One autumn afternoon we decided to just cut out and head up towards Tahoe. It wasn't all that far away and both of us needed a break from the routine. Once we were in the mountains outside of town we started to remember another trip we took up here with friends a few years ago. You said you wanted to find that small little hole-in-the-wall slot joint we visited with our friends Tom and Kris.
I told you it was virtually impossible to find; to many years had gone by and it was probably out of business anyway.
You insisted so I slowed down and we scoped out every little casino and slot joint we saw alongside the highway. For some reason, I started to recognize some of the passing buildings and told you I thought we were near where we had stopped many years ago. We slowed down even further, pulling off the road every now and then to let faster traffic get past us.
We crested a small rise and I thought I recognized the old building. I'm pretty sure it was a converted fast food joint. I said "that's got to be it" as I pulled into the parking lot. You agreed. I maneuvered into the parking lot and backed the truck into a space between the building and a grove of trees so we wouldn't get crashed into by any drunks leaving the joint.
It was a 'joint' for sure and the years had not been kind to the place. There were only five or six other cars in the parking lot. It wasn't too cold at this altitude but it was cool enough for jackets so we got out, bundled up and headed inside.
The whole point of this little nostalgia expedition was to find a specific 'Wheel of Fortune' type slot machine that you had once won some pretty good money on. I remembered that we did have a ton of fun that day in this place so I was game for it all again.
Once we got inside we immediately recognized the place. The interior layout had not changed one iota over the years. All of the machines were computerized so we swapped cash for digital machine cards at the entry counter. You immediately made a bee-line to the bank of twenty 'Wheel of Fortune' machines and sat down in front of the one you had played years ago. There were only two other people playing machines on the same aisle.
I left you sitting on your stool and headed over to the poker machines where the seating was far more comfortable.
Every now and then I could hear the bells going off over in your direction so I knew that either you were winning some money or somebody else was having some luck.
After about an hour I headed over in your direction and found that you had attracted a crowd of other players who had taken up machines next to yours. An elderly lady on your right looked at me and said you were the luckiest player she had ever seen but that she was tapped out and got up to leave.
I sat down in her place and carded in to her machine myself to give it a few pulls. An older guy in hospital scrubs sitting to your left said he had moved over to play next to you hoping your luck would rub off on him.
Actually, both of you were doing pretty good. In just the short hour we had been there you were already up a couple of hundred dollars.