Spur of the Moment Things can be Fun...

At least that's what the Cialis commercials say. Darla and I didn't end up in two separate bathtubs in the wilds of Montana, but we did end up making a last minute trip up to Lake Tahoe to see Kim Wilson and the Fabulous Thunderbirds at Harrah's South Shore Showroom on Saturday night. The timing was really tight because I had arranged a golf road trip up to La Contenta in Valley Springs an hour east of Sacramento in the foothills above Lodi.

What happened is that Darla wanted me to pick her up Friday morning at AAmco in Roseville and drive her to work. her transmission has been giving her fits and she wanted to get it diagnosed. More on that later. I slept in until 7:00 AM and was listening to the radio in the morning while Darla was getting ready and I heard the radio deejay announce "the things to do" that weekend. He mentioned that the Fabulous Thunderbirds, a blues inspired rock band, was playing up at Harrah's Saturday night. Kim Wilson has always been one of my favorite performers and I asked Darla if she'd like to go. She was "in" immediately.

I had slept wrong that night and woke up with a terrible neck ache. When I was making the bed I tripped on one of the infernal stuffed animals that go onto our bed along with pillows and other riff raff. I fell backward onto the pile of pillows piled up by the wall. That was a good thing, but I also crashed into the wall, banging my head and also skinning my elbow as I slid down the textured surface of the wallboard. I landed in a heap. I lay there shaking my head for a few minutes to get my head cleared. Darla heard the crash, but didn't investigate. I recall a similar accident in Canada at Al and Sherry's a few years ago when Darla fell and I was soundly chastised. I didn't bring it up, but I did think of it.
I got to work and got online to check for tickets and they had third row seats available for $38. I jumped on the buy and started looking for lodging. I ended up booking us at Rodeway Inn, an inexpensive motel, but clean and close to the casinos. The forecast was for some light snow flurries Saturday night, with an accumulation of one inch of wet snow.

I played golf Saturday with the guys. Darla had a party to attend and would be home about 4:30. My tee time was 10:15 and I would hopefully be home close to the same time. We packed Friday night to be ready to go Saturday. The course up at La Contenta is beautiful and very hilly with holes going uphill, downhill and sidehill. I shot 43+45=88, Boyd struggled to 86, Matt had 85 and Bob shot a splendid 78 with a chip in on the final 454 yard par four for birdie. After golf I gathered the troops together quickly, got in the car and we headed back home, leaving the gas station in Valley Springs at 3:00 PM on the dot. I had to drop Matt off in downtown Sacramento and then take the boys back to their cars at the Park-n-Ride in Roseville. I got home about 4:15, showered, had a quick Angus Burger compliments of Miss Darla and we were on the road.

We arrived at Harrah's at about 7:05 after leaving the house at 5:00 PM. We had to cross town to the 50 freeway and up to Tahoe. The show was incredible and the seats were even better. Kim Wilson is a performer from Goleta near Santa Barbara and a protege of Muddy Waters on the harmonica. At one point during the show, his band all got up and left the stage as Kim started a harmonica solo that lasted 15 minutes. It was incredible, he never seemed to stop for air. I'll look for a You-Tube video of Kim on the harmonica and post it here. Darla and I made it to Will Call and in our seats by 7:15 and I was able to get us drinks and settle in for the 90 minute show. The showroom at Harrah's is an intimate 750 seat showroom with three sections of seats surrounding the stage and two bars. The back section of theater has booths and couches set up to relax and watch the show. I was able to get the latest CD of the Fabulous Thunderbirds. They have been in show business for over 25 years and the band was founded by Kim Wilson and Jimmy Vaughn (Stevie ray's brother). Vaughn left the group in the early nineties.

Darla and I went and checked into the hotel and then headed over to our favorite hangout in Tahoe, the Lakeside Inn. We sat down to play some nickle poker and I told her we'd break for a late snack as soon as one of us hit a four-of-a-kind. Luck was with me as I hit four threes for a 600 coin payout in the first twenty minutes. We headed into the lounge and split a salad and a french dip. After dinner we headed back out to the casino and played until after 1:00 AM. During that span, I hit the Royal shown above with a 25 cent bet. I was dealt the jack-queen-king and ace of diamonds along with the 5 of diamonds for a flush. It was an easy decision to dump the 5 and go for the Royal and as Darla watched next to me, the ten of diamonds came up for the 4000 coin payout ($200). All told, we played video slots, bought a CD, ate a late dinner and gambled for three hours on $100 and came away with almost $300. Our gambling paid off for us and paid for the trip.

It was starting to lightly snow when we got to the casino after ten o'clock. When we finished up and headed back to the motel, it was coming down in fat flakes and it was a swirling gust that carried the snow almost sideways. The motels in Tahoe all have restricted parking this time of year due to the snow. They clear the lots, but often push the snow into the corner of the lot and take up four or five spots. When we got back, there was no parking available. I parked down the street at a space that was horizontal to the street and near an apartment complex within a comfortable walk of the motel. We watched the Weather Channel before going to sleep, because the snow looked a lot heavier than an inch and certainly not of the wet variety. The forecast still showed light snow flurries with no more than an inch forecast.

We woke up this morning to a Winter Wonderland with six inches of snow blanketing the streets, cars and parking lot. I dressed and checked the Cal Trans Road Information. Sure enough all the mountain passes had chain controls in effect. It wasn't snowing in the morning, but it was brisk. I headed to the car, found a brush that I clean my spikes with in the trunk and began digging my car out. One thing I noticed immediately was that my sun roof was open in the pop up stage (not slid open) and the snow was packed around the opening. I must have opened it earlier in the week and hadn't noticed it. Somehow, the snow didn't seep into the car or on the roof padding. My car was a chunk of snow and I had to brush off all of the windows, the roof, hood and trunk of the car. It took me almost fifteen minutes and I nearly froze my bare hands in the process.

Darla and I headed back over to the Lakeside Inn for breakfast. We didn't even look at a slot machines as we were happy with our haul from the night before and wanted to get it home. All of the passes around the lake were still requiring chains at 11:00 AM when we finished breakfast, but 50 and 80 were back open. I would have preferred to take 80 back, but couldn't get around the lake and don't have chains for my 22 inch wheels on the 300. We left Lakeside at 11:30 and got home this afternoon at 3:30. It took four hours, but that included a stop in Placerville for lunch at Mel's Diner. It took us 90 minutes to get from Lake Tahoe to Myers, a drive that normally takes 30 minutes. People were flooding out of Tahoe now that the pass was open. There was a huge line of traffic from the Y in Tahoe up to the ag inspection station in Myers. I was afraid that controls would go back up as the snow started as we pulled into Myers and it was thick and covering the roadway. I wouldn't be surprised if controls went back up shortly after we passed as it was slow going and treacherous. I was lucky enough to be four cars behind the snow plow during part of the trip up the hill (before he pulled off) and it helped. By the time I got up to Sierra Ski Ranch in Twin Bridges the traffic had thinned out and it was smooth sailing, Darla was so worried about the conditions and my driving that she fell asleep before we started up the pass and missed all of the tension.

It was so pretty after the snowfall that I wanted to get a picture of the Truckee River which is on the opposite side of the road from west bound 50. I saw a pullout and with a guy on my tail and one coming in the opposite direction, I swerved across the road to the turnout. Darla was awake by then and thought I'd gone crazy and was pulling into oncoming traffic. I think pictures 4 and 5 above were worth it, don't you? We had a great weekend, a lot of fun and some laughs along the way. ALMOST as fun as a Cialis commercial.

As to Darla's Explorer. Those that think I'm lucky because I don't have a car payment, forget that I have a 2002 Explorer with 160,000 miles on it. In the last four months, we have spent over $1800 in repairs on the car with a transmission solenoid that went out, new brakes, new tires, fuel system service, and an air conditioning repair this past Summer. Now the transmission needs to be rebuilt. A Belt has come loose and caused damage to the transmission. AAmco wants $2,500 for the repair. We are taking the car into a shop recommended to us tomorrow that will hopefully do the job for closer to $1500. I'll let you know the final tally next week.

Well, this has been a mad and crazy weekend and I've enjoyed every minute of it. I hope you are all well and living a life of health, happiness and devotion to The Lord. Ciao.

Here is the Harmonica Solo for the Fabulous Thunderbirds:

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