[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Originally Posted by tracer

I didn't get any feedback regarding the deadhead to Reno (Sparks) NV, so I grabbed a double espresso at the McDonald's in Winnemucca NV and headed west on I-80. The weather was beautiful, the temperature sitting just above freezing and I hardly saw any snow anywhere. This being Sunday I saw very little traffic. So I set my cruise to 60 MPH and 1,280 RPM and it took 2 hours and 45 minutes to cover the 161 miles from Winnemucca to the TA truck stop in Sparks, NV (X. 19 off I-80). I spent the time listening to the audiobook by Lee Child about another set of adventures of the former military cop Jack Reacher. Some bad guys are threatening the Vice President of the United States and Jack is asked to 'audit' the effectiveness of the Secret Service protection. I'll start looking for a load on Monday and I hope something will show up in California that I can take back to Ontario or maybe Quebec. This TA has an interesting collection of firearms that are displayed on the walls in the hall, from the early rifles and revolvers to hand grenades and even mortars used in the WWII, plus a case of relatively modern automatic pistols.

That is Sierra Sid's casino, the one i was talking about I won all that money at last year Tracer....... Play the dollar slot next to the door by the fuel desk (Double Diamonds, like 4-5 machines in a row)

As for your trip, i still think you should have come East. You know for sure there will be loads out of IA and IL on Monday, and the rates will prob make them pay just as good as the loads out of CA. For your sake tho, i hope you catch a break sometime, you deserve it man.

Keep up the log as it IS very fun hearing your stories and you got a gift at telling them. My version would be more like " I picked up my tank, I drove down the road, 4-wheelers pissed me off, I dropped my trailer off"

[Heavy Duty]

Don't get discouraged early, Monday is not the best day for freight, and from experience most CA freight comes in after noon and loads next AM. Check the weather before you go over Donner, and have your ducks in a row for the Truckee scale.

[tracer]

Originally Posted by Steel Horse Cowboy

That is Sierra Sid's casino, the one i was talking about I won all that money at last year Tracer....... Play the dollar slot next to the door by the fuel desk (Double Diamonds, like 4-5 machines in a row)

Thanks. I"m going to try my luck tonight. Appreciate the kind comment about my story-telling abilities. The truth is I never thought I'd be writing. My Russian literature at high school would be very surprised. But when I moved to Canada, I ran into an interesting book called IF YOU CAN TALK YOU CAN WRITE by Joe Sugarman. This was an eye opener! The gist of the book is that any person who can talk, can write. All you have to do is put your words on paper. We are all creative.

I discovered CAD now has a Blog section. I might start a permanent thread there after this trip.

[tracer]

Originally Posted by Steel Horse Cowboy

... As for your trip, i still think you should have come East. You know for sure there will be loads out of IA and IL on Monday, and the rates will prob make them pay just as good as the loads out of CA.

A couple of loads I saw on our Board out of CA on Friday paid 8 grand gross (76% to me). I was too far away to grab one. It had to load before 6 pm local time. Loads in NE, IA, IL don't pay that much. The best one I saw was a DD out of Chicago that paid $4/mi on 500 mi to Toronto, ON. It was my legal height (thanks to my deck being 36" off the ground) and only 10'6" wide. If nothing big shows up here, I"ll look for an LTL and then load the rest in Mid-West.

[Orangetxguy]

I have been to Brampton ON and delivered, reloaded in Detroit and delivered in Lone Star TX, reloaded in Houston and now I am camped at the Flying J on I-75, north of Tampa FL, waiting to deliver tomorrow evening in Lakeland FL. All since you picked that load up to Golconda.

I am at $7,770 (line + fsc) on 4135 actual miles, before demurage, intransit heat and
steam service fees, fax service fees, out of route mileage, border crossing fees, delay of dispatch, and pump charges. Once those are added....I will be glad I wasn't dragging a deck around. Not blazing money for 11 days work....but not bad either.

[no_worries]

Winnemucca has a well-known Basque community. Next time, skip the Pizza Hut and pop into one of their dinner houses.

[tracer]

I don't gamble but tomorrow's my birthday... So I decided to act on the Steel Cowboy's tip... An inspection inside my thin wallet showed I had 3 twenties and 5 singles.. I figured I can afford to lose 20 bucks. So I went inside the truck stop and got me a cup of tea. Then I walked around the casino till I was sure I found the machines the Cowboy wrote about. The casino has quite a few 'double diamonds' but most are 25 cents a play... I found a 'triple diamond' machine at $1 a play and the unit numbers on the front added to '10' (the day of my birthday). So as far as I was concerned, this was the one!

I slipped in a crispy twenty-dollar bill and started playing single coins ($1 per play).

Coin 20 Loss
Coin 19 Loss
Coin 18 Loss
Coin 17 Loss
Coin 16 Loss
Coin 15 Loss
Coin 14 Loss
Coin 13 Loss
Coin 12 Loss
Coin 11 Loss
Coin 10 Loss
Coin 9 Loss
Coin 8 Loss
Coin 7 Loss
Coin 6 Loss
Coin 5 Loss
Coin 4 ................

With only $4 left inside the machine, I was totally prepared to finish the play and go back to the truck. But when I pressed "play" all of a sudden I heard music and the numbers on the Credit window started rolling up. Each time they went up, a ding sounded. I turned around but no one seemed to pay any attention. Getting a bit excited (Have I really won something?) I looked at the Rule board trying to figure out what the maximum win is - and all this time the electronic numbers in the Window kept rolling up. 50 ... 100 ... 150 .. 200 ... 250 ... 300... All right! ... They stopped only at 364! I won 364 bucks!

I pressed the Cash-Out button and huge coins started rolling out into the bay. They kept rolling out for 5 minutes making quite a racket. Finally the din stopped and I loaded the 2-inch coins into my hat and went to look for a cashier's office.

When I found it some old gal lingering nearby offered to help me. She had plastic bowls in her hand. "Let's put them in these, this way it'll be easier for the cashier to count the coins," she said. I got suspicious so I asked her, "Do you work here?" The woman became fidgety and started looking for her badge... She finally got down to Layer 3 in her clothes and there was an official looking casino employee badge with her name. So I figured I can trust her with my 364 bucks. I started loading the huge coins into the plastic bowls and the woman said, "Oh... I thought they were quarters...". She disappeared again and came back with some red plastic containers that had slots for these particular size coins. Each container had 5 slots and each slot could hold 20 one-dollar coins. So, one container equals $100. We loaded 3.5 containers, took it to the window, where I gave the lady a $1 coin for the help and I walked away with my $363 win.

I think this is the biggest win I ever had at a casino. I know some of you guys would probably have kept playing till they lost everything .... but with 40 bucks left in my wallet I didn't want to risk losing 363 bucks. I'm quite happy with what I've got: it's a decent birthday present.

Tracer out

[Steel Horse Cowboy]

Told you buddy.... those $1 machines hardly get played. Gald i could help in making your birthday a good one!!!!

BTW, I went to the casino boat here at home tonight and won $275 for only 20min of play at the 3-card poker tables. I am just lucky I guess as my GF lost my other $100 at the blackjack table LOL

[rank]

OMG that is so funny. $364 without even turning a wheel. You need more loads to NV!

[tracer]

Originally Posted by rank

OMG that is so funny. $364 without even turning a wheel. You need more loads to NV!

Yep. 0 diesel cost, 0 time behind the wheel. It took probably 5 minutes for me to lose 16 bucks and then win But I know you cannot do it as regular source of income. I once won 200 bucks on a boat with a casino, and then went in again and lost 400! That's why I stopped as soon as I hit the jackpot yesterday. "Ask and you shall receive" kind of thing and no more than that.