TWO DAY STAY AT HARRAH'S LAUGHLIN

Colorado Belle would not extend my room that usual complimentary hour, so I checked out at 11. I envisioned a time when my luggage would sit in the car at Harrah's, but I was immediately given a room.

With no luggage I went to the room to do the standard bedbug check.

Bad news.

The little poppyseed sized guys I saw all looked like dead ones.

Nothing moved.

When I ran my finger deeper into the ridge of the mattress, it came out all white. Probably eggs.

It looked like the time in the Four Queens when the little buggers had been heat killed, but housekeeping had not finished the job and scrubbed the residue off the mattress.

However, I was taking no chances.

I remembered a few years ago when they moved me at Flamingo. There I had live bugs under a glass. The second Flamingo room was also suspect, so they were not very happy with me. There they had also checked me in early, but I was informed that if the third room was not satisfactory, I would have to wait for another. I did not respond that I would, at a third finding of bugs, just walk out and go down to the Super 8, and dispute the Flamingo charges compete with a photo of a bug under a glass. 
The third Flamingo room was in a terrible location, but it was clean and safe and I stayed. I just never went back to that casino. 
There was no automatic upgrade to a Go room.

The reaction of Harrah's Laughlin was totally the opposite. They immediately upgraded my room and sent for security. Security was very pleasant and asked if I would mind filling out a report.

I wanted to fill it out.

Anything to help fight these pests.

It was all efficient and pleasant.

Easy bedbug inspection comes with being able to leave my luggage in the rental until I inspect. 
The ease of parking helps. 
When I go by bus solo, I have to carry all my luggage up and then back down to the desk.

I asked for nothing, but the clerk took a bit of time finding my second room, and once said under her breath, "No, that is a bit too long of a walk." 
She was determined to please me.
So unlike the welcome I had at Flamingo.

What she gave me was 2 11 06, a fine room facing the river on the 11th floor, near the elevators but without noise and with the ice right across the hall.

From this height the river looked wonderful in daylight with the tiny, distant ducks and the paddlewheel boat going up and down.

At night, a nearly full moon rose, and there were even a few distant Christmas lights on houses. I could also see the pool and see that folks were swimming in it. I am generally not so much for view, but this was just grand.

I have always loved the look of roads in a distance with the lights of cars going by them and the sense that way out there were people I would never meet, that even in this small little Nevada town there were hundreds of people around me, busy, and living life.

I met one such fellow as I swam in the pool.

He stood above where I swam.

Jose from LA. 
We talked of places we had visited and of earthquakes and snow.

"The earth is going to do what she wants," he said, "and there is nothing we can do about it."

I did not ask him if that included global warming.

I had the pool to myself.

I am often swimming solo in violation of all pool rules, but even when security checked, nothing was said. They never seem to bother an old guy. 

He just wished me a good day.

I had asked at the desk if the pool was heated.  The woman said that it had some efficient way of heating the water, but some thought it was not heated. It was better heated than most pools I've seen in hotels across the country. 

The air was 50 - 60 and the sun made it seem warmer. There was a fine breeze in the morning that just seemed delightful.

A couple on the elevator who lived in Lake Havasu called it "windy" and said the Bullhead City is always "windy."

Strange how pool water and wind are all relevant. I think Chicago is windy. This place just has a fine, pleasant breeze.

And the pool felt very warm to me. I can tolerate cold water, but this seemed as warm as any heated pool, perhaps warmer than the Orleans. I loved it.

I'm having muscle issues these days probably due to a pinched nerve. It includes cramping around my middle and quite painful. Aleve works. If I work my hands to the top of a doorway and pull up, that works.

Heat works in the hot tub or on the couch with an electric heater.

Calm mental thoughts work.

Swimming seems to bring on the cramping and it did today. I kept repositioning my body, and I managed to alleviate most of it, but those muscles just don't like swimming.

At Red Rock with son Frank I had similar issues and the hot tub did not help. It is especially painful when I step up the stairs to exit the pool.

This time I had it almost all the while I was swimming. I was in almost two hours just circling about. It does not seem to affect my arms and chest which I use for swimming. And then this pool is only 3 feet, so I could touch and shuffle.

I sat a long while in the hot tub with the bubbles going into the worst back muscle, and that did the job. I was relieved.

Oddly, I don't get pain while hiking, but I do after I have hiked. I get it when I lie in bed, but not if I sit in a chair. It is all a new malady.

Also odd is that it does not seem to mind my very heavy backpack once I get the pack on. I have pain hoisting it up, but once it is setting on my back and the straps clipped, I don't have painful issues. I am getting good at finding places to take the weight off while I pull the straps on. 

I am disappointed to have pain with the swimming because that is a big part of my life. I live on a lake and swim almost daily up North in the summer.

I am happy to not have it with the backpack because this new one just cost me $70 and I love it in everyway. It has changed the way I will pack for Vegas.

Later, in the early evening I suffered for my long swim. I was in a good bit of discomforting pain. I could not lie in bed and watch a little television.

Age brings debility. 
In the old folks here at Laughlin I have heard the constant rehearsing of pain and the details of operations.

However, there was none of that at the Colorado Belle poker table.

The room at Harrah's is an upgrade from that at Colorado Belle. It has a bath tub. It is pretty small and nothing like that huge tub at Red Rock, but an Epsom salt bath is refreshing.

Things are a bit fancier at Harrah's. Counters and the little table for the computer is topped with that granite looking Corian material that is very popular now.

The table is a bit small, but the electric is well planned and not haphazard.

It has a coffee maker, one of those that takes a plastic sliding holder for the bag. The coffee tasted weak, so I added some of the Starbucks Mocha I have been making in my little travel pot. That produced a fine strong cut of coffee and not grounds.

I ended up not liking the Mocha variety by itself. It is nothing like the chocolate that Giordano makes in coffee.

I realized that if grounds become an issue, I could filter with the filter on the traveling pot to remove them from the finished coffee. The traveling pot is okay, but this one in the room is better.

Hopefully it will made tea that does not pick up any coffee taste. I have not tried tea in my traveler yet.

I am well stocked with seltzer this trip thanks to my earlier Walmart shopping on Boulder and a car to store the cans. In the middle of the night when I woke up thirsty, I just ducked across the hall in my PJ's and grabbed some ice for a good drink.

I went into the gift shop here and just wanted a look at the watches. The shop sells everything for ten dollars. Laughlin used to mean a visit to the famous Riverside Watchman store, but I think the old fellow has died and his family have sold out. Once every watch was just twenty dollars. Not now. I bought one for thirty last year. It was Swanson and water resistant. I can swim with it in the pool.

I don't need any more watches, but my eye was caught by one here at Harrah's that was unique and had a rather attractive band that was made of rubber and felt just fine, so I gave in and bought it. When I got it in the room, I examined it to see that it is also listed as water resistant. Nice.

The face of this watch shows just the hours of 4-9 at the bottom in a rather graceful way. The other hours are just lines. The rubber band fits comfortably and has a decorative bit of silver chain near watch.

I went over to the Outlet stores to look around, and to get some more cash. There is a Bank of America ATM there under the escalator. My phone said it was there, but I could not find it. 
A young girl who was closing up a jewelry store helped me. I asked first for Family Dollar because my phone said it was near the ATM. I thought it best not to advertise to her and her boyfriend that I was seeking an ATM. However, she watched me not go in the Family Dollar, so I confessed, and she then told me where it was.

Such a strange and hidden spot!

I liked shopping the stores. I did not see anything to buy. I can't take but the smallest and lightest thing anyway as my suitcase is already over packed. But I enjoyed some of the shops.

I stopped at a candy store and they had some sugar free, but a single truffle was two dollars and seventy five cents. This seemed rather steep and I passed. They had some no sugar added vanilla iced cream, but the place here in the casino has two flavors. 
In the end I tried neither.

My Colorado Belle buffet held me full for most of the day, so I just had a light snack tonight with the television. No Turner Classic movies here. Too bad.

All in all I am tempted to think about staying here next trip for the full time I stay in Laughlin. We'll see. I am certainly happy to have chosen these two days rather than stay five at the Colorado Belle.

I've finished the first bottle of Robert Mondavi Pinot Noir and found it very good, and I've bought it since for as little as $8 a bottle. 
Now they have one aged in bourbon casks.  It is a very different taste.  I like it very much.

I still have a ton of seltzer and bottled water.

I'm tired.

I woke up at 3 AM, but I was for the most part pain free and well rested. It was delightful to be able to check the poker room for any late night games using the Bravo Poker Live app on my phone. 
None were happening here in this old folks town. Only Harrahs is listed. In the end, Harrah's never had enough players for a limit game at any time while I was there.

I abandoned the movie, Owning Mahowny, a Canadian film about a problem gambler.  Too many commercials.  I do like Philip Seymour Hoffman.  Perhaps I'll catch this old one another time.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Owning_Mahowny

So I contented myself with writing up my impressions and reading a bit of Percy's, The Movie Goer.

One advantage of downtown is that the poker would be available and the bonus hands paid double. However, the Golden Nugget games do not seem to be on Bravo Poker.