Yep, the 2007 convention is over and I'm headed north. In my rear view is a blur of happy chippers, green felt and gin and tonics. In my back seat is all the chips I was hunting (lol) and a bunch of chips with poor documentation that I'll puzzle about in the weeks ahead. ("Who'd I buy this one from? What'd I pay for this thing anyway?") Happens every year, sigh. It's about thirty miles before I clear all the red-tile housing and Big Box malls of Las Vegas and the next stop is breakfast at Indian Springs. They fly Predator drones out of the air base there. Don't know if they've found OBL from there but I wouldn't mind much if they'd send a Hellfire missile down on that little dumbell Indian Springs Moe.

Hwy 95. Used to truck it once upon a time before I was gambling or collecting chips. Glen, my co-driver at the time used to actually mine mercury out thisaway and would tell stories of big weekends in Tonapah but shoot, I didn't listen much then. We would stop here and there along the way for our breaks and I decided to name this stretch the Texas Chainsaw route. Get your grub in Mina, eat it, keep quiet and keep moving. Some of these places seem like places where folks like to "take care of things" themselves, hold a grudge and set fire to stuff. Don't know how many times I've been up and down here but I know the landmarks and sights pretty well now. The Exchange Club in Beatty has the sign up, "Best Cooks In Town Except For One Idiot Named Tony". There's a better spot to gas up on this road, down that alley in Tonapah, friendly and cheap. Not cheap for a rip-off room at Tonapah station and the trucker-friendly motel at the north end of town has been closed for quite a while, just keep moving, you've seen that "Chainsaw..." movie. Didn't stop at Goldfield this time, got enough pics of the Hotel there and the "Art" cars behind that guy's fence. Now we're getting to the part of the route where things shimmer in the air and you wonder what you're actually seeing. They got Winnabago's out that way that have some of the first serial numbers. Just you and the Winnie on the road. You wind up the turbo and pass 'em and wonder if they ever really reach their destination or if they're just on some ghostly desert mirage journey that never ends. Don't look too closely at the RV pilot, you may not like what you'll see, or not see. Hawthorne is the next town. Might stop at El Capitan again. Chipper D.P. Braken used to deal there, he and his wife are very nice folks, met up with them a few conventions ago. Might just take the Hazmat route around town. That's where the trucks loaded with bombs and rockets come and go from the ammo dump in Hawthorne. When I carried paper resin or polymer for Flagstaff or Vegas I could go through town but the phos acid for that mine in AZ. dictated the hazard route. Junction is there at the McDonald's and then north past the fake cop car and time to start thinking if'n you want to go through Yerington (Nope!) or Fallon (Ugh!). Either way, you're going to catch I-80 at Fernley and I'll probably stop there. Got a couple of chips from the Silverado so I'll take a picture. It's a nasty little slot joint now, next to the nasty little Super 8. (Super 8 where every desk clerk feels that special kinship to Norman Bates.) Probably stop by Truck-Inn for coffee or gas, won't be needing any diesel this trip. Hit the Super Slab and motor on west to Reno!

Staying at Fitz' place again. As you may know, I'm fairly Lincoln Fitzgerald/Nevada Club nutty and I like to pay trubute to the idea this way. I feel kinda silly calling up Fitzgerald's and using the code phrase for my reservations like, "I want my Lazy Crazy Summer Jackpots!" but hey, it's a FREE room! Just for sitting around and betting red chips for a little while, cool! More than once I've checked in and heard the desk folks telling people the hotels booked up, the whole towns booked up and good luck finding something. The Fitzgerald rooms are actually pretty good, the gaming is excellent, the elevators are slow, the hot water is hit-or-miss and the food is awful. This place has my name all over IT!

Well, there was some drama to my stay at Fitzgeralds. Nobody really owns the place for one thing. Some sort of court receivership entity paying the bills and such. Some feller made application to buy the Fitzgerald Reno but had all sorts of problems. I posted about it and you could serch the archives for the particulars. Use keywords "Russian Mafia" or "stolen plutonium" or "New Jersey State Police" to find the rundown on all that. Nevada Gaming got out the big old REJECTED stamp for that one. Heard that there was a new owner finally and the mayor's kid was gonna boss the place. Bob Cashell who owned the Horseshoe next door is the mayor of Reno. I know, hard to belive, but someone is in charge of the city. Some mortgage/capital/flimflam outfit bought Fitz and got the Cashell kid to run the Reno operation. Well, I hadn't gotten my latest flyer from them so I was wondering if my fleabite action was going to rate anymore. Mailer comes and yep, I'm in! I'll appear at the front desk Sunday Aug. 12 and pay $10 for that day with Monday free. Saturday is the last day of Hot August Nights but there will still be a townfull of greasers and such Sunday...which used to be the last day of HAN. So my room is going to be ten whole bucks. Made the reservation and the very next day, another Fitz flyer comes. Cool. Let's see, if I call them up and say "I Want Wave Of Winnings" I can pay $20 more than in the old Lazy Crazy days. Nuts to these new guys, I still got a couple other places that shill me but I really liked looking down on the roof of the old Primadonna.

Crystal Bay this time? Perhaps. The new owner at Cal-Neva pumped $20 million into the place so I might check that out and some outfit bought Nevada Biltmore and some hotel thing across the street that Crystal Bay Club had. Ought to see it all before they tear apart everything that Fitz put in at the Nevada Lodge. Wish I had more time but I could come back when Munding has his show in October...hmmm.