weather was a bit stormy and threatening and wind came up really bad. We ended up going back to the coach and we spent the rest of the day inside, the girls playing cards and me doing some office work.  About 5:30 we went back down to the clubhouse for a free BBQ and karaoke provided by the RV park.  Had a couple of hot dogs and did a few songs before we quit around 8:00 and went back to the coach.  We watched some TV and went to bed.

Sunday, October 7^th, I went out and got the Sunday paper and we relaxed for the morning. In the afternoon we went out and ran a couple of errands, but we mostly stayed home and relaxed. The weather was again unsettled and very windy. Jackie made a meat loaf for the three of us for dinner. Helen stayed until about 8:00, then went to her cabin and we watched some TV until bedtime. Monday we left the coach about 10:00 and drove in the car to Las Vegas for a couple of days. Helen is a big player at the Mandalay Bay Resort in Vegas and gets big comps every time she comes out. If she asks they give her a suite and they comp all her meals and any shows she wants to see at any of the MGM resorts in Vegas. She invited us to come down and spend a couple days with her before she flies back to Massachusetts on Thursday. She had gotten a suite with an adjoining room for us and told us that she was going to get tickets for the Michael Jackson One show, a Circ du Solei production that is playing in the showroom at the Mandalay Bay.

Once we got to Las Vegas we met Helen at the airport rental car terminal where she dropped off the rental car she has had for the last couple weeks. The three of us then went to the hotel and got checked in and moved in. After we got settled in the room, which was on the 60^th floor overlooking the airport and south part of the strip, we went down to the casino and had lunch in one of the restaurants. We spent the rest of the afternoon gaming in the casino. Helen made a bunch of money because she plays the dollar poker machines and gets big wins. We didn't have that kind of luck, but it was fun. About 5:00 we went to the room, changed clothes and freshened up for the evening. We went to dinner about 6:30 in the Fleur restaurant in the casino, which was a nice, upscale dining place. We had a nice variety of appetizer plates for dinner, including a plate of steak tartar for me, something I haven't had in years. After dinner we gamed for a little while, then went into the Michael Jackson show. We had great seats, right in the middle of the showroom. The tickets said they were nearly $200 each, but they were comped to Helen by the casino. Yea! The show was fabulous, lots of Michael Jackson music and the acrobatics of the cast were amazing. Big stage, lots of special effects, people flying around over your head, it was a great show. It has been years since we have been to a Las Vegas style big show. The show went for a couple of hours, after which we gamed for a short while then went back to our room and went to bed.

Tuesday, October 9^th, we left the hotel about 11:00 and went out to take Jackie to her doctor's appointment. She is still going to an orthopedist because of the knee injury she got two years ago when we were at a rally up in Oregon and she fell on her knee. She has had surgery to repair a torn meniscus, had cortisone shots, and still has a lot of pain. She had a shot back in June when we came through Vegas, but it didn't do anything so she wanted to go see him again. We stopped for lunch at a Thai restaurant near the doctor's office and had a nice lunch. We then picked up a geocache on the way to the doctor's office. We got there a little early but they also took us in early and we got to see the doctor. After talking to us for a while the doctor said he was going to get her set up for another MRI scan to see what was going on.

After the doctor's appointment we drove back to the Mandalay Bay and picked up Helen, then drove to downtown Las Vegas. On the way we stopped at the Gold and Silver Pawn shop, which is the site of a cable TV show called Pawn Wars. We have never seen the show, but Helen is a fan and wanted to see the shop. Lots of people, but it is kind of a tourist trap. For me, nothing to see here, move along. We parked at the Golden Nugget and went into the casino to do some gaming. My brother Russ is a pit boss in the Nugget and I stopped and said hello to him. The girls played some slots and I sat at a Let It Ride table for a while. I left after an hour $200 ahead and even for the weekend. Yea! We went out and walked the Fremont Street area for a half hour or doing some sightseeing, then drove back to the Mandalay Bay. We spent the rest of the afternoon gaming, had a nice dinner at another of the casino restaurants, this one a Mexican themed place. Like the other places we have eaten in, the food was good, but a little too fancy for my liking. However, it was all comped by the casino, so who am I to complain about free food. After dinner we gamed for a while then went back to the room, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Wednesday, October 10^th, we were leaving today to drive back to Pahrump, but Helen was staying for another couple nights. We were packed up and in the car by 10:30 on the road back to Pahrump. The drive is only a little over an hour, so we were back in the house, unpacked and having lunch by noon. The cat was making a lot of noise because he missed us for 48 hours and probably thought he was abandoned. After lunch we went and picked up our mail, then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. A fun “weekend” in Vegas, but glad to be back home. Thursday was a chores day. We went out after lunch and did laundry, then a Walmart run. After we got back home we put everything away and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Friday, October 12^th, we left the coach about 10:00 and drove to the Pahrump Valley Hospital so Jackie could get the MRI done on her knee. After the procedure we headed back to the coach, stopping on the way at three of the geocaches that we have hidden in Pahrump, just to check and see that they didn't need any repair, supplies or other maintenance. We also stopped and picked up our mail. We had lunch and I did started some repair work on the coach, working on some issues in the water bay. About 4:00 we changed clothes and then drove to the Pahrump Nugget Casino so we could see a comedy show. Jackie had noticed a flier last week when she and Helen had gone to one of the casinos advertising a free comedy show featuring Joe Machi, who had been one of the comedians on TV's “Last Comic Standing” a few years ago. We enjoy good stand up and remembered Machi as being pretty good, so we made reservations. We also invited some friends from the RV park, Regina and Richard Rubenstein.

They actually live full time in a small trailer at the park. Regina used to work for the park part time, but she now has a job with the local elementary school working in the cafeteria for a few hours every weekday. They are originally from Connecticut, but now live out here. We gambled for about a half hour then got in line for the show, soon joined by Regina and Richard. They opened the doors at 5:00 and we went into the ballroom and got good seats. The show started at 6:00 with the MC that told a few jokes and then a warm up act. I don't remember these guy's names and they weren't on the advertising, but the MC was pretty funny and the warm up act kind of died. Joe Machi finally came on and did about a 30 minute set. He was up and down, but overall pretty funny and we all enjoyed the show. It was nice to do something a little different for evening entertainment. Normally we would have been at karaoke at the RV park, but this was fun too. After the show the four of us went to Johnny's Taco Shop for dinner and had some pretty good Mexican food. We had a nice visit, a good show, a fun meal and then went back to the coach and relaxed with the TV until bedtime.

Saturday, October 13^th, we went out after lunch to run a few errands. I needed to go to the RV store to get a couple of parts, but found that they were closed, even though the sign said they should be open. Since that is the only RV store in town, I didn't get my parts. We then went out and checked a few more of our geocaches that we have hidden around town. One of them was missing and we had to replace the container, the other two were OK. We made a quick stop at Smith's for a couple things, then went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day.

Sunday, October 14^th, we read the paper and relaxed in the morning. After lunch I did one of the several major maintenance projects I have on my list. I removed the toilet from the bathroom and rebuilt it. As many readers will know RV toilets are quite different in operation than a house toilet. Most, including ours, are gravity flush using a minimal amount of water. There is a rotating ball in the bottom of the bowl that holds in the water and after a while the seals and ball get too covered in gunk to work properly, water leaks out and smells from the black tank come up. I have replace the seals a couple of times, but it was now time to do the ball too after 13 years. It took a couple of hours but I had already ordered the parts through Amazon, so it went pretty smoothly. The next step will be to repair the cracked pipe that leads from the toilet to the holding tank. I am working on getting the parts for that job now. After my repair job we just relaxed with the TV for the rest of the evening.

Monday, October 15^th, we left the coach after lunch and went out to do some errands. We stopped at a couple of furniture stores, the selection in Pahrump is pretty limited, to look for some new chairs for our dining table. We wore out all but one of the original five chairs long ago and have been using a couple of nice fold up chairs from Costco for the last couple years, but they are starting to get a little wobbly, so we decided to shop for some new ones. We didn't find anything that we really liked today. We then stopped at Albertsons and Walmart for a few things, picked up our mail, and then went back to the coach. About 6:30 we went down to the clubhouse at the RV park for Texas Hold'em. We like the two hour, $6 buy in friendly games they have twice a week. We both lost a few dollars but had a good time. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and went to bed.

Tuesday, October 16^th, we went out after lunch and checked on some more of our caches. We had to replace one that disappeared, all the others were in good shape. We picked up mail and Jackie got a new battery in her watch. We then headed back to the coach and relaxed for a while. About 5:00 we went down to the clubhouse for “Taco Tuesday” and had a light dinner of tacos. We chatted with friends for a while then went back to the coach and watched TV until bedtime. Wednesday we again went out after lunch, ran a couple errands and checked on the last of our caches here in Pahrump. After we got back to the coach I put out a few Halloween decorations and changed the filters in the coach's water system. We had noticed that the water pressure was falling, which usually means dirty filters. About 4:30 we went down to the clubhouse for dinner. During the season the restaurant at the Winery next door caters Wednesday night wine dinners at the RV park. The food is usually good, not gourmet quality by any stretch, but pretty good. We have been to a number of them over the last couple years. They also provide wine for the dinner, a minimum of three glasses. Tonight's entree was Beef Stroganoff, which is one of my favorites. It is also a good chance to socialize with other people in the park. We had a very nice dinner, which was tasty, and a nice visit with some other guests, as well as the manager of the park and his wife, whom we know fairly well. After dinner we stayed at the clubhouse and played Texas Hold'em. We both did better than we did Monday, both of us making a couple dollars instead of losing. After cards we went back to the coach, watched a little TV and then went to bed.

Thursday, October 18^th, we had mostly a stay at home day and did some chores. We did go out briefly after lunch so Jackie could pick up a copy of the MRI she had last week and we stopped at Walmart for a few things. After that we went back to the coach and spent the remainder of the day inside relaxing. Friday we went out about 12:30 to the local Chinese buffet Restaurant, China Wok. The food is pretty good and inexpensive with the senior discount. Our fortunes were good too, one of them telling us “you will soon come into a fortune” and the other “you will soon get an important phone call.” After lunch we ran a couple of errands including going to Home Depot for a few things I need to finish the toilet repair project on Sunday. After our errands we relaxed at home until about 5:30 when we went down to the clubhouse for Friday happy hour and karaoke. We had a great time and, with a fairly small rotation of only nine singers, I was able to do about six or seven songs. The party ended at 9:00 and we went back to the coach and watched some TV before going to bed.

Saturday, October 20^th, we went out after lunch to a little light gaming. We went to a couple of casinos and played the nickel poker machines. We didn't do too badly, we were out about two and a half hours and I only lost $15 and Jackie came out about $50 to the good. After the gaming we went back to the coach and relaxed for the rest of the day. Today marks three weeks since we started this episode of the blog, so it marks a good time to get it closed and published. We still have about six weeks left here in Pahrump, so look for another couple of chapters before we leave. By the way, our friend Helen in Massachusetts bought some of the Mega-Millions lottery tickets for us since Nevada doesn't have a State lottery and also doesn't allow either of the multi-state lotteries to operate here. So, if we win a piece of the expected $1.6 billion jackpot, expect the next episode to be published from a cruise ship somewhere on a round the world cruise. Until next time remember the words of author and playwright Kenneth Branagh. “Lighten up, just enjoy life, smile more, laugh more, and don't get so worked up about things.” See ya soon.