TR Snippet -No wonder my bag is so heavy

TRAVELING GADGETS

COFFEE POT

This trip I got tired of not having a coffee maker in many of the spots where I stayed.  Well, in fact, I got tired of trying to plan on a hotel booking with a coffee maker, and asking all my board friends to remember which place had a maker and how hard was it to get more than one bag of the cheap coffee they give away, so........ I bought this little one on line.  

I drink coffee to keep me awake. I drink tea for pleasure. This will brew either.

The water is not as hot as I would like, but I found that running it through one time by itself and letting it heat the cup before I brewed made all the difference. 
 I like it.

I place a towel under the pot because at times, depending on the shape of the certamic cup, the water for tea dripples over the side. I propped up the back of the little pot, and with that angle had less difficulty. A ceramic cup with a curve to fit the curve of the pot would be ideal.

With the coffee filter in I did not have that problem, but I don't like brewing tea using the coffee parts because there can be some residue coffee flavor.

It is the lightest single coffee pot on the market and has a switch so it will take European current as well. The built in filter works well, but I think I bought too finely ground coffee this time and will try a coarser ground next trip. As I play with the amounts and the system, I get better and better coffee.

Tea is no problem. The water is plenty hot enough for tea and it brews easily.

I do not much like a plastic cup so I carry a ceramic cup or two when I travel. These are also good when there is a microwave in the room as they allow reheating leftover food from a restaurant. In Vegas I ate mostly in buffets, so I have no leftovers.

I also carried a jar of stevia extract that is my newest sweetener. I don't use a creamer, so that is all I need for my coffee.
So I could write on computer, plan out my coupons, relax in my nightshirt and still sip.
The Jelly beans come with a quarter in a little machine outside the Sam's Town theater.  Jelly Belly.  Each bean has a distinctive flavor and there are at least fifty varieties.  One bean with coffee is nice.  At the Cabana suites you can get a handful free in the lobby, but these are not jelly belly, just bits of candy.

FIFTH BURNER

I bought a plug in electric burner and decided to take it along on this journey, but it was not really of much use in Chicago or Denver and in Vegas it was ridiculous. I did think I might bring some food back and warm it for breakfast. I like breakfast in my room as I write in the morning. However, my Vegas food was mostly buffets and coffee with a bit of trailmix was plenty while I wrote.

BIBS

Laugh if you must, My children do. Some of them are a bit embarrassed. But since about a few years ago, with psoratic arthritis, my hand tends to fork food more often on my shirt front.

I got very tired of having to buy new shirts because of some stupid stain that won't come out.

First I tried Penny's stain free shirts, but eventually they stain too.

Sometimes I bring one of those only slightly stained shirts along with me to eat, and put it on for the meal. I call it my "bib shirt."  This works on a long roadtrip at the diners where I might get stuck in a booth.  
Booths enable the dribble.

My daughter-in-law bought me a nice bib, but it is too heavy to carry.

I liked those bibs that they serve the lobster people and shopped around to find a good deal on a hundred of them without any decal or lobster picture.

They work great! They are called disposable, but they wash up easily.  I thought the plastic would be about like a bag at the grocery store, but it is heavier and more resilent.  
If ties are knotted behind my neck, the knots are hard to untie and reuse is generally not possible, but I carry a small clip that hold the bib folded and out of the way in my pocket and then acts to secure the ties without making them impossible to reuse.

It did take a bit of hutzpa to be wearing a bib in public, especially at the buffets. But now my shirts are safe.

And I can eat things I would have avoided.

At the El Cortez cafe on a poker comp I ate a Patty melt, full of dripping cheese and other juices. I packed it with the fresh tomato and large onion slices. It was not a delicate meal. However, with my bib I was free to enjoy it.
One thing about growing older, there is great pleasure in small things.

FORGOTTEN GADGET GREATLY MISSED

I did not remember to pack a few good clips for the curtains of the windows at nap time. I was sorry. 
 Once I used my bib clip, but then forgot to take it back again when I went out to eat.

CARD PROTECTORS

I remembered my spinning bone fish carved by Indians in Florida. That was a popular topic of conversation among the poker players between hands.

I also tossed a few Silver Strike rings (with the silver removed for melting) and they made great card protectors, especially when I discovered that a Kennedy half dollar snaps in the middle of some of them perfectly. 
 I gave one away to a fellow from Reno because it said "Reno" and the all of the rest some guys bought off me at the El Cortez table. I have a bucket full, so I guess I'll have some fun at future games and probably at least get the scrap value out of them.

I brought along, but did not use, my heavy stainless steel curved rectangle with Horseshoe printed on it. It was once a keychain but too heavy. 
 Having a few card protectors is very helpful. I did have cards thrown on mine by accident after one hand, but sometimes spiteful players will do it on purpose. Once touched by other's cards, my cards are considered mucked.  Tough if I have any kind of money in the pot or a very good hand with potential.

SHIRTS

I think I finally found the shirt I love for Vegas. It is two pockets, the kind my late gambling buddy Louisiana Alligator Dan always loved, but is actually lighter in hot weather than a tee shirt. I found them on sale at Beall's in Florida and half a dozen would have been enough for all my days in Vegas. 
 They wash out easily, dry quickly, and when hiking at Red Rock I really got a good sense of how they lifted off perspiration. The two front pockets were very handy. They are made by Rugged Earth.