The other route 95
I grew up on the east coast, so 95 to me means I95. Today I drove on a fair bit of the other 95, US95 in Nevada, on my way from Reno to Las Vegas.
Misc. observations in roughly the order in which I saw them, plus play-along-at-home roadside anagrams for the Scrabble/Angrams players (+?? in parentheses denote shortest TWL06 steals), followed by pre-WSOP LV notes:
- Left Reno ~9:30.
- US395 to I80 interchange: sign for Rail City Casino featuring typical hot casino ad babe (oddly only a head & shoulders shot) with large type saying something like "GET OFF, RIGHT NOW" and in smaller type "^ the freeway" in between OFF and the comma. Along the bottom of the ad it says something like "Exit now, get lucky"
- I80 outside Sparks, sign on the side of a building near the dump/landfill: "A AUTO RECKER."
- Somewhere between FERNLEY (+?, I found +??) and FALLON (+??, I hosed this one pretty badly but I suck at anagrams plus I was concentrating on driving) I passed a guy riding a bicycle. He was pumping his legs pretty vigorously (~2 Hz) on what seemed like fairly flat ground. Some people never figure out the gears, I guess.
- Also outside Fallon, one of the intersections was signed "Leeteville Junction." I guess that's where all the cool kids live.
- I stopped in Hawthorne for a pit stop at the El Capitan Casino: "Your best bet between Reno and Las Vegas." In the bathroom was someone standing around waiting for his cell phone to charge. I picked up a $1 chip for captainparanoid's collection.
- Nevada has a diverse menagerie of animal crossing signs. I saw signs featuring (separately) a bull, a ram, a billy goat, and a horse.
- Stopped in TONOPAH (+??, I came nowhere close) for lunch. Debated going into Tonopah Station Casino for lunch + another souvenir chip but I wanted to get back on the road fast and didn't want a sitdown meal, plus McDs, though it is McDs, is a known quantity. So of course there was a huge crowd and it took forever to get my order. Also they don't give you your receipt right away, or tell you your order number, so you sort of have to guess when they call out an order whether those items match yours. But they are hiring, in case anyone needs a job. Got gas in Tonopah also. Should have waited until BEATTY (+?, this one is pretty easy) where it was 16 cents cheaper (I'm pretty sure the car would've made it since I filled up when I got to Reno Friday night).
- Hottest outside temperature (other than in LV, where I think it got up to 106) as reported on my car's dashboard indicator: 102 degrees outside of AMARGOSA (+???, I just looked this one up) Valley. Wanted to detour through Death Valley but didn't think I'd have the time.
- Out of curiosity I monitored my cell signal periodically. I think I had continuous signal all the way out to Fallon. It was surprising at first how close I had to get to LV before I got signal back, but I guess not a lot of people head that way.
- Arrived in Las Vegas around 5. I'm staying at TI for the first few nights. Played a bunch of VP before dinner (I have to front-load my VP activity because I don't know how much if any time I'll have tomorrow) and ordered a martini while doing so. "Dirty?" "Sure, why not." The drink she delivered was cloudy and more like a glass of olive juice with a splash of vodka. I drank it anyway and when she came back and asked if I wanted another I said "Sure, but not quite so dirty this time." So she brought me a drink which was mostly vodka, but it seemed to have hardly been chilled. I didn't want to seem like a chronic complainer so I cut my losses there.
- Drove to the Rio as "practice" to get my bearings for tomorrow morning, and to pick up my registration packet. Ended up taking sub-optimal route but I think I figured out the best way for tomorrow. Had dinner with Bill, Sabyl, and Steve at Antonio's Italian Ristorante and lost credit card roulette, d'oh! But I had the most expensive entree and also a glass of wine so I was taking the best of it.
- I start tomorrow at table 90, seat 5. Will try to post updates here at each break.
FERNLEY+? = GREENFLY (I came up with +?? = FERVENTLY)
FALLON+?? = DOWNFALL, FLATLONG, FLAVANOL, FLAVONOL, LONGLEAF, NAILFOLD, SNOWFALL
TONOPAH+?? = HYPOTONIA, PHONATHON, PHONATION, PHOTOSCAN, TAPHONOMY
BEATTY+? = BATTERY
AMARGOSA+??? = MANDRAGORAS
Misc. observations in roughly the order in which I saw them, plus play-along-at-home roadside anagrams for the Scrabble/Angrams players (+?? in parentheses denote shortest TWL06 steals), followed by pre-WSOP LV notes:
- Left Reno ~9:30.
- US395 to I80 interchange: sign for Rail City Casino featuring typical hot casino ad babe (oddly only a head & shoulders shot) with large type saying something like "GET OFF, RIGHT NOW" and in smaller type "^ the freeway" in between OFF and the comma. Along the bottom of the ad it says something like "Exit now, get lucky"
- I80 outside Sparks, sign on the side of a building near the dump/landfill: "A AUTO RECKER."
- Somewhere between FERNLEY (+?, I found +??) and FALLON (+??, I hosed this one pretty badly but I suck at anagrams plus I was concentrating on driving) I passed a guy riding a bicycle. He was pumping his legs pretty vigorously (~2 Hz) on what seemed like fairly flat ground. Some people never figure out the gears, I guess.
- Also outside Fallon, one of the intersections was signed "Leeteville Junction." I guess that's where all the cool kids live.
- I stopped in Hawthorne for a pit stop at the El Capitan Casino: "Your best bet between Reno and Las Vegas." In the bathroom was someone standing around waiting for his cell phone to charge. I picked up a $1 chip for captainparanoid's collection.
- Nevada has a diverse menagerie of animal crossing signs. I saw signs featuring (separately) a bull, a ram, a billy goat, and a horse.
- Stopped in TONOPAH (+??, I came nowhere close) for lunch. Debated going into Tonopah Station Casino for lunch + another souvenir chip but I wanted to get back on the road fast and didn't want a sitdown meal, plus McDs, though it is McDs, is a known quantity. So of course there was a huge crowd and it took forever to get my order. Also they don't give you your receipt right away, or tell you your order number, so you sort of have to guess when they call out an order whether those items match yours. But they are hiring, in case anyone needs a job. Got gas in Tonopah also. Should have waited until BEATTY (+?, this one is pretty easy) where it was 16 cents cheaper (I'm pretty sure the car would've made it since I filled up when I got to Reno Friday night).
- Hottest outside temperature (other than in LV, where I think it got up to 106) as reported on my car's dashboard indicator: 102 degrees outside of AMARGOSA (+???, I just looked this one up) Valley. Wanted to detour through Death Valley but didn't think I'd have the time.
- Out of curiosity I monitored my cell signal periodically. I think I had continuous signal all the way out to Fallon. It was surprising at first how close I had to get to LV before I got signal back, but I guess not a lot of people head that way.
- Arrived in Las Vegas around 5. I'm staying at TI for the first few nights. Played a bunch of VP before dinner (I have to front-load my VP activity because I don't know how much if any time I'll have tomorrow) and ordered a martini while doing so. "Dirty?" "Sure, why not." The drink she delivered was cloudy and more like a glass of olive juice with a splash of vodka. I drank it anyway and when she came back and asked if I wanted another I said "Sure, but not quite so dirty this time." So she brought me a drink which was mostly vodka, but it seemed to have hardly been chilled. I didn't want to seem like a chronic complainer so I cut my losses there.
- Drove to the Rio as "practice" to get my bearings for tomorrow morning, and to pick up my registration packet. Ended up taking sub-optimal route but I think I figured out the best way for tomorrow. Had dinner with Bill, Sabyl, and Steve at Antonio's Italian Ristorante and lost credit card roulette, d'oh! But I had the most expensive entree and also a glass of wine so I was taking the best of it.
- I start tomorrow at table 90, seat 5. Will try to post updates here at each break.
FERNLEY+? = GREENFLY (I came up with +?? = FERVENTLY)
FALLON+?? = DOWNFALL, FLATLONG, FLAVANOL, FLAVONOL, LONGLEAF, NAILFOLD, SNOWFALL
TONOPAH+?? = HYPOTONIA, PHONATHON, PHONATION, PHOTOSCAN, TAPHONOMY
BEATTY+? = BATTERY
AMARGOSA+??? = MANDRAGORAS