Jackpot Nevada

This past weekend Gary and I took a road trip to Jackpot Nevada. This time last year we went to West Wendover with some friends on a gambling junket and had a great time. This year the deals for Wendover didn't work out.

Gary had two days of vacation to use or lose. We were originally going to take this trip on Thanksgiving weekend, but too many people from the store already put in for vacation on the holiday.

We stayed at Barton's Club 93, the rooms were very affordable $60 a night. The rooms were nice and very clean. The only thing we didn't have was a fridge and microwave like the rooms at Cactus Pete's. However, Cactus Pete charged more for rooms on the weekend, while the 93 kept their prices low.

Jackpot is not a very large town, just has 5 casinos, a gas station and a store. There are shuttles that will take you to the other casinos at no charge, just tip the driver. The shuttles were 24 hours and came by about every 15 minutes. Was not a long wait. Our other option was walking as three casinos are within walking distance. But why walk when you can ride, especially when is was on the cold side.

We left Hardin Friday morning after dropping Jennifer off at work. Had great weather. We stopped in Big Timber for breakfast. We decided to go through West Yellowstone on the way down with a stop in Idaho Falls to get in a visit with Robert. The only weather we ran into was from West Yellowstone MT to Ashton ID. It was spitting snow and the roads were wet, fortunately not slick. Gary had me drive this stretch as I know where to turn off and meet Robert. Had a nice visit with Robert. He had some good news for us, he got accepted into the college program for auto mechanics. He will start Jan. 10. He wasn't sure because they only took 8 candidates and he was 11, but he got in.

Got back on the road, this time Gary drove and I navigated. Wasn't too hard until we got to Twin Falls. You turn into town and then get through the town traffic and have to make a hard right hand turn. There is a funky intersection and if you are not paying attention you can get lost real quick. We arrived in Jackpot at 4:00 pm.

We spent most of our time at Cactus Petes, that one has the sports betting that Gary wanted to do. We mostly gambled at the two casinos Cactus Pete and Club 93. Both are nice and they both have the restaurants and buffets.

I broke even and Gary won this time. I spent my time playing the penny machines, my money lasts longer. I don't know if it is just me but it seemed like the machines were nicer to me at night and early morning. In the afternoons they seemed a bit tight. I also did better putting cash in the machines instead of playing on the cash out tickets. At least that is what worked for me. There were three times when I put $20 in the machine, hit the button once and cashed out anywhere between $75 to $95. I was happy. The first time I did this the woman next to me told me to keep playing. I told her that I was happy, I only put in $20 and I'm walking away with $80. Works for me. Gary won on the football games, which was very nerve racking especially one the game he bet went into overtime. Had to win by 4 or more points and he knew for sure that he would lose. With 30 seconds left in overtime the team threw a touchdown pass. He was pretty excited and jumped out of his chair. It was funny.

We left Monday morning at 6:00. We were going to eat breakfast at Cactus Petes but the restaurant was closed and didn't open until 7:00 am. Only 24 hours on the weekends, why we didn't go back to the 93 I don't know. We decided to eat breakfast in Twin Falls, it's only 45 miles up the road. I was navigating again and reminded Gary that I have never been home this way and don't know where the turn off is. We saw the signs pointing the the interstate and we had options. Instead of turning left we went forward. This actually ended up being the better route. You bypass all the down town traffic, but we missed the restaurants. We ended up eating breakfast in Burley.

We decided to take I-15 to Dillon on the way home for something different. We wanted to see which route was shorter. Turns out there is no difference at all. Going through Dillon then cutting across to Whitehall is about 50 miles more than going through West Yellowstone. If you want a scenic drive, go through West Yellowstone but probably not a good idea in the winter. We lucked out. Time was it the same.