The Shortest Vegas Trip Yet Pt. 1

I recently took a trip to Vegas. I recently came back from Vegas.

After experiencing many life-changing events over the course of the past two months I was feeling a bit stressed. And whenever I feel a bit stressed I feel a bit of an urge. As we all know, this urge is one of great importance.

This is a feeling we all get. This is a feeling gamblers get quite often. I haven't gotten this urge for quite some time. And by quite some time I mean I haven't gotten it for at least three days. This urge, my friends, is an urge brought on by being cornered by life. This is an urge that forces you to escape into the middle of the desert, whereupon after hours of driving on one- and two-way roads for almost 5 hours you discover the lights of the land of the lost.

Lost wages. Lost souls. Found souls.

The Father Man had made an attempt to drag me out there a week prior. Due to numerous restraints I had to decline. Two days passed and then I regretted my decision. Three days was ok. Four days was tough. And on the fifth day I broke. The sixth day was for driving. The seventh day was for full release.

We took off at about 9PM with plans to meet with Ben, one of the founding members of the Syndicate. Ben is also in Vegas every month. He spends a maximum amount of time in the casino, and is comped in almost every establishment out there. After spending his four day comp in the new Wynn Encore, he was switched over to a free stay at the Palazzo. We would meet him there and post up for a couple days.

First we hit the obligatory pre-trip gas station. Full tank, drinks, and some McDonalds for dinner. Of course, we were too busy getting things done before the trip that there was no time for food.

I got the luck of being full-time passenger, and as such, as soon as we hit the freeway onramp I took the liberty of taking off my shoes. I was in for a fun time.

Midway through the trip I posted a quickie from the desert on Life's Luck via the iPhone, which I've quite fallen in love with. The chariot finally pulled us up to Sin City at midnight and a half, a four and a half hour drive.

We arrived at the Palazzo, valeted the beast, and took up to the reservation counter to get our room keys. Actually first we hit the head, as all LA drivers must do after downing drinks on the way into the City of Lights.

We dropped our overnight bags in the room and took to the safe with everything we wouldn't want to be carrying around. Who knows what gets lost in Vegas? I've made sure to make use of the room-provided trip in all of the various Vegas trips I've taken over the years. Without safes I would've already exhausted 14 wallets, 45 replaced credit cards, 14 replaced health insurance cards, and an uncounted amount of cash (although most of that gets lost before I leave every Vegas trip anyways).

Father Man jumped on the phone with Ben while I popped open the automatic window drapes to get a night time view in. Turns out Ben was already a full night's drunk and was eating some second dinner downstairs at the Grand Lux Cafe. I enjoyed a nice lay on the couch in front of the tv while we waited fifteen or so for him to come back up to the room.

He finally showed up. I jumped into the bathroom for a quick spritz and a powder, Ben changed shirts, and FM stood by.

I grabbed my "stash" and we head down to the casino. If you didn't read that last part with any kind of inspection, the word stash is quoted because there wasn't much of one to be had. I had recently quit my job, and with debts and fees that need paying on a monthly basis I shouldn't have even been going at all. I managed to rack up a grand worth of debt on the Alaskan cruise alone. But...when the urge strikes, a man is defenseless.

So there I was stuck in Vegas with $360.

$360.