awoke in Winnemucca with a start.
It was pre-dawn and I was itchin’ to put it all behind me. The car was already packed. I dropped the room key and TV remote through the office door slot, as I had been directed by the motel’s matron, and then hit the road.
It was early. Too early. I had lost track of the time zones. It was an hour before I began to see the sun.
As I sped across northern Nevada, I realized that even if America’s Biggest Little Town doesn’t actually sleep, I’d be arrive in Reno a little too early for my hosts.
I rolled into town before 9 AM on a Sunday and parked the car in a mall lot across the street from their townhome complex. I cracked open a laptop (I brought two with me on the trip, 1 PC and 1 Apple) and began banging out some words.
About a half hour later I headed over to their apartment and began my Reno weekend in earnest. The desert sky was warm, but I was ice cold.
I spent most of Sunday at a locals casino. Placed four different football bets. Lost them all. That’s not actually easy to do. I had some special minus mojo going on.
My friend got me an egg salad sandwich that he paid for with his comp points (If you’re a regular at a casino, the more time you spend there, the more they give you free credits, called comp points, that you can use on casino products). That and a cup of hot chocolate helped get me through the darkness.
The next night I went back to get some Monday Night Football action. I knew exactly what to do. Take Kansas City at home. They were better than people realized and New England looked shaky. But after staring at the odds board, I went against everything I believed in and placed an exotic bet based on just the score of the game’s 1st quarter. New England minus one-half point.
KC was up 14-0 by the end of the quarter and went on to trounce New England, just like I thought they would. All I had to show for it was another losing ticket.
On Tuesday I decided to switch things up, play a little poker. I lasted about an hour.
After several days it was official. I was 0-for-Reno, having lost every single bet I’d placed.
I bid my wonderful hosts a fond farewell and pointed the Honda westward. Next stop, Santa Rosa in Sonoma County. Hopefully the wine tasting would go better than the casino gambling.