It's all about the gambling.....
Trip Start
Aug 30, 2011
1
22
27
Trip End
Sep 28, 2011
Where I stayed
South Lake Tahoe, California
Monday, September 19, 2011
This morning began with a free continental breakfast at our friendly local Super 8 which wasn't half bad. Shortly thereafter I took some images to capture the essence of the place (formally) known as America's Armpit. Parts of the town seem to be doing OK, other not so. This has been the case for most of the small to mid sized towns we have driven through. The US really seems on its way to becoming a land of the haves and have nots.
Today's drive was very much like yesterday to the point where i got bored and did a 5 minute video of boring road driving to keep myself entertained. We stopped at a littel green oasis of a rest spot at Buttons Point. Named in Memory of a local rancher its one of the rest points along the California Trail which was the route most travellers took prior to the completion of the Transcontinental Railway. I was really bored by this time and even the rest areas signs took on their own humour.
No soliciting in a rest area, what will they think of next?
We travelled through Carson City which is where the Cartwright boys always seemed to be riding on Bonanza to visit the Marshall. I'm not sure how they made it there and back inone epsiode, it would have been a helluva ride.
As we were a little too early to check-in we stopped at the Safeway for some supplies and a quick coffee (Starbucks of course) when I noticed something you don't really see in Australia.... video poker machines in a supermarket. Incongruously positioned right next to a Wells Fargo bank branch. There was little I could do other than shake my head.
Dropped the car off at the Inn and wandered down to the foreshore of Lake Tahoe. By the time we got back we were able to check-in and get changed for dinner at Harrah's casino. An all you could eat buffet for $18.99 plus tax with a great view of the lake. We wandered next door to Harveys Casino and chanced our luck at the pokies, with little result. On the way back through Harrah's we decided to have another go at the one armed bandits. I got a little ahead of the game but as it was getting late I decided to see how quickly I could go through the 1c bets and started betting the maximum just to get out of there. Anyway long story short my luck changed quite dramatically and much to my surprise and the entertainment of the small crowd I pulled out a mini jackpot worth $562 at which stage we called it a night and went back to the Inn.
So who said gambling in supermarkets and service stations was a bad thing ?
