I will try to complete this report as soon as possible. I'm sorry I don't remember too much from the first day, but here goes.
Day 1
December 15 - 16
I woke up at my usual 4:00 am and went into work to count down the final nine hours until my plane was supposed to take off for Vegas. I just could not keep my mind on work, so I set up my "Out of Office" reply on email, and left a message on my voice mail stating I was gone and whom to contact, then I left three hours sooner than I had planned.
My wife was unable to make this trip and since the "Battle Ax" wasn't there to "run her mouth" about me drinking before noon, I headed to the liquor store to buy what would become the first of many six packs I would consume over the next couple days. I also used the opportunity to butter up the Stewardess this flight (I know they're "Flight Attendants" now) by buying them some neat little boxes of candy with some stick on bows to make them look more like presents.
I'm not a nervous flyer or anything, but I would really rather sleep on the four hour flight to pass the time so drinking four to six properly timed beers before a flight usually does the trick. I got to the airport two hours early (too early) and found a nice place I could set like a bum and drink my hidden stash of beers. It looked like all systems were GO until fifteen minutes before the flight they changed the video display form "ON TIME" to "DELAYED". I asked at the counter but they had no information and said to check back in forty-five minutes. When you have timed your beer buzz perfectly forty-five minutes could mean the difference in a nice nap or a headache. Never being on to "give up" I headed to the lounge and continued to medicate myself for the extra forty-five minutes (two more beers).
The plane eventually boarded one and a half-hours late (four more beers) and I would get my first chance to use my "Merry Christmas" and whip out a cheap box of candy gag. The stewardess said "How sweet" and I knew the trick had worked. These ladies really are under appreciated, and are rarely given gifts or tips. I feel they work as hard or harder than any waitress on the ground does, so I really think a little gift is very appropriate for these ladies.
In my forty one years I have found four to six beers help me sleep, however, ten beers, turn me into a binge drinker <bg>. Couple that with the fact that the fruits of my bribe began to pay off as soon as drink service on the flight began (I was not allowed to pay for any beer I had in flight) and napping becomes "out of the question". (I was already the King of Las Vegas) and I was still over Illinois.
Once on the ground in Vegas I had an unusually long wait for my luggage, and then I got passed by two of the Alamo Shuttles before the parking police called them (I was at terminal two and it was not very busy there) and they arrived to take me to the car lot. Using "Quick Silver" I had my contract and was out the door in less than sixty seconds. I found my 2000 Buick Century with out any problems and it was off to check in at Main Street Station and the Fremont for my first three nights.
I parked my car in Main Street Stations garaged and got a room on the 16th floor, before I went back down, walked over to the Fremont, and got a room on their 14th floor for the same three nights. I do this because 1. They are both free and 2. I like Main Streets room better, but they don't have safes, Fremont does. I held on to $400.00 and stashed my wad of cash in the safe then down stairs to hit the casinos!
I wish I could be more precise on exactly what I did and where I did it, but I had already drank fourteen beers before I even started to REALLY DRINK and I just can't remember every thing. I know I played craps at the Golden Gate, Binons, Golden Nugget, El Cortez, Fitzgeralds, Plaza, and the Four Queens. I also have vague memories of playing black jack at the Gold Spike and the Western. I remember having my arm around some little "crack" em... lady at one point, and do know for sure I wound up at Main Street Station around 5:00 PM Vegas time Saturday (twenty-two hour after I arrived) so my first night was officially an all niter and then some. I had my first food substance in their brewpub (mushroom pizza), before I made my way to my room. I got to the 16th floor and every one of those rooms looked the same so after three or four wrong drunken guesses I had to go back down and get my room number <BG>. Armed with that knowledge I was able to get in my room and on the bed. I fell asleep fully clothed.
[This message has been edited by Rusty Swing (edited 24 December 2000).]
[This message has been edited by Rusty Swing (edited 07 January 2001).]
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