... they keep fallin'."

Well, not exactly. But, I do have a funny story to tell about the room card from the Pioneer Inn, Reno, scanned below.

I was at a gas station today filling up my truck. Being a sophisticated user of self-service gas pumps, I know all about the little latch that will keep the pump going without having to hold it. <g> I was therefore able to let my attention wander while the pump did the work. As I was gazing skyward (for no particular reason), my eye was caught by what at first I thought was a piece of paper fluttering down from just above the level of the overhang of the pump island.

The "paper" fell to the ground about three feet away from me, bounced a little and came to a stop. I picked it up and found it to be the Pioneer Room card.

I had absolutely no idea where it came from, though the gas station is directly under the flight path of the Hayward airport (general aviation airport which handles a substantial number of small plane takeoffs and landings). I think the plastic card is too heavy to have flown out of a passing vehicle, but too light to have been thrown from one hard enough to get that high off the ground. Using Holmesian logic ("when you have eliminated the impossible, whatever remains, however improbable, must be the truth"), I concluded that it must have been thrown out of a passing aircraft (most likely by a frustrated gambler returning from an unfruitful visit to Reno).

And, as Edith Ann used to say, "that's the truth".

----- jim o\-S (not a collector of room cards, but will probably keep this "heaven sent" item)