The generosity of strangers

We left Western Horizons Ramona Canyon in pouring rain this afternoon.  It pissed rain while I was tearing down, took a break while I had my shower and then dumped on us while we were hooking up.  Now we have broken overcast with a fair bit of sunshine but it still looks like it could get wet at any minute.

We just moved a few miles down the road and now we’re in the parking lot at Harrah’s Rincon Casino which is on the Pasqual Indian Reserve, more or less inside San Diego. 

Les McGirr would wet himself if he was here right now.  The Indian band has obviously just taken delivery of this

ladder truck which puts anything Nipawin owns to shame.  Les did a pretty good job of filling the Nipawin fire hall and I’m sure if somebody had sent him a picture of this truck a few years ago there would be one of them parked in Nipawin right now.  The Indian kids on the fire brigade are having a great time manoeuvring the monster around the pylons they have set up in the parking lot.  There’s a man in both ends and it steers from the front and rear axles.  Its got some wicked cut angle on the axles too so they can almost scoot it sideways.

If somebody has Brian Starkell’s e-address you might want to forward this to him.  I think its a shame that some Indian Reserve in southern California has a better fire truck than the town of Nipawin and its high time Brian learned to spend that capital budget.  I can’t remember which of the geniuses on Nipawin council told me years ago, when I complained about the nearly annual new Cat graders, that they didn’t really cost me any taxes because the money was already in the budget.  The last new Cat grader that I remember was purchased because the grader operator didn’t own a toque. 

I phoned the casino this morning and they said “come on in”.  Its a good thing I phoned because I would have been worried otherwise.  We’re the only RV on the lot so far, along with about a dozen tour busses. 

(later)

Three more RVs showed up so we don’t feel so lonely.  We went into the casino, found the players’ desk and got our cards.  Because it is the first time we have ever been here they gave us coupons for $20 worth of free play on their slot machines as well as coupons for $20 worth of meals in their restaurants.  And we EACH got that.  Now I detest the whole premise of casinos – you can’t get something for nothing anywhere in this world and certainly not in a casino.  So I don’t mind taking from them but even I felt just a twinge of guilt accepting all those freebies knowing full well that I won’t spend 5 cents of my own money in this casino or any other one for that matter. 

Later in the evening I parlayed my $20 of play money into $10 of real money, took it out of the pay station and promptly left the casino (just in case they changed their mind).  Marilyn still has $15 of play money so maybe she’ll turn that into something real yet and we still have our meal coupons.  The restaurants are seriously overpriced but when we’re not spending our own money it doesn’t seem so bad.