After an unusual month of rain almost every other day in the Carson Valley below Lake Tahoe, My wife Janice and I decided to take the baby out of the barn and drive to the convention 440 miles across Nevada. We checked the weather forecast for the next week and everything looked great. With a limited cargo space there wasn't any room for the soft-top, or even baggage. We knew it wasn't going to be a comfortable ride, with a 16yr old completely stock Viper (13,000miles). No air conditioner, Full sunshine, wind, cassette stereo and the engine heats up your feet to about 190 degree's. Oh well, we are always open to an adventure. I put on a quick protection coat of wax, made my casino chip wish list and decided to head out first thing Wednesday Morning.
It wasn't an hour into the trip when things started getting interesting. For some reason there were about 20 to 30 birds in the middle of the road. Had to actually maneuver around some of them, but not before the rest took flight and let loose their wonderful droppings all over us. A little bird sh&% can't stop us, so we powered on. We made great time almost to Tonopah which was about half way to Vegas. Then came the road construction signs. Great, NDOT had just oiled the road and put some kind of god awful sand/rock onto it. We were the first car in line, of course, and after waiting about 30 minutes decided to keep going. I don't think I drove over 5mph, because that road cr$% was flying everywhere and sticking to everything it hit! Okay... bird sh%& and road tar. No big deal, only 200 miles to go. My back was getting pretty stiff. Note to self: do not sit up to stretch. Hat flew off immediately! Backed up and saved it right before two semi's would have ran it over. Finally made it to the Vegas city limits and the traffic was stop and go. The closer we came to the South Point the larger the clouds became overhead. No problem it hasn't rained in Vegas in quite a while right? Still had about 10 miles to go, then it started raining. Not to bad, felt kind of good because we were a sweaty mess. Got to use my wipers for the first time, and it did clean off most of the bird droppings. Then it started raining harder! For those of you who were there Wednesday afternoon, you know what I'm talking about. The good news... we just made it to valet parking before the real downpour began. Yeah, we get to check in and take a shower. Whoops, they didn't have a record of my reservations! I did bring a couple copies with my confirmation number, but they still couldn't find it. No problem....all taken care of after about 30minutes. They were very professional and we would have just taken a broom closet by that time.
That is when things started getting better. I knew the South Point would be a great location. The rooms, food and employees were all perfect. We were able to meet a few of you at the "splashbar" and felt right at home. Which probably isn't a good thing!! Made it down to 7 tables at the poker tournament, which wasn't bad because I didn't see a card higher then ten in the last hour! Picked up a few chips from my want list. I also won one of the raffle prizes. WhooHoo! We could have just spent the entire convention at the bar. It was great meeting all of you. I hope we weren't to out of line. We don't get out much...lol. Unfortunately we had to leave Friday afternoon, so I guess we missed the best part. Maybe next year
Okay, now for the trip home. We left Hooters Las Vegas Friday at about 3pm. I did want to make it home before dark, so I might have been pushing it a little. C'mon the roads are wide open and empty! I really wasn't driving too bad. It is hard when you can go 90mph in 3rd gear. Dang it! Sheriff coming at me. Looked down and sure enough 90mph. Pulled over somewhere in Esmeralda County. He was nice enough, but I knew it was a ticket! Because I have a perfect record, he only wrote me up for 80mph. So much for my record!! Then Officer S. Johnson (good name, I guess) asked me if I was a firefighter, because of my F endorsement on my license. I had to tell him I was a county commissioner, which received a good laugh. Then he rubbed it in and said I was the slowest Viper he has ever pulled over! Thank you sir, have a nice day! ($170 fine). Okay, slow down, it can't get any worse right? We decided to take it easy and pulled over at the Goldfield Hotel to check it out. It is supposed to be haunted and has been on ghosthunters and a couple other shows. It is very impressive with the safe and a grand piano still inside, complete with ravens on the fire escape. It was about 8pm now and we had better get going. Sat down, turned the key....nothing!! Damn Ghosts! My wife and I are pretty good when tested, but this is getting a little tiresome. Now if any of you have ever been to Goldfield, there is nothing there. No cell phone service, no internet and only one business seemed to be open. The local bar which was closing in a couple hours. I did have some jumper cables with me, so we talked one of the guys into trying to give us a jump start. Nothing but a clicking sound. Great, we are stuck. AAA doesn't do any good when there wasn't anybody open and you can't contact them. We started walking up the street, when we noticed a lady closing the only grocery store. We told her our dilemma, so she went inside to call the only motel in town, because they close the office at 8pm. We got a ride there and rented a room for the night. She asked us if we wanted a jump start. I figured, why not. So we again hooked up the cables and this time it started right up of course. Drove to the motel and spent the night anyway. Toilet ran all night and I could hear some guy snoring somewhere. The ravens woke us up early. Probably the same ones from the Goldfield Hotel. Little Bastu%$s! Saturday morning in Goldfield with no car, no people and one open little grocery store with a pay phone outside. Had donuts and milk for breakfast. Called AAA on the payphone. The closest help would be in Tonopah, but not sure if they have a flatbed tow-truck. Told them I would see what I could do on our own. That is when we found the Sheriff office behind the courthouse was open 24/7. Esmeralda County Sheriff office.....perfect!! I walked in and they already knew who we were because giving a commissioner a ticket is big news I guess! So I asked them for a jump start, figuring I can make it to Tonopah and pick up a battery. Nick the jail deputy got permission from the guy who gave me the ticket. Turns out Sheriff S. Johnson is the guy in charge. They (all three of them) were incredibly nice and helpful. Car started, but alarm prevented driving anywhere. Turned it off and it never started again. The battery is in the trunk under a panel with 12 screws. I do not have any tools with me and there isn't any local place to buy a battery. Nick again obtained permission to help me out. He retrieved his personal vehicle and some tools. The dispatcher started calling auto stores in Tonopah to find a battery. We took the battery put it in the back of the Sheriff car and was given a ride to Tonopah with Janice riding in the back. After a long ride watching the radar click on every passing car, we made it to a auto parts store. After some more ribbing, they found me a battery that would work. Plus they said it won't let me drive over 70mph. Funny guy huh! We offered to buy lunch for the jail deputy and the dispatcher. So we went through a drive through at Burger King in the sheriff car and got an order to go. He said it was the first time he had passed food through the window to the rear seat! Made it back to Goldfield and went to eat lunch at the Sheriff office. My order wasn't in the bag!! I'm starting to feel about 15minutes of turrets syndrome coming on, but kept my cool. Ate half of my wife's food and went to put the battery in the car. Success, runs like a dream. Not that everyone wasn't nice, but all I wanted to do was get back on the road. Janice was driving now, because I banned myself for awhile. We stopped in Tonopah to get gas and my burger...lol. My credit card was denied because of unusual purchases!! Spent all our cash except a $20 bill hoping we can make it the rest of the way home. But wait, we had $20 left, so we stopped at El Capitan in Hawthorne and bought four $5 chips which look to be a newer issue. Got to keep my priorities straight.
Made it home safely and had a great memorable time at the convention.
P.S. Barry and Dawn: I can give you four more horseshoes, but you have to take the horse too!!
P.S. P.S. Holding tanks were leaking water in our garage the next morning!
All the best.....Doug