Hit ‘em Nevada – Day 16
It was packing time once again and goodbye to Winnemucca and the drive to the next destination, Elko. The drive was uneventful with a brief drive through Battle Mountain, NV. The only thing that even resembled a casino here was a small café with about ten machines, so after a brief drive through Main Street, I was back on the I-80 heading northwest. I had to smile a little to myself realizing that last year I took this same drive except it was in the other direction returning from the national tour.
I arrived in Elko at about 1 PM. This small town of about 18 thousand was also incorporated around 1869 during the construction of the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad (as were most of the towns along this route). It was named by railroad superintendent Charles Crocker who is said to have a fondness for elk and simply added the “o”—true! Last year I mentioned that this town has a warm spot for me because back in the day (mid ‘80s) when my band was on a western states tour, one of our stops was at the Red Lion Hotel. We were the dance band and had our most arduous gig of the tour here—starting at 10 PM and finishing at 4 AM. We didn’t even have enough songs for the six hour performance so end up repeating many. The place had mostly cowboys and ranchers, so Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life” had to be played over and over again.
As I approached there’s the newest casino to Elko, the Gold Dust West. This is a cookie cutter casino to the one in Carson City. I will say they are very nice casinos with the latest machines. There was no one playing at the tables, so I picked a blackjack dollar video machine, played and won. I then enjoyed one of their free soft drinks (I love it when places have these dispensers—the M in Vegas recently took all of them out). I played that 3D Thunder Buffalo penny game again, and this time I did hit a bonus (free spins), and managed to win $33 on a fifty cent bet and cashed out.
Inside the Gold Dust Elko
The second place I pulled up to was, the aforementioned, Red Lion. I stayed here last year, which is why I chose NOT to stay here this time. The room was dingy and old. However, I did want to get my $10 in and walked up to a blackjack game that was dealing a $1 game—first time I’ve seen that this trip. One guy was playing one dollar at a time. I gave the dealer my ten and said I wanted it all on one bet. The dollar better looked at me like I was nuts. I won the bet with a 19 against the dealer’s 17.
They’ve done a bit of remodeling since I was here last year. The resurrected entertainment with a much smaller stage and had a band every night. This brings me to an interesting observation and many of you that visit Vegas regularly might watch for this. Back in my 20s and playing full time in a band, all the bands (and this was long before DJs predominated the music scene) were about my age. All the hotels had bands who competed with each other for the better paying houses. Today, the very few lounge bands you see are what appear to be the SAME people. All the musicians look to be in their 40s and 50s. I rarely ever see a young lounge band. And this was the case here at the Red Lion. On the small marquee was a picture of a middle-aged couple with that 60s kind of come-hither pose and plastic smiles. Thank GOD I went back to school to get my teaching degree; otherwise, that picture might very well have been of me.
I walked across the street, which was a challenge as there’s a major street reconstruction going on throughout all of Elko making traffic an absolute mess. I walked into the Gold Country Hotel and Casino. The casino, really, isn’t so much of a casino, but rather about 45 slot and video poker machines. However, they did have a dollar video game that had blackjack. I played my $10 and won, which surprised me as I had 12 to the dealers 10 show card, hit to get a 7 card. The dealer’s down card was a four and then busted with a 9. I mention all this because it’s been my experience that one rarely gets a break on these video blackjack games. As I mentioned yesterday, all the places in Northern Nevada seem to have full pay Pick ‘em and this was no exception. I played—but lost—still love the game.
It was now 3 PM so I could check into my hotel, again a Holiday Inn Express. I’ll be staying here for a couple of nights because today I want to take care of Elko and then tomorrow drive north to Jackpot, which is on the Idaho border, come back here and then begin my trek southwest to my next stop in W. Wendover, which border with Utah. Check in went fine and was given room 101, right next to the desk—easy.
After unpacking and relaxing for a bit, I got back in my car and headed to the only other two casinos in Elko. These are the original “oldies but goodies” of the town that have been here since the early 1900s. The first is the Commercial Casino, which has a terrific coffee shop, though it’s only open for breakfast and lunch. There are no tables here nor are there any dollar blackjack machines, so I was relegated to a penny video machine, which netted me ten dollars.
I was walking to my final casino, Stockman’s, when I looked down the street to see their movie theater marquee. Today was the day that the new and final Harry Potter movie came out. I looked at my iphone app, Flixsters, which finds your location and then lists all of the movie theaters along with show times. The movie started in 20 minutes and I didn’t see any kind of line, so I went down to buy a ticket, $6.00. Of course, this was in 2D, as this is an old theater (hey, as long as the popcorn is fresh and hot), and the movie was very good and had an ideal ending to this great ten year franchise.
After the movie I did go into Stockman’s. This place has some major history as it’s been in this same building for a hundred years. Tonight and it’s a Friday, there are six tables open, and NO ONE is playing them. The dealer’s are just standing with their arms folded. One again, I don’t feel right going to a table, having the dealer go through all the shuffling, play one hand and leave, so I opted to hang around for a while and play hoping something will eventually get things started. I won $60 playing a penny game called Zeus III thanks to a great bonus round. It was 8 PM and the country band started playing in their showroom. I went over to check them out. There were terrific and the guitar player was spot on. Yes, they were all in their 40s or 50s and they were playing to a completely empty room—not one soul in there—geez, the memories.
I head back to the Holiday Inn Express after filling up the tank ($3.69 here) and grabbed a quesadilla to take back to the room.
Trip Totals: Casinos visited 146; Bets Balance +$153
More tomorrow
It was packing time once again and goodbye to Winnemucca and the drive to the next destination, Elko. The drive was uneventful with a brief drive through Battle Mountain, NV. The only thing that even resembled a casino here was a small café with about ten machines, so after a brief drive through Main Street, I was back on the I-80 heading northwest. I had to smile a little to myself realizing that last year I took this same drive except it was in the other direction returning from the national tour.
I arrived in Elko at about 1 PM. This small town of about 18 thousand was also incorporated around 1869 during the construction of the construction of the Central Pacific Railroad (as were most of the towns along this route). It was named by railroad superintendent Charles Crocker who is said to have a fondness for elk and simply added the “o”—true! Last year I mentioned that this town has a warm spot for me because back in the day (mid ‘80s) when my band was on a western states tour, one of our stops was at the Red Lion Hotel. We were the dance band and had our most arduous gig of the tour here—starting at 10 PM and finishing at 4 AM. We didn’t even have enough songs for the six hour performance so end up repeating many. The place had mostly cowboys and ranchers, so Dire Straits’ “Walk of Life” had to be played over and over again.
As I approached there’s the newest casino to Elko, the Gold Dust West. This is a cookie cutter casino to the one in Carson City. I will say they are very nice casinos with the latest machines. There was no one playing at the tables, so I picked a blackjack dollar video machine, played and won. I then enjoyed one of their free soft drinks (I love it when places have these dispensers—the M in Vegas recently took all of them out). I played that 3D Thunder Buffalo penny game again, and this time I did hit a bonus (free spins), and managed to win $33 on a fifty cent bet and cashed out.
Inside the Gold Dust Elko
The second place I pulled up to was, the aforementioned, Red Lion. I stayed here last year, which is why I chose NOT to stay here this time. The room was dingy and old. However, I did want to get my $10 in and walked up to a blackjack game that was dealing a $1 game—first time I’ve seen that this trip. One guy was playing one dollar at a time. I gave the dealer my ten and said I wanted it all on one bet. The dollar better looked at me like I was nuts. I won the bet with a 19 against the dealer’s 17.
They’ve done a bit of remodeling since I was here last year. The resurrected entertainment with a much smaller stage and had a band every night. This brings me to an interesting observation and many of you that visit Vegas regularly might watch for this. Back in my 20s and playing full time in a band, all the bands (and this was long before DJs predominated the music scene) were about my age. All the hotels had bands who competed with each other for the better paying houses. Today, the very few lounge bands you see are what appear to be the SAME people. All the musicians look to be in their 40s and 50s. I rarely ever see a young lounge band. And this was the case here at the Red Lion. On the small marquee was a picture of a middle-aged couple with that 60s kind of come-hither pose and plastic smiles. Thank GOD I went back to school to get my teaching degree; otherwise, that picture might very well have been of me.
I walked across the street, which was a challenge as there’s a major street reconstruction going on throughout all of Elko making traffic an absolute mess. I walked into the Gold Country Hotel and Casino. The casino, really, isn’t so much of a casino, but rather about 45 slot and video poker machines. However, they did have a dollar video game that had blackjack. I played my $10 and won, which surprised me as I had 12 to the dealers 10 show card, hit to get a 7 card. The dealer’s down card was a four and then busted with a 9. I mention all this because it’s been my experience that one rarely gets a break on these video blackjack games. As I mentioned yesterday, all the places in Northern Nevada seem to have full pay Pick ‘em and this was no exception. I played—but lost—still love the game.
It was now 3 PM so I could check into my hotel, again a Holiday Inn Express. I’ll be staying here for a couple of nights because today I want to take care of Elko and then tomorrow drive north to Jackpot, which is on the Idaho border, come back here and then begin my trek southwest to my next stop in W. Wendover, which border with Utah. Check in went fine and was given room 101, right next to the desk—easy.
After unpacking and relaxing for a bit, I got back in my car and headed to the only other two casinos in Elko. These are the original “oldies but goodies” of the town that have been here since the early 1900s. The first is the Commercial Casino, which has a terrific coffee shop, though it’s only open for breakfast and lunch. There are no tables here nor are there any dollar blackjack machines, so I was relegated to a penny video machine, which netted me ten dollars.
I was walking to my final casino, Stockman’s, when I looked down the street to see their movie theater marquee. Today was the day that the new and final Harry Potter movie came out. I looked at my iphone app, Flixsters, which finds your location and then lists all of the movie theaters along with show times. The movie started in 20 minutes and I didn’t see any kind of line, so I went down to buy a ticket, $6.00. Of course, this was in 2D, as this is an old theater (hey, as long as the popcorn is fresh and hot), and the movie was very good and had an ideal ending to this great ten year franchise.
After the movie I did go into Stockman’s. This place has some major history as it’s been in this same building for a hundred years. Tonight and it’s a Friday, there are six tables open, and NO ONE is playing them. The dealer’s are just standing with their arms folded. One again, I don’t feel right going to a table, having the dealer go through all the shuffling, play one hand and leave, so I opted to hang around for a while and play hoping something will eventually get things started. I won $60 playing a penny game called Zeus III thanks to a great bonus round. It was 8 PM and the country band started playing in their showroom. I went over to check them out. There were terrific and the guitar player was spot on. Yes, they were all in their 40s or 50s and they were playing to a completely empty room—not one soul in there—geez, the memories.
I head back to the Holiday Inn Express after filling up the tank ($3.69 here) and grabbed a quesadilla to take back to the room.
Trip Totals: Casinos visited 146; Bets Balance +$153
More tomorrow
