The Quad Queen Returns Vol. 3 - Punishment Cheese

This sort of view is key in my 'post trip accounting spin'. But it's real. Hotels are crazy expensive, like $300, $400 a night for just a typical business/travel type suite with the usual screaming brat breakfast bar included. We got a similar room comped at the Cal for 3 or 4 nights, no charge, plus some freeplay and some food. That's probably $1000 saved right there or more.

The Quad Queen once looked at a bunch of trip results and found we lose on average $50 to $75 a day. That's pretty cheap for rooms and entertainment, and sometimes even food and of course drinks. Plus there's nowhere else I'd rather be than Vegas.

 

I bet tomorrow is going to be a great day and you both win like crazy!

 

I take the opposite side of that. If I don't get the free rooms thrown at me starting in the early 2010s, I am not in the process of planning Trip #36. Free rooms get me there. I don't need and therefore have never asked for more than a bed and maybe one meal. I stay where the freebies are, or I don't go. I've aged out of the Strip so the free CET rooms don't interest me, and Boyd has exiled me to Sam's Town. But if that's where a free bed is, that's where I am staying.

And if the free beds on the Boulder Highway (as well as the CET rooms) dry up, I'd take a Hampton Inn or Comfort Inn before I spend crazy money to stay at a casino.

The process is that I lose money, some of those losses translate to a free room, then I come and lose more money. Stop the free rooms and I stop coming to lose money.

But there is no way I am including the cost of the hotels and meals in my wins/losses, as (a) my previous losses paid for them already and (b) I'd never pay what they consider to be the casino rate so its a moot point.

 

Thank you sir!

 

Deftly and Confidently Bonered

Wednesday Feb 22, 2023 and the coffee was on, the tea was on, and the keno was on. And we hadn't lost yet. Best part of the Vegas day.

It was a moving day, so we kind of took our time this morning.

First things first, I went down to have my usual breakfast and check the our keno ticket.

I ordered my usual two over hard with sausage, hash browns, and wheat toast.

I suppose I could post the same photo of breakfast over and over each day, so you can get the idea.




Breakfast was just the same, just the way I like it. Reliable, delicious, and comped. And then it was off to the Keno lounge to wake up some of the overnighters that passed out in their little keno desks.






Wait, what? We won on Keno?? Thanks, Carlos!

To my shock and surprise we had $86 coming back, a testament to my Keno savvy and prowess.
I went back upstairs to pack and collect the Quad Queen. We played Pinchy and Flashy in the alcove, and some other nearby machines. I played 50 cents and worked my initial $20 up to $100 the hard way - without hitting any quads.



The Quad Queen was showing some of her famous form, nailing all kinds of hands. We thought we'd put those mad skillz to work on the 50 cent 8/5 Bonus Poker progressive machines, which can be one of the best plays around.

Meanwhile, I was not hitting much but focused on taking the small wins, trying to keep the day positive.







By the time Dr. Raoul Shiboubou rolled around, we'd played quite a while and I was actually up a little bit.


Dasm!
The Quad Queen wasn't hungry for lunch, so the good Dr. and I headed back to the Market Street Cafe. I had a plan...

We ordered, shot the shit, ate, and had a good catchup. I had the amazing Hawaiian Hamburger Steak, and cousin Dr. Raoul had the 2's company pancake deal breakfast food menu item deluxe.



Then it was time to implement my plan - the plan to get Dr. S. a free lunch. I had the Quad Queen's coupon book as well as my own. We approached the cash registers and I told Dr. S to just breeze on through, making no eye contact, and acting like he had every right to dine and dash.

He executed this perfectly, and nobody batted an eye, except for me, as I flirted with the cashier.

I deftly and confidently handed over the bill and the two Aloha coupon books.

"Where's your wife this afternoon?" asked the cashier.

I deftly and confidently froze, eye staring vacantly at hers, blood rising from my neck into my "I'm totally lying right now" face.

She paused.

I gazed.

"Bathroom," I whispered. "The trots." I nodded deftly and confidently.

Maybe too much (phony) information but it got the job done. Coupons taken, bill stapled, toothpick grabbed, and I was deftly and confidently out of there.

Around the corner by the elevators, I caught up with Dr. Raoul.

"How'd it go?" he asked.

"Mission accomplished. Sorry you have the trots," I replied.

"Huh???"

Meanwhile, the Quad Queen had stayed true to her moniker and hit a very nice quad.



We decided to head to the Plaza, and play some blackjack.

We walked over there and saddled up at a $10 table, while the Quad Queen pursued more video poker.

I played absolutely by the book. Meanwhile, Dr. Raoul would constantly stand on anything, depending on his gut feel. It drove me crazy.

Even worse, I lost my $100 buy in while he made $35. I took it out of his hide by finagling a $10 bet out of him.

We checked in on the Quad Queen, who was hammering an old school CRT video poker slant top. I went and played Buffalo while Dr. Raoul went to see if he could find his old favorite - a stupid Wild Orchid slot from like 1993 or something. He said he'd had luck spinning 40 cent bets on it.

I slinked back to join the Quad Queen (who had hit a couple of quads), having lost $40 on Buffalo. A short while later, Dr. Raoul showed up with a $200 ticket from stupid Wild Orchid! The gall!


Yay Quad Queen!


Yay Quad Queen x 2!

He was kind of interested in seeing video poker so I showed him Joker Wild. I played a few hands and for some reason - nerves? - I made some terrible, stupid mistakes, missing important holds.

"Shouldn't you have held that pair?" he said.

"I had a pair?"

"Yes, you did," said the Quad Queen.

"Shit."

That kind of thing.

Of course I went out and I could practically hear Dr. Raoul Shiboubou's beady little balloon-squeaky eyes rolling 1440 degrees back into his skull.

"Just a minute," I said. "Let me play something I'm really familiar with." Followed by a litany of bad excuses as to why I'd missed so many obvious holds on JW

I punched up Boner Deluxe.

Dollars.

Now the good Dr. was interested again.

A few hands in, I deftly and confidently held a pair of nines and Boom - Bonered!


Good ole CRT Boner Deluxe!

"OK, I kinda get it now," said Dr. Raoul.

"Yup, it's sweet when it works. I'm up $200 on the day now!"

We said our goodbyes. I'm always happy to see my cousin, and sad to see him go.

The Quad Queen and I walked through Circa on the way back to the Cal - she'd never been inside before.


Circa's ultimate man cave.

She wasn't particularly impressed with Circa, but I reckon a lot of the attraction to a new property doesn't happen until you hit a jackpot there. Then, all of a sudden, it's 'lucky'!

We'd booked our stay at the Cal to overlap Wynn by a day, and we went up to the Parlor Suite to pack up, even though we wouldn't actually check out until the next day. It took a long time, for some reason. Perhaps the reason is that it always does, it takes three times longer than you think it will, which is two times longer than you think it should.

I took a couple of trips to haul our luggage, left over food, drinks, and take-out down to the car. And I stopped at the front desk to talk about some issues.

The 27 bell desk tips were still on the folio, the sink was plugged, the shower was plumbed backwards, and there was a table in the room with a very heavy marble top that was not attached to the base anymore. It could fall and break a toe or injure a toddler. There was garbage in the hallway that remained there the entire stay - I don't think the hall was ever vacuumed while we were there.

I love the Cal and feel it is my duty to report on anything that must be done to improve their guest's 'experience'.

We said goodbye to the Cal for maybe the last time and drove to Wynn, arriving around 6:30. Check in was smooth, I got a great parking spot, and did the necessary sherpa shlep of our goods up the mountain.
We unpacked, and heated up some take-out Loco Moco after dousing it liberally with shredded cheese. We had drinks, ate, and by the time all that was done, we were both too beat to go downstairs and gamble.

We also made the critical error of flopping on the beds after eating and downing a bunch of hand-crafted cocktails. Half an hour of that and we knew we were done for the night.

The days results, I'm shocked and happy to say, were good.

Somehow, we'd both managed a winning day, and chipped away at the OhGod.OhGod.OhGod. amount we were down on the trip.

QQ: Day +$160 Trip -$OhGod.OhGod.

RF: Day +$200 Trip -$OhGod.

Combined: -$OhGod.OhGod.OhGod + $360.

 

Royal Moose

Thursday Feb 23, 2023 part 1 and I'd had a great night's sleep at Wynn. Earplugs. Great bed. Winning day under our belts.

Quite often I do sleep with earplugs in to have a restful sleep, particularly when downtown. The other night when putting them in I dropped one and couldn't find it, and I had only half a good night.


Having coffee in the room, I remembered that I had an uncashed $6 TITO from the Cal. And I had to return the car at noon to the Mirage.

And so... I hatched a master plan - a mission! With a bunch of things to do. I did some research on those special phrases you can use at the D to get match plays, and headed down to the car.

I pulled out of Wynn at 8:21 am, heading north on the Strip, and parked at Cal at 8:32. Fuckin' beautiful.

Because our stay at the Cal officially ended at checkout time this day, my Aloha coupons were still good, and of course, I took advantage of them for breakfast.

I ordered my usual two over hard with sausage, hash browns, and wheat toast.

I suppose I could post the same photo of breakfast over and over each day, so you can get the idea.




Another $17 comp thanks to the Aloha coupon. Woohoo!

That done, I had a mission within my mission, and whipped up to the Parlor Suite to take care of it. And sure enough, the garbage in the hall was still there, evidenced by the rather obvious orange peel we'd walked by about 19 times in the last 4 days.



So! Downstairs again, and I cashed out the $6 ticket and headed to the Plaza for a little shot at my lucky CRT machine from the day before. I risked $20 in it. And it ate my $20.


This is where one day a bar will be!

Funny how, in Vegas, I can feel chuffed and chest-puffed for half a day about a $17 breakfast comp, and then throw away $20 in a machine in under a minute without batting an eye.

Which reminds, me, we have earplugs, why don't we have eyeplugs?
It was freezing out. Just freezing. Like not much above freezing freezing. I casino hopped to stay warm, skirting through the Golden Gate, then into the Golden Nugget, zipping across the street and into the Four Queens, down the steps and out, and across in front of the band stand and into the D.

I uttered a couple of magic phrases at the slot club desk and scored two $25 match plays. Why haven't I been doing this every trip??!! (Some of them are one time only deals, some are not.)



Upstairs I cashed in a Keno ticket and won "No Win". Bully for me.


I was made for this.
I decided to play blackjack with my match plays.

While waiting for the shoe to finish prior to buying in, I witnessed what I thought was the most interesting and exciting hand of blackjack I would ever see. I was wrong about that, but we'll circle back later.

I was standing in an empty spot waiting to buy in and the guy to my left, who looked a little like Norm on Cheers, was spreading $75 to $125 a hand. Like all of us, he wins a few and loses a few.

Norm pushes out a bet of $150. The cards come and he's got a pair of eights on the felt against the dealer's ten up card.

Norm knows what he's doing and splits the eights into two hands. One hand gets a ten for 18 and the other... gets another eight. Hmmm, that's interesting.

Norm splits those eights and is dealt a ten on one hand and a three on the other. He's sitting on two hands of 18 and one of 11, trying to decide whether to double or not.

He thinks for a long, long time - he's got $450 on the table right now, a lot compared to his typical bet - and finally pushes out another $150, which is most of his stack.

The card comes and it's... a six. He's got two hands of 18 and one of 17 and is in for $600.

The dealer turns over his hole card and shows a 4, for a total of 14.

He pulls another card and flips it over.

An 8. A beautiful 8, and the dealer busts with 22. The table erupts, everyone cheering for Norm, who has sweat bullets down his pants and into his socks.

Nicely done, Norm!

I played a couple of $10 hands and won enough to cover the first of my two $25 match plays. And I was dealt a blackjack. Great!

I played a bit more, trying to pick my spot, and finally pushed the second $25 match play out along with $25 of my own.

The dealer turned over an Ace. I never take insurance but too late I think about inquiring about taking insurance on a match play. Maybe I should have taken it to save the chip.

Anyway, the dealer had 21 so I lost that hand. But I did color with $75 in profit.



This stage of the mission was a success, and I felt like I was in complete control. I pimp walked over to Fremont, to Lanai Express, the next objective.

My plan is to use another Aloha coupon to pick up some Chinese food and later, heat it up for dinner in my five star room at the Wynn like some luxury refugee.

It was about 10:30 in the morning. Lanai Express opens at 11:00. I'm in a casino on Fremont Street and I have to kill 30 minutes. What to do to pass the time? Hmmm, let me see.

Well of course, I'll just dabble around on Super Slutty Slippery Shitty Shafty Shucking Shunting Shooting Sucking Times Pay.

I put in Five Dollars. Five Whole Dollars. I lost it.

I took a deep breath, staying calm submissive, sitting nicely.

Then I inserted Ten Dollars. Ten Whole Dollars. I lost that too.

Ah, then I saw the problem - I was on five play, and not triple play. I changed games and primed the pump with Twenty Dollars. Twenty Whole Dollars.

It took twice as long as ten dollars and four times as long as five dollars for me to hit Credit 0.

Hmmm.

I checked my wrist chronometer and found that it was now 10:34 am. I had successfully killed 4 minutes until the Slop Wok Bar opened.

I inserted One Hundred Dollars. I was in complete control. And now I had a decent stake.

Nothing much happened for a while and I'd played down to about $50 when I was dealt one of those hands that can potentially make a difference.

I had a 5x multiplier, and three sevens dealt. I Facetimed the Quad Queen so she could enjoy the fireworks from a distance. But of course it sputtered. No quad. Bugger.

I did get one little ole quad and by the time Lanai Express Slop Factory Wok Bar was open I'd managed to salvage $105 out of my total of $135 buy in and cashed out. I considered not going broke on this machine a win of sorts.


I got the 2 item combo at Lanai Express with my Aloha coupon book, scoring my second free meal in a couple of hours, all of the steam table slop factory fresh to boot.


Two free meals in an hour and a half. But the Lanai Express stuff is for supper, not to be eaten now.

I drove back to Wynn, beeping through the stations trying to find something interesting. I ended up grooving to a great show on 88.1 FM with a genuine, real DJ. A DJ that match the beats as one song transitioned to another. The aural menu was old soul classics and I loved it.


Check out DJ Benzo on KCEP Power 88.1 https://www.power88lv.com/radio-schedule
The sun was out, I was about even on the day, the music was vibing, and the car smelled like shitty Chinese take-out. What more could a poor boy want?

 

Goodbye Mirage

Thursday Feb 23, 2023 part 2, and after getting another great parking spot, I took the comped Lanai Express Slop Wok food up to the room. Then I got some ice for the Quad Queen to have in drinks.

But for me, my plan wasn't done yet. I had to return the Avis rental car to the Mirage and then hopefully - finally - use some of the Caesars gift cards I'd been toting around for months, and multiple trips. I figured Harrah's would be a good spot to get some lunch.

I was all set to take the car back, except the Quad Queen reminded me of the fact that there were still drinks in the car. Shit.

So now, I have to go down, get the drinks, smell the car, which was now full of take-away Chinese food stench, and haul my heavy load go back up to the room. Take-away Chinese food stench is fine if you're raised in it. But once you acclimatize to the real stench-free world outside the confines, you can never come back without experiencing the horrid, acrid, wok slop stench in full barf-barf mode. The whole way, had PST flashbacks of the broccoli death=mobile from the previous trip.

Anyway, the drinks schlepped up to the room, I headed back down to the car. Nearby I saw a Maserati, a Rolls, and a Bentley. Lucky them. Hope they get good mileage.



I drove the dirty rental car back to Mirage, and dumped it on the 7th floor, headed down the elevator, took the walkway across to the main building, headed down the escalator. It was still barely lunchtime, which was part of my plan. I'd dump the keys in the drop box during the kiosk bitch's over-extended noon till one shutdown lunch, and avoid any face time with that rental hoooor that had wasted so much of my precious vacation time and money a week previously.


Hey, this Kia smells like Chinese food!
As I approached the Avis desk, I saw a strange looking woman wearing a parka, heading into the booth. It was 12:58 and I thought, oh, it's ok.

I walked up to talk to her and confirm it's okay that I just dumped the car across three parking spots, straddling a curb, took the batteries out of the key fob, and dumped it in the drop box along with a mouthful of well-chewed Bubble Yum.

She took the parka off and started squeaking at me in that familiar Chip and Dale chipmunk screech from a week ago.

It was the same woman. The same one I'd yelled 'FUCK. YOU.' at across the crowded Mirage lobby in a frustrated, classless bellow. That one. That very same one.

I had no choice. I decided to be nice, ask all the things, confirm she wasn't going to shaft me in any way. Because really, my rental car fate was in her tiny, clawed hands.

And, thumbing my nose at fate, I also pointed out that the computer said she'd still had 2 minutes of lunchtime enjoy. And, as I walked away, in my very own sing-song little sarcastic troll puppet voice to "Have a nice DAYYYYY!"'.

As I walked away and looked into the casino, remembering all the good times we'd had there, I reflected that due to the sale to Hard Rock, it won't be the Mirage much longer, and by the next time I'm there, it will be very different.

It was goodbye Mirage.

And in another of my patented Vegas random music soundtrack moments, the outro to Layla was playing on the sound system as I walked by the Golden Booby Mermaids for the last time, and out the door. I had a tear in my eye and I cherished the moment as I walked down the sidewalk towards the strip, where the song faded and ended at the perfect time.

 

The Most Ballsy Blackjack Play Ever

Thursday Feb 23, 2023 part 2 and by the time I got over to Harrah's, my cojones were frojones. It was so cold!

I wandered Harrah's, a property I'm not super familiar with, to find a place to eat. I wasn't sold on Ramsay's Kitchen, it seemed really busy. I ended up walking all the way to the lobby, and then back. That yee-haw red white and burger place upstairs was a hard pass. I thought of Ruthchris Ruth's Chris Ruth Chris's Ruth's Chris Steakhouse, and found the entrance - and it was closed till dinner. Of course it was.

By now I was starving, cold, tired, and hangry. I got the piPhone out and used the Caesars app to find restaurants. I looked high and low and decided, rationally and expeditiously, that I will go and eat at the nearest place to where I'm standing, digesting my own stomach.

The nearest thing was Guy Fieri's. I hate Guy Fieri.

I hate his stupid bleached 'wet fingers in the 600v socket' shock hair, I hate his show, his manner, his arrogant attitude, and his apparent lack of talent for anything. I have no idea how this man is famous.

I also have no idea how I am not famous, but maybe it has to do with hating everyone more successful than me. Maybe.

In a flash, I crossed over to the Linq and the place was right there.

I asked for a table for one and was told it would be a 30 minute wait. But there were lots - lots and lots - of seats at the bar, which was full service.

I hate eating at bars and I hate even more eating at Guy Fieri bars. But I need to get this done.

I found a seat, and was entertained by a shaker of too cool bartenders, fast talking, full of platitudes. I ordered wings. and a beer. Upsell attempt on the fries. No.


The wings arrived in two minutes and looked good - but were barely warm. And tough. I asked for a knife and fork and I could barely eviscerate them. They were clearly old and dead.





At least the BBQ sauce was excellent - I'll say that fairly. And the ranch dipping goop was also excellent.


And the wings could have been excellent if they'd just been cooked fresh.

After slapping the severed flappers in front of me, the bartender ignored me from then on in, flitting around, doing various too cool bar things.

I ate and looked around and noticed there were lots - lots and lots - of empty tables. A couple sat down next to me at the bar while waiting for their deuce, and they lasted about three minutes before being retrieved by the hostess and taken to their table.

The whole 30 minute wait thing... I have to conclude it was a bleach blonde frizzled boner-hair lie to herd me to the bar instead of taking up one of Guy Fieri's precious fucking tables.

I finished. Another different bartender asked me how everything is. As in how is your meal. Now that everything is gone.

I told him the truth. He truly seemed perplexed and flitted around the bar for a while. Eventually the bill arrived and the beer was taken off it as well as $4.00 off the meal - the local's discount I'm told.

Whoop.

When you're hangry and you get jerked around and get a bad meal you just want to be done with it all. I ponied up one of the gift cards and paid the bill, left a proper tip, and walked by many empty tables on my way out, my temper on full Fieri.

It's really best to let these experiences go as soon as you can, for your own peace of mind, so I hustled back to Wynn quick like a bunny, so I could go to the room and tell the Quad Queen all of the miserable details, with many grand gestures, loud grunts, stamping of the feet, and various expletives.

I regrouped, and together, Mrs. Flusher and I headed down to the Wynn casino to see what damage we could do.

This time I remembered to unleash the power of Brains. He seemed to help me hit some hands, but once again, the Quad Queen struggled.

At the very least, I had a couple of decent Mojitos.

















We took a break in the room to rethink things before heading down to the casino again.










Oh, hi Brains.
We settled in to play on some machines near the pit, and near the cage. We played for a bit and there was a loud ROARR! which startled me a bit.


It happens in the casino, a bunch of people cheering.

We played on and a minute later ROARRR!

"Craps table," I said confidently to the Quad Queen, because I'm Mr. Big Shot Savvy Gambler.

A few minutes later, ROARRRR!

And again. ROARRRRRR!!!!!!!

I looked around and... there was no craps table nearby.

"Not the craps table," I said confidently to the Quad Queen, because I'm Mr. Big Shot Savvy Gambler.

And again. ROARRRRRRR!!!!!!!!

And again. RRRRRRRROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!

And again. ROAR (with a shitload of Rs and !s).

I had to see what was going on and witnessed the end of what is The Most Ballsy Blackjack Play I've ever seen in thirty years.

There was a crowd three or four people deep around one of the blackjack tables and I pushed in a bit so I could see.

A player had a massive mount of checks pushed into the betting circle. He stood, and the dealer busted.

RRRRRRRRROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I don't know what this guy had bought in with, but clearly he had parlayed every hand and won about seven or eight in a row.

Balls the size of the Bono's Sphere.

He'd (smartly) had enough and was coloring up. He took down thousands.









We played some more and the Quad Queen finally hit a couple. But we were back up in the room in a couple of hours and I was staring reheated Lanai Express Slop Wok dinner in the face.

















The Quad Queen had lost her $300 stake for the day, but I managed to claw out a second winning day in a row, sitting at plus $70.

QQ: Day -$300 Trip -$HelpMeHelpMe.
RF: Day +$70 Trip -$IDontWantToLook.

Combined: -$OhGodWhatHaveWeDone - $230.

Yeah, the trip was a bad one, gambling wise, and was now irretrievable. It's happened before and this wasn't the worst, which isn't saying much.

 

One in a row is just a random occurrence.
Two in a row is a coincidence.
Three in a row is a streak - let’s get it!

 

I feel the same way about Guy Fieri. Don't like his image; wouldn't grace one of his restaurants with my presence. Your review was all I needed to read to confirm.
So sorry about the losses. One of those lick-the-wounds-on-the-silent-trip-home kind of trips.

 

I had to laugh at your rental car story. I’ve been there too. Now that I’ve gotten older I’m not as forgiving for lack of customer service. Just made me laugh you went the wrong way cause you were so mad, but had to walk back in front of the booth to get to the parking garage. Kind of like the Southwest commercials “Wanna get away.”

 

Thank you Flushiepants for all of the fun you and the Quad Queen have shared thru the years. I like to go back, time to time, to enjoy my favorites at your home site

 

I can't believe you posted a picture of yourself and the Quad Queen. You are a lovely looking couple and I salute your style and your writing style. I have enjoyed all of your trip reports - but much like you, the winning ones are just all around better. I hope you and Quad Queen have many, many more Vegas trips and that you continue to write. Thanks again for your dedication to all of us degenerates!

 

@smerrian not sure if he specifically said what it is called but it’s a HotLogic for food reheating/ in room cooking. He wrote about it in another TR, which led me to buy one, and I can confirm the thing is awesome!

 

Where are the gambling gods and what did you ever do to them?

 

Thank you for the sweet, kind words. The news has been posted elsewhere, however, and not on this particular thread yet, that the Quad Queen has been diagnosed with ALS. Vegas will not ever be the same again, I'm sorry to say.

 

Terrace Pointe

Friday Feb 24, 2023, last day of the trip, and having had such an asskicking, I was happy to dawdle in the room over coffee until 11:00 am.

It turns out that between us, we had a bunch of comp dollars - enough for me to eat a proper breakfast at the Terrace Pointe Café. Mrs. Flusher was opting for a rye and coke smoothie in the room for hers.


On the way to the restaurant, I saw some Formula 1 cars, and also saw a live broadcast being held from a human aquarium. A very beautiful woman outside struck up a conversation with me. I reckoned I still have 'it' and it makes sense that a model 33 years younger than me would be interested in listening to my savvy point of view.

Instead of hanging on my every word, she handed me a book. In fact, she had a stack of them and it was her job to make me think for 0.9382 milliseconds that finally some model had recognized the senior hunk standing before them and then bring me back to earth by handing me a book and starting a spiel.

Turns out I've heard of the author David Meltzer, and it was he holding court in the fishbowl. I've heard of his partner Warren Moon, who wrote the foreward to the book, as well and regaled the beautiful but bookish model with tales of Warren's exploits in the CFL.

"Warren Moon won 5 Grey Cups with the Edmonton Eskimos. Did you know that?"

"Errrmmm..."

"Not only did he win 5 Grey Cups, he won them consecutively."

"Aahhhhmmm..."

"I hear he also played in the NFL."

"Have another book."

I loved my breakfast experience journey at Terrace Pointe. It's beautiful and the service is impeccable.











As planned, when I was almost done, I pinged the Quad Queen and told her how to find me in the restaurant.


Over here!

We decided to head over to Encore. I had a few Mojitos and the QQ was on the Jameson. We did okay for a while but when we did some keno experiments, it was a fail for both of us.
We did play for a long, long time which was kind of satisfying.









I actually got to the point where I'd had enough and headed up to the room. A welcome text showed me that the Quad Queen had hit Aces on Triple Double Bonus - but no damn kicker. We really could have used the extra $800 for the kicker!





Back in the room, we hung out, watched Hogan's Heroes, and ate a disgusting punishment dinner loaded with punishment cheese.





One last bash downstairs to kill the day brought a couple of quads for me on dollar JW.






And the Quad Queen got one on dollar Bonus.



And that was it. We both lost on the day, and like so many trips, once a trend is set (losing in this case) it seems to continue from day to day.

One bright spot was the Wynn Promotion Freecredits we won.

5 x Not a Winner

6 x $5 Freecredit

6 x $10 Freecredit

3 x $25 Freecredit

1 x $50 Freecredit

Total = $215 in Freecredit

That's $215 we got extra to play and when we lost it, it didn't come out of our stake! I call that a win.

 

Goodbye Las Vegas

Saturday Feb 25, 2023 and it was time to return to Florida.

You know the drill, it's time to pack everything up, and get your ass to the airport.

The trip is over.


We jumped through all the hoops, and got onto the plane.

I felt a deep sadness as we took off and held Mrs. Flusher's hand.

You might be wondering why it took 7 months to write this adventure of Royal Flusher and the Quad Queen, and why we've come out of hiding.

It's because I think it will be the last such trip report ever.

Things are not at all well in our household, and now it's time to start a new chapter.

I mentioned at the start of this that the Quad Queen was having some neuromuscular issues, and from August 2022 we were pretty sure that it was something bad - really bad.

All of her symptoms fit ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease, or MND as it's called abroad.

More on this in the next post.

American Business Class treated us fairly well, and we made it back to Florida okay, wishing that this trip had been better but still grateful that we were able to do it.













It's been a long road as Royal Flusher since my first usenet posts under the name in the early 1990s.


Thank you for reading, thank you for your comments, thank you for your support, thank you for you loyalty.

Flushiepants

 

The Quad Queen has ALS

I've been dreading writing this post for a very long time.

I won't be writing about Vegas trips, but I will be writing about another slice of real life, our lives as they now present themselves, and the challenges therein.

In March 2022, Karen developed symptoms in the fingers on her right hand - she found she couldn't hold a pen.

By summer, it had gotten worse, and by August she showed symptoms of ALS - Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis. Also known as Lou Gehrig's disease, and as MND abroad.

By September we were pretty sure that that's what it was and we saw a neurologist on Hallowe'en of all days who confirmed that it was the most likely candidate.

Over the winter, her hand and arm got worse and her right foot dropped - the muscles holding the toe up couldn't activate anymore.

We spent many hours grieving the losses we were having, and the losses to come. We'd only just started our retirement and had everything the way we wanted it. It lasted only 9 months for me before this started.

Karen developed a limp and we started to have to give up activities. She had a number of falls, but fortunately no injuries.

In Vegas, her mobility was quite limited. We walked slowly, and she needed to rest often. The worst thing of all was she couldn't play video poker the way she always has. Fast, and with two hands. She had to do all the button pushes with her left hand and I actually think this affected her success.

By the time we returned home to Flusherville in April 2023, Karen could barely, barely make it up the half flight of stairs. I had to hold her butt from behind to help lift and make sure she didn't tumble. It would be the last time she ever uses stairs.

In May 2023, the diagnosis was confirmed - Karen has ALS.

What is ALS?

"ALS is a fatal motor neuron disease. It is characterized by progressive degeneration of nerve cells in the spinal cord and brain. ALS affects voluntary control of arms and legs, and leads to trouble breathing. ALS does not affect intelligence, thinking, seeing, or hearing. There is no known cure for ALS."

At this writing, the disease has progressed significantly.

Karen can't walk. Her right arm and hand are useless, and her left arm and hand have about 15% of their functionality left.

My days are very busy taking care of her. I get her out of bed in the morning using a lift on loan from the ALS Canada, I move her around the house, onto and off of a commode, and put her to bed at night.

Basically, everything a person typically does for themselves, from shopping to cooking to laundry to toothbrushing to toileting to bartending, she has to have someone do for her.

Much of my time and efforts have centered around dealing with the next phase of the disease. Getting walkers, bath benches, hand holds, stair lifts, removing doors, getting people in, fighting for more aide coverage, and so on. And mountains of paperwork to apply for permits, programs, prescriptions, tax status, disability status and so on.

So I apologize for taking a full 7 months to write up the last trip report - but I'm sure you understand.

The Quad Queen does not want to face winter here in Canada, so we are going to try to get to Florida again for the winter, which poses a whole new set of challenges to be overcome.

Fortunately, she has the best possible attitude about ALS, and she's a fighter. There is no quit in her.

As for me, I'm pretty ground down. My day starts at 7:00 am and I'm running till 11:00 pm seven days a week. We have two one-hour visits from home health aides (or PSWs in Canada) a day, and I get 4 hours a week of respite.

And we have a therapy dog and his volunteer owner come in once a week or so for 4 hours so I can get out of the house. But the rest of it is all on my shoulders. So it keeps me busy. It's a good thing I'm a decent cook.

Going forward, I plan to blog about all of this, and I hope you will stay with me.

In addition, I have to reach out and ask for help. ALS is an extremely costly disease. Specialized medical equipment and supplies are through the roof. And I really, really need more hours of aide coverage to help Karen, and give me a breather.

To this end please consider supporting Karen's gofundme, which is linked through the blog, or support us directly by donating via paypal using the buttons on the blog.

www.royalflushervegas.com

It wouldn't be a Royal Flusher post without some unwanted sage advice, but here goes.

In life, take nothing for granted. It never goes as planned. Don't wait. Don't wait for that hoop to be jumped through or for things in your life to be perfect. Hug that person, tell them that you love them, take that trip, learn that skill, spend that time with friends.

The rug can be pulled out just like that. For you, I pray that this will not be the case. For us, it's already happened, and we are incredibly thankful for the years we've had together, and we do not regret some sixty plus Vegas vacations in any way shape or form.

 

Sorry you had a losing trip. Thank you for sharing all the laughs and trip reports over the years. My heart breaks for the both of you. I pray y’all get to Florida for the winter and see Santa in shorts and flip flops. Thank you for sharing this new chapter and journey in your life with us. Hugs to you and the Quad Queen.