It's difficult to imagine half the trip was about to be over. Time flies so fast. Around 9:00 a.m., there were power tools going off in the adjacent room, and other loud noises. The couple probably put in a notice to fix the headboard which kept all 3 of us- them and me- awake last night. Unfortunately, I never did see what the couple looked like.
Before I left for Las Vegas, I checked on room specials at the American Casino Guide homepage. One of the specials was for Lady Luck for $24.50 a night from Sunday-Thursday, which was originally posted in the Los Angeles Times. When I went to check, the clerk said I needed to bring in the ad.
Quickly, I thought, maybe I could circumvent the situation by calling the toll-free reservation number and just mentioning the ad. It turned out the pay phone would not connect to the number. After retrieving the phone number from the car, there was a homeless man on sitting on a deserted side of the downtown casinos, and I offered him all the change in my pockets, a few dollars. I noticed when I try to do something good, I end up losing.
Downtown and the Strip are totally different. The Strip definitely has a younger crowd and a more street-like atmosphere. Downtown, under the Freemont Experience, is more like a big mall. The view on the strip was much better, but I prefer to play downtown because of the smaller crowds.
Since I was not able to get a room and didn't know where I was going to stay for the evening, I spent the rest of the time gambling at the Golden Nugget and Fritzgerald. I lost $600 at the Nugget playing double and six deck games. I made the mistake of playing too long at the six deck game even though the dealer wasn't all that friendly and everybody lost. I did okay at the double deck game, but should have left earlier because of the crowded conditions.
The one thing of note was a young wowan, in her early 30's came to the six deck game as I was about to be broken. She said she had a new attitude, and would no longer complain, a really happy-go-lucky kind of person, playing at least $25 a hand. After she received 2 good hands, but still lost to the dealer's blackjack, she started gripping. And then a lot of gripping after another set of losing hands. She even told me how to play my hand. At that point, I was lucky to lose all my money and decided to leave because I was afraid had I played any longer she would have yelled at me if she thought I made "mistakes."
During this losing period, I wondered why I came to Las Vegas to gamble. I was able to count down the cards fairly well, only losing the count on possibly 20% of the shoes. I thought I had the strategy down and the betting in place, but it seemed almost impossible to win, but I knew it wasn't. It's time like those, I wondered why I do the foolish things I do. The card counting really didn't help here.
I headed out the door and towards the car. Then for reason, I just felt like playing one more time at the Fritzgerald. There were a couple of empty double deck tables, and I decided to play because of the uncrowded conditions. After playing for about 40 minutes, I was able to win $100, but left because too many players arrived at the table. Plus the female Asian pit boss came over and looked my way a few times. At this table, the card counting really helped.
Frustrated with the financial damage, I drove into Henderson, an adjacent town south of Las Vegas. Here the bright lights of Las Vegas could be seen, especially the annoying, energy wasting light from the Luxor. It seems Henderson was where the upper class lived. I stopped at the K-mart to buy a phone card and some disposable razors.
The Marmot Alpinist Lightweight jacket I just bought online immediately before the trip came in handy as the nights were quite chilly in the desert.
At the time it was about 1:00 am. No place to go, so I decided to head south on Highway 15 and find someplace to camp. I just drove and drove until a sign at a Jean, Nevada casino posted $20 rooms. I missed the exit and there was not another exit for 10 miles. (It turned out there were some turn-arounds in the grass and dirt, but they were difficult to see.) When I entered Primm at the border of Nevada and California on the Nevada side, Buffalo Casino had rooms for $20 also. The hotel name was Whiskey Pete, and that made me a little nervous, but it turned out okay as I went to bed around 2:30 am.
Instead of paying by credit card, I decided to pay by cash since I wanted to put it to good practical use.