kevin_standlee | Lucky Bear

We did not win the Mini Cooper (or the $18,500 cash equivalent) prize at the final Camp Win-A-Lot drawing last night at the Nugget in Sparks. But we had a good time anyway, and

travelswithkuma won $10.

Late yesterday afternoon, we headed into Reno for shopping. First stop was the big surplus store in Reno, where we looked without success for hatchets not made in China. We got off to a late start, so we didn't really have time to hunt around their huge lot, including the 2 1/2 acre extra lot across the street, so it's possible we could have found something if we'd had more time.

I remembered that we needed to "tag in" with our John's Club card before (I think) 6 PM in order to be eligible for the drawing, so we next headed over to the Nugget and ran our card. The premium today was a pretty useless $20 off any purchase of $40 or more in the gift shop. We went downstairs to look at the gift shop. With the exceptions of some snacks and sundries, just about everything in the store was Chinese made, and almost none of it attracted our attention.

We had dinner at the Oyster Bar, where our "usual table" happened to be available. Several of the staff have started recognizing us. We didn't even need a menu, and the water/bread server remembered that we wanted extra bread. After dinner, Lisa played the Paradise Fishing slots, getting 45 minutes of amusement and finishing with $2 more than the $20 with which she started.

By then it was time for the preliminary drawing at 7 PM, where they awarded five $1000 prizes. Four of the winners were present, but one defaulted, so it rolled forward to the 9 PM drawing.

Between the drawings, we had time for the first of our two grocery shopping stops and headed over to Whole Foods Market. As usual, we had to hold ourselves back to avoid bankrupting ourselves, but OTOH, one thing we specifically went there to buy was out of stock: actual heavy cream. In our experience in the Reno area, all of the local dairies that sell "heavy whipping cream" actually are selling a dairy substance with fillers and additives. When we were in Oregon, there was one dairy that actually sold real cream and that was stocked in ordinary grocery stores like Roth's. Here in Reno, only Whole Foods stocks cream that consists of cream without additives like guar gum and Polysorbate 60. But we reckon too many other people had cleaned them out to make Thanksgiving goodies, so they were temporarily out of stock.

We reckoned we didn't have time for our other grocery shopping before the 9 PM drawing, so we returned to the Nugget. Although I normally park in the outer lots away from other cars, not being troubled by the walk, both Lisa and I were having leg/knee troubles, so we had to shark around a little to get a bit closer.

At the Nugget's 9 PM Big Drawing for the car, as part of the warm-up, the "Camp Win-A-Lot Girl" came through the audience giving away prizes to people who showed the most enthusiasm. Lisa held Kuma Bear up over her head and we whooped and hollered and clapped and I pointed at Bear. The prize girl was sufficiently taken as to give us one of the envelopes: a $10 slot credit. Lucky Bear!

I did glimpse my name scrolling by during the run-up to the drawing, but alas, the gaping hole in our finances was not suddenly filled in by an $18.5K windfall. Still, we had $10 in slot credit, and it had to be played within four days, so we figured we'd use it up that night. You can't cash out any slot credit, but any winnings can be cashed. When we were done, the $10 credit translated into $8.70 in actual cash, so that's not too bad!

Finally we went to Winco for our large grocery shopping. It was much less crowded at 11 PM than at 5 PM! Having thoroughly restocked the larder, we returned to Fernley, getting home around midnight. We'd forgotten to leave the heat on in the trailer, so we huddled around the fireplace in the house for a while as the trailer heated back up from the 5° C to which it had cooled.

These four day weekends are a trifle strange to me. Yes, we took two days to visit my mother, but I sometimes think I'm wasting the time when I don't plan major travels around four days off. I suppose that technically we could have done something really significant like an expedition to Mehama to retrieve stuff in the storage locker there, but at this time of year (and Christmas is worse), the weather is too unpredictable to risk it.