Dealer's choice and looking for Bears!!!

Driving west I crossed Northern Illinois, then the Mississippi River and drove all the way to Fort Dodge, Iowa. A lot of driving, but I wanted to get across Iowa & Nebraska, so we could optimize our time in the Rocky Mountains of Wyoming & Idaho.

After spending the night in Fort Dodge we awoke to start driving again. My destination for the night was Valentine, Nebraska.

I had planned on spending a night in a RV park in Valentine, but we discovered from a highway billboard, there was a Casino 9 miles north of Valentine, just over the South Dakota border. I called before I checked into the RV Park, and discovered they had a poker room with one table. They said the game usually went late into the night or until there was less then 5 players.

I told the RV park I wouldn’t be staying with them tonight and drove the 9 miles north to the little casino. As Caren got the RV ready for a night in the Casino Parking lot, I went in and sat down at the only table in play, in the poker room.

They were playing “Dealer’s Choice”. Whoever had the dealer button in front of them called out the game. There were three old guys, (one said he was 82). The others were maybe 10 years younger. There were 2 farmers, one salesman, one traveler, and me. I was the only one who called Hold-em when the button came to me. Finally, I gave up and played Omaha, like everyone else, except for one of the old guys, who always called Pineapple, when it was his turn.

The game lasted for about 3 hours and it was horrible play. Except for me, everyone played every hand. Even though I got only a couple of good hands, I was able to break even when the game ended. They had a crock pot, with hamburgers in it. A large bag of chips, and bag of hamburger buns and ketchup as the only condiment stood over on a table in the corner. You could help yourself to this food service if you wanted.

Most of the players were drinking beer from cans they ordered from the waitress. I had coffee and diet coke. I did have a hamburger, and when the game broke I made a double burger, to take to the RV for tomorrow’s lunch.

I wish the game would have lasted longer, but as two of the older guys got even, they quit, then the traveler, said he had to get up early. A couple more left and we were down to 3 players. They close the poker room after there are less then 5 people who want to play.

So I was in bed trying to get to sleep at 11 p.m. after drinking too much coffee and diet coke. It was a very cold night. I think it dropped down into the 30’s and there was a cold north wind blowing over the prairies. The furnace in the RV kept coming on every ½ hour all night. Caren reported the next morning she hadn’t slept well because it was so cold.

Another day of driving brought us to Casper, Wyoming. I thought for sure I would find a place to play in Casper. We drove through town looking for a place to play. I did stop at a Kinko’s and plugged into the Internet and found out the bad news. There is no poker in Wyoming!!!

I also had planned on going to a Barnes and Nobles or Border’s Bookstore tonight to do a little poker reading. There weren’t any of those either. So we settled for a Buster Bar at the Local Dairy Queen.

Then we settled in at the Super Wal-mart parking lot, to do a little research with my mapping program and the road atlas to figure which way to go through Yellowstone tomorrow or the next day.

I need some serious poker time and it looks like I won’t get any for a few days.

I did read a few of my favorite poker blogs while I was on-line checking my email. Oh, well, a week from Saturday Caren will be flying home from Portland, and I am going to be logging some serious poker time in Casinos from Seattle to San Diego.

(8 hours of sleep later)
Well, it has been another cold night in the RV, but the sun is shining it is warming up and we are all about the beauty of nature today.

So onward & upward to Yellowstone National Park.