The Dragon, the Jeep & the Gambler
Greetings!
A buddy of mine had a 97 Jeep Cherokee for sale a while ago, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to get rid of my wife's beater Pathfinder and try to upgrade to something a little safer for Mom and Snowtrooper Jr to drive around in. Managed to sell the Nissan for $1,200, but seller of Jeep wanted more than twice that amount and was not willing to make payments since he is leaving in 6 weeks for military deployment.
Living in the small town, there really is not too many options for used vehicles. No dealers, and nothing else around locally was of interest. I knew we needed to put the money from the sale into a vehicle quick or it was going to be gone in no time. I really hated the idea that we would be a one vehicle family, and was already unhappy with the amount of miles getting put on the Dragon...
Sure enough, Mrs Snowtrooper saw a commercial for Monster Truck Jam in Reno and thought the boy would enjoy it and that we needed a mini vacation....
I could just see the $'s taking wing, but did like the idea of a break, so I agreed.
Last week, Friday the 13th, we were off to Reno. Took Snowtrooper Jr to go see Grave Digger, and we had a blast. Tried to hook up with the Reno VX crew, but with such short notice on my part, it just did not happen. Bart and I spoke on the phone a few times, but just could not manage to make the meet.
I will admit I was a bit distracted.
I am not a gambler, but had a sense for a certain "one armed bandit" where we were staying @ the Peppermill.
We arrived late Friday night, around 10PM. After putting the family to bed, I went out on the casino floor. After wandering around for about an hour a dollar slot machine took an interest in me. It was a "Double/Triple Diamond" game, that in addition to the normal bar/cherry/ symbols, included double and triple diamond icons on the wheels. If you hit a normal winning combo and included one of these symbols, your payout would (obviously) be increased per the bonus symbol 2 to 3 times.
I dropped 20 bucks into it. It had a 2 buck max, so I pulled the limit a few times and to my suprise won $120. Pretty exiting for my broke *** ;)
Being thoughtfull, cautious and poor, I was going to go back down to $100 and call it good. On the way, I managed to hit a $180 payout! In between I hit a few small ones as well, so I was up more than $300 bucks. This all happened in about half an hour, so I was tripping. Again, I don't gamble, but had the suspicion that this was a bit unusual, especially for Friday the 13th.
I decided to count my blessings and cashed out a voucher for the 3 bills.
Momma was a bit preturbed on my return since she was still awake, but when I showed her the $300, all was forgivien.
The next day we did the Monster truck/family gig. As we were leaving the casino, I showed mom where the macine was. We dumped 60 into it and had no luck.
Thought that cured me and showed me that I was just having a good run the night before.
Then as we were getting ready to leave on Sunday, I went back to my bandit.
I put the voucher in from Friday night. After working that $300 down to $200 in a few heartbeats, I knew it was time to cash out. Took the $200 voucher to cashier and got paid. After a few steps towards where I was to meet the family, for some reason, I listend to the call I heard all the way accross the casino from "my" machine. Got one last $20 out and after 2 pulls, won $120 again! Thought I would work it down to $100 and be done, but after a few more pulls, two of the double diamond and one of the triples were lined up. The normal payout window did not indicate anything, but I was sure that combo had to be "something"...
After sitting there for a minute or two pondering, an attendent tapped me on the shoulder and congratulated me.
Seeing the look on my face, she pointed to the $1,600 payout combo "sample" on the upper display glass :freek:
Oh yea, that and the little flashing light at the top of the bandit that I somehow managed to not see should have been a clue....
Just about then the surly Mrs walked up, figuring I had blown the entire $300 from the night b4. I just handed her the $1,600, smiled and we walked away.
Anyhow, I got to be a "slottie" rockstar for a minute with the bluehaired locals.
On arrival home, was able to negotiate deal with Jeep seller:
http://i116.photobucket.com/albums/o...DragonJeep.jpg
Twin sons of different mothers!
Don't be a hater Bart ;)
I have always like the Cherokees, and think these two belong together!
Thanks, Peppermill!
Sorry for the "novel", but I haven't posted much lately, so this ought to make up for it ;)
Got a PM from a concerned member, and just felt I needed to let everyone know what I have been up to....
Best,
