Road Trip: Destination Wendover, NV

Tex and I are fairly spontaneous people. We do plan some things out but for the most part we brainstorm an idea in our head for 5 minutes, say it out loud, and then we both go after it without thinking about the minor details. So on Saturday morning when we woke up realizing Tex had gotten paid, and the bills were all paid for the month of March, he decided “a get away from Park City” was well in store.

With Tex ready to go from the minute "get away" and “Wendover” processed in his brain, we were in a race to pack our things and head on out. Being spontaneous like this when you have other responsibilities means you “give and take” on a few things. Like Hazard…we couldn’t find anyone to watch him, didn't try, so we left Hazard to patrol the house over night alone. He was to keep the cats in order, eat some food, and watch TV with his toy. (Yes the TV was left on along with some lights so Hazard would feel as comfortable as possible.)

Wendover is a “po-dunk” town right over the border of Utah to Nevada. It is in the middle of nowhere with about 5 decent size casinos. We began our “2 hour” journey at about 3:30. The weather was good, the tank was full and the speed limit was 75 on straight aways past the Great Salt Lake and some mountain ranges. After listening to Tex’s Lynard Skynard, I finally was able to slip my mix cd in and listen to DMB, a little Garth, Eminem, and Linkin Park. We arrived in Wendover fairly quickly, since the speed was 75. 75 meant you could go a little over, we easily topped 90 in many areas, but other cars continued to fly by us. Tex gave me no time to check out hotels on the internet prior to leaving, so when we arrived in Wendover, we settled on the first place, Montego Bay. It was overly priced compared to all the other hotel/casinos around, but - this was spontaneous so we paid about $50 more than we should have, had we looked into other hotels a block down the road. (Haven’t gambled yet: out $50).

We got our room, changed, and headed out to the casino. Now, this is the second time only that I have gambled, but I adjusted pretty well. With no hesitation, I found my “slot” that I was going to play all night… “Wheel of Fortune” and luckily Tex played right next to me. We played on Wheel of Fortune for about 4-5 hours. At one point we were up $600 by putting $50/each into our own slot… But come on...When you’re gambling you want more, why settle, so I lost my portion completely and we settled on Tex's (still a win though not as much a) win of $230.00. We scuffled around to the Peppermill Casino and Gold Nugget Casino and played some more slots. (Plus, 4 hours of free Corona’s for me and Jack and Coke for Tex., we were feeling good.) After losing another $20 each on a slot, Tex was very thrilled to see Keno. At about midnight, we switched over to Keno, which turned out to be my downfall not $$-wise but alcohol-wise. I had a blast sitting next to Tex, hanging out, talking, and resting my head on his shoulder. Each round of Keno, Tex who usually wins at Keno, didn’t win and I would win my money back or double. But after several more rounds of drinks and sitting, playing Keno, I felt a little sleepy, and bloated from all the beer I had consumed. So at 2:30, I called it a night at the casino with only $28.00 in my pocket.

We went back to the room and I crashed on the bed. Tex decided to go “see how much we had earned on our passports": cards that go into the slot machine and earn you points for food, etc…(I think it is a scam because every time I forgot to put it in, I did well, when it was registered in the machine, I lost my money more quickly). Well, he must have got lost on the way, because I woke up when he returned at 5 in the morning. Well, I didn’t know this about Tex, but when he gets going gambling…he goes. He accomplished losing more of his money to the point that his ATM is worthless. When we woke up in the morning, we left Montego Bay and went over to the Rainbow Casino. Lucky for me I had used my “passport card” because that is what bought our breakfast at a restaurant. Then, we both hit a slot for another hour with my $28.00 and $50 out from my account...We lost every dime and headed back home by 2:30 pm.

All in all, we lost probably $200 gambling, saved $120+ from gambling to get free drinks, and had a blast together. Overall, we were annoyed that we lost our money but came to find out that Hazard felt the most pain. The previous day, when we had walked out the door, with a bag of clothes in tote, Hazard knew we were going somewhere, he didn’t even try to run out the door and jump into the car, and he just sat there with droopy eyes. While we lost money, our dog, depressed in our absence, didn’t eat any of his food. He didn’t go to the bathroom in the house even though he was alone for over 24 hours…he was constipated when we got home from his depression. On the other hand, he was thrilled to have us home so I coaxed him to eat his food while we ate ours and 20 minutes later, Hazard was good to go. Tex and I relaxed for the rest of our evening and watched a movie.

Trip to Wendover: $100-hotel, $200 gambling, $40 food, $50 full tank of gas, extra $50 to call it a day.

Trip to Wendover: Good times winning and losing with Tex, free drinks, 2-hour getaway, and a dog that doesn’t shit or pee over a 24 hour period of time: PRICELESS.