In 1960 I and my wife (who grew up in South Dakota in a Methodist family that did not even play cards) drove to California from Dakota in my new Peugeot - no air open windows; got to Vegas and the Last Frontier around 7:30; family had made reservations as we had a cousin who was manager; didn't have much money; went to the restaurant--family style; waiter said most was gone but he found big bowls of mashed potatoes, green beans, chicken breasts, and we ate and ate and paid $1 each; then off to our "cabana" on a moving sidewalk (my wife had never been on a moving sidewalk); after flopping bags on beds we trucked across the street to the Desert Inn where in an open lounge we got free drinks (I tipped a quarter) and watched a great show. Then to gambling; I gave my bride a dollar and I took a dollar (that was our budget) to the slots where I lost it all; went over to my bride and saw her put her dollar on the big wheel on the $5 slot; it hit! Did she share her win with me? No. 20 years later in my divorce I told my lawyer she owed me $2.50 but he didn't think we'd get it back. (On the way back we didn't have time or money to stop at Vegas except to get gas--temp was 108; pulled into a gas station where an attendant put in gas and wiped off the windshield. He stuck the gas line into the car, set the lock and began wiping the windshield when the gas lock device opened and gas spilled out making a lake under the car; the guy ordered me to start the car and move it--I told him to move it himself. Such was my 1980 Vegas adventure.)
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