BARGE 2014 Trip Report
I went to the doctor today. I also saw him before BARGE for a regular checkup. A week later, I went to Chicago where I met the real Patient Zero (my brother-in-law). But wait, I get ahead of myself. The Friday before BARGE, my parents take my wife, kid, and myself out for dinner. Some of us eat some bad mussels. We are up at 4am and on the road to Greenville Airport according to the GPS. Good thing we were a little early because it navigated us to the downtown municipal airport...not the fancy big Greenville International Airport that was 8 miles away. I took some shit from my wife on that one. Nothing really much happened intestinally speaking until after we got to Chicago, unpacked at he family's house, and then took the kid to go do something "fun". That's when I find myself visiting the 2nd stall at the really noisy and annoying bouncy house place for the 3rd time in an hour. Not much is left to come out of me, but my insides don't seem to care about that. I came out of the stall and met my brother and sister-in-law along with my two nieces. My brother-in-law informs me he is sick and then he "keeps his distance" but you know he totally sat next to me at snack time.
Two days later, I meet up with Chuck W. at the Midway gate. He hands me some drink tickets. We board the flight and I get an aisle seat next to some cute Asian women. Unfortunately as we fly, I start feeling worse and worse. I make the horrible mistake to use a drink ticket and the alcohol almost makes me feel like I'm going to pass out right there and not in a good way. I close my eyes and try to doze away the yuck. We land, collect bags and meet the Beckers and Bayes. We all squish into a rental and head downtown. I manage to keep it together. Bayes checks us in at the California and I realize the item I forgot this year was all my players cards. I go and get a new one made for Main St./California. We dump our bags in the room and head over to Main St. brew pub. We meet up with the Beckers again and all sit down to eat. I still feel like crap. I order an appetizer of Korean short ribs. They were delicious. I drank water. I was called a pussy, but I didn't want a rehash of what almost happened on the plane. I finish eating first and beat a hasty retreat over to Binions to set up the Virgin's badges. I get there early enough that I beat almost all of the virgins. I manage to touch just about everyone's badge, so if you got sick, blame my brother-in-law. Folks tried to be friendly with me and I appreciated the sentiment, but all I wanted to do was finish with the badges and go to bed. Two dozen badges. Why did this year have to be such a good year for Virgins?!?
I found Tanya and convinced her to buy my entry to the 6 max tournament. She wasn't sober so it wasn't a hard sell. I shoulda insisted on keeping a % but really, I just wanted out of there. Of course she cashed! I stick around long enough for the announcements, wave hi to people, and then I head to the room where I turn on the TV and am in bed 8:00pm. Tuesday, I don't think I really ever got out of bed. Bayes fetched me some soup from the snack bar which was awfully nice of him. More Friends and Seinfeld. I think I was asleep by 7:30pm. Somewhere along the line, I managed to virtually sell my entry to the HOP.
Wed. I feel well enough to go down to the poker room and socialize for about an hour. I think I play Scott S. stack for about 4 hands of limit hold'em in HORSE. They were all folding hands. I meet up with the virgins and BARGE Welcome Committee for the virgin mixer. A good time was had by all. I get $20 to eat half a bottle of ketchup. The Howeler undercuts my market by offering to drink a bottle of tabasco for $10. Damn right I made sure he did it. After the mixer, I called it a night. Picked up some more soup and was in bed by 7:30pm again.
Thursday. I finally felt better. Not great, but 80%. I played my heart out at CHORSE. Ran over the table in the first round which didn't amount to much since the blinds were low. Then Murray disappears and is replaced my Kevan's Mom on my right. She gobbles my chips up. Makes quads on Kenny and then a couple hands later on me. I lose most of our stack to her. I have a drink. I feel awful. 3rd round. I make a comeback. Get a bunch of chips back from her and basically undo the 2nd round debacle, but that doesn't get us ahead or anything. After CHORSE, Kevan's Mom starts telling Kevan about how I beat up on her and she points me out and says "That little shit!" Highlight of my BARGE. Everyone goes to Sushi. I go to bed. It's only like 2pm. But that was it for the day.
Friday. I get up early and go do the fun run. I'm an idiot. Official start time was announced as 8am. I'm up at 7:15 and out there at 7:30 because I told people face-to-face that it starts at 7:30. The only person who believes me is Brian O'Grady. Fucking virgin. David Lawful shows up next and gifts me with a purple chip which I very much appreciate. I used it as my card protector the rest of BARGE. I also decided to buy a chip set since I wanted it all to match. (Ed. note: I'm back home and unpacked and can't find the purple. Saddenz. I'm still looking though.) I only do one lap and it tuckers me out. Back to the room to shower and then I meet up with QB, Mickdog, and Deadhead for breakfast. Somehow with coupons and math, I end up with a free meal. Well, nothing is really free, I had to wake my ass up to go run.
I give Skippy my seat for the CHORSE final table. He never gets to play so I felt bad for him after all these years. Next up is the TOC which is my favorite event. I hadn't really played any poker outside of the 30 hands of CHORSE limit hold'em and 4 hands of Scott's stack. There are no easy tables, but I'm happy to have Stephen Landrum on my right. It was good position AND I got to pick his brain. I also end up with Brian O'Grady way down on my left. We traded punches through several rounds. That dude would not fold to my bluffs (when I had four diamonds up in stud comes to mind). Thankfully, I took a bunch of chips off him when I wasn't bluffing. If I hadn't bluffed him at all, I'm sure I would have eliminated him. Instead he goes on to takes 2nd. The gall of him. Our table breaks. I get moved over to a new table with Sharkbait on my right and Andi on my left. Barry K. was a couple spots down on my left. I quickly notice that Sharkbait's game has drastically improved over the past couple of years and I resolve to stay out of pots with her unless I've got the goods. I busted someone (Joe Long's wife?) and was given a hat in a bag. It was a big mystery to the table, so I refused to show what was in the bag. Then, I noticed that Andi was missing a bustout gift, so I gave it to him. I then promptly busted him on a hold'em hand and got the same bustout gift given to me twice! Between you and me, Andi is a total fish when it comes to hold'em. Back when we played in the same home games, I would regularly crush him. He doesn't really stand a chance at BARGE but I know he has fun playing poker so I convinced him to go this year.
Soon after Andi departs, his spot is filled by Rich. Then comes a fun hand. It's a limit hold'em round. Barry raises from early. Folded around to me in the BB and I have QTo. I say "Hey buddy...raise up your nametag. I wanna see your nickname!" Barry does and asks what my nickname is. I tell him he will have to see after the hand. I call, because c'mon, he just min-raised. The flop gives me a some outs. I check. Barry min bets. I call. I think I have a gutshot to broadway now. Maybe I had that on the flop. Anyway, I check. Barry bets. I call. The river fills in nicely. I check, Barry bets. I raise. Barry grumbles and calls. I show the straight and cracked his pocket rockets. I tell him "See? My nickname is Schmuckbox!" Barry is tilted.
A few hands later, I managed to tilt Rich. I'm not sure what I did since it was Stud or Omaha, but he definitely got tilted. Then he busted to someone. Whee. Eventually we get to the break. The one thing I don't like about the new structure is going to break when half the field is still live. Not sure if I can have it both ways though (deeper play AND being close to the money by the break). I hung around for the symposium. Told Scott who to buy. He ignored all my suggestions, probably wisely. :) Then hung around for the Bored Meeting. It wasn't that bad, actually. More people should attend. Came back from the break and played some No Limit. This was fun. Got moved to a new table with Jeannie and Katie at the end. I tried to play a couple of hands where I min-raised, but got completely blown off them by 3 and 4 bets. This was not a table that plays around! One hand, I have 99 in the BB. Jeanie opens from middle with about 2.5bb, Katie shoves on her for about 15bb. Folded to me. I tank and eventually fold. Jeannie and Katie bet $1 on if I call or fold. Jeannie won. Got moved from that table, thankfully to my final table. (BOO!)
I've got Cider at the opposite end, and we are bookending Mav600 and Sharkbait and probably someone else that I can't remember. I get KK and min raise from early. Cider flats on the button. Mav600 and Sharkbait both call. The flop comes Qh Jh 9x. I'm not thrilled with this flop, but decided to make the best of it. Blinds check to me. I bet around half the pot. Cider thinks a moment and minraises. The blinds fold. Now I tank. He could have nuts, a draw, or air. Any of those are reasonable. Though we are both big stacks, I realize I have only two choices. Fold or Jam. I decide to jam. He instacalls with pocket queens and I don't improve. IGHN around 30th. He goes on to win. I go up to Karoke for a few minutes. Hear Un's song and then head over to the Grand. David Low was kind enough to gift me a two night comped stay at the Grand for Friday/Saturday. I offered it to Bayes since I was germing up our room at the California, but he declined. His loss. The room at the Grand was pretty fancy. Much nicer than at the Cal. I had more TV Channnel choices too, so I watched a censored version of Zack and Miri on Comedy Central and went to bed.
Saturday. I've got Lauria and Juliano on my right and Joe Long, Bree, Kevan Garrett, ADB Bigboy, and Kevan's mom on my left. I accumulate some chips pretty easily and help get Lauria down to his last 5k. But then Juiliano doubles him up a couple of different times and before long, Lauria is biggest stack at our table. On the last hand before the break, I end up with AhTx. I raise Kevan's Mom's limp from UTG. Kevan and Bigboy both call from the blinds, but she folds. The flop comes Qh Jh 5x. Kevan shoves for t15k into the 5k pot. Bigboy folds. I tank. I eventually call and Kevan only has 8h9h. He makes a pair on the turn and rivers the flush. After the break, the table breaks and I get moved to the Champions table. But Heldar is already gone, so there are only three remaining past champions to deal with (Rich, Russ, and Howler). Kevan is also moved to the table. I manage to bust him and get my chips back when I made a set. Then I get into a hand...I minraise with 7s8s. Rich flats from the button. John Grout calls from the SB and the BB calls. The flop comes with Ks Js x. John fires out. BB folds. I call, Rich folds (DAMMIT). The turn is a blank. John fires again, I call. River is a blank. John fires again. I tank. I cut enough chips out to put him all in if I bet. I think. My spidey sense is telling me I HAVE to bet big here, but my brain is saying "You dolt, you have 8 high. It's a pure bluff, it'll never work!" I stare deep in to John's soul and I see a man who is ready to call me. I fold what has become quite a massive pot. He promises to tell me what he had later. I get moved to another table. I don't recall much at this table as I wasn't there for very long. Dan G. was on my right and trying to get a price quote from me on eating a 1/4in collection of chip smegma from the blue chips. I get AK and coinflip with Monte. He is about half my stack. He wins the coinflip with 77 or something like that. A hand or two later, I get 88. He and I coinflip again and he wins again, this time with AQ and IGHN. Later, at the banquet, I corner John Grout. He tells me what he had and said he was terrified I was going to bet because he would have to fold. DAMMIT.
I play some cash HORSE with Bob J. and Bad Mav and a few other characters. I dust off a $200 buyin. Oh well. I go to the banquet and have a good time. I went for the Salmon this year figuring it will be overcooked, but still edible. I was right, but only because it was doused in sauce. Next year, I have a plan to get the Prime Rib, but I'm going to bribe the waitress to bring me a good one. The speaker was good. The hippy dippy vibrations thing was weird, but I enjoyed his stories and respect his intelligence. I had fun playing dealer's choice with the donkey's afterwards. I kept hearing that Andi was going deep, but I didn't figure him to last much longer so I didn't stop playing. Then I heard it was 3 handed. I thought..."I'll finish this hand of Oklahoma and go watch him". By the time the hand ended, Andi was already the winner. YAY! I bring good virgin's folks. The trick is getting them to return. Maybe since Andi won, he will come back next year?
I moved to Lowball after that and played for a little while before tiredness caught up to me. I called it a night around midnight and went to bed. The next day, I packed up, checked out, got a players club at the Grand and dusted off $100 playing slots because I'm an idiot. Then I got my stuff from the California room and caught a ride with David Lawful to the Goldman afterparty. Andi never showed up at the after party. Why? Because he was too busy final tabling ANOTHER GODDAMN TOURNAMENT on the strip. I closed the Goldman party down and Rodney was kind enough to drop me off at the airport around 1am. Turns out the airport actually closes. So I sat in a wheelchair for a few hours with a couple other early flight people and hungout until everything opened up. Breezed through security. Opted for the pat down instead of nudie scanner. I think I was the first pat down of the day. Boarded the flight, but and used the last drink ticket. Landed in Chicago on time, found the wife and kid at the gate for the next flight. Hmmm...ears wouldn't pop. I was like 80% deaf. The second flight helped the ears pop, but when we landed again, I still couldn't pop the left ear. Fetched the car, loaded the luggage and wife and kid and headed home for the 1.5 hour trip back. Hmmm...needed gas, so stopped at a fancy gas station. We decided to get road treats. I saw that they had a little cafe in the gas station. Said cafe offered Bacon milkshakes for a limited time. BACON MILKSHAKES! I had one of course. It wasn't disgusting but it wasn't all that tasty either. I wouldn't get it again. They should have used real bacon instead of bacon bits.
So...while I wish I could have filled my trip report with bawdy tails of drunken escapades, orgies, and tournament wins, alas the week was mostly a dude due to illness. It was still a great BARGE. I hope everyone had fun, I made the best of it and never got bummed out. Today, I went to the doctor because though I feel fine, I have a lingering cough that won't go away.
I told him a shortened version of the above and he looked at my chart and says "Yeah, I can tell you didn't have any fun in Vegas. You lost 3lbs since your visit a couple of weeks ago." At least he gave me a prescription for the good stuff, Codeine Cough syrup. That means it is lights out for me as soon as I post this!
If I missed any good stories, please fill them in on the comments below. I didn't take notes...
-R
Two days later, I meet up with Chuck W. at the Midway gate. He hands me some drink tickets. We board the flight and I get an aisle seat next to some cute Asian women. Unfortunately as we fly, I start feeling worse and worse. I make the horrible mistake to use a drink ticket and the alcohol almost makes me feel like I'm going to pass out right there and not in a good way. I close my eyes and try to doze away the yuck. We land, collect bags and meet the Beckers and Bayes. We all squish into a rental and head downtown. I manage to keep it together. Bayes checks us in at the California and I realize the item I forgot this year was all my players cards. I go and get a new one made for Main St./California. We dump our bags in the room and head over to Main St. brew pub. We meet up with the Beckers again and all sit down to eat. I still feel like crap. I order an appetizer of Korean short ribs. They were delicious. I drank water. I was called a pussy, but I didn't want a rehash of what almost happened on the plane. I finish eating first and beat a hasty retreat over to Binions to set up the Virgin's badges. I get there early enough that I beat almost all of the virgins. I manage to touch just about everyone's badge, so if you got sick, blame my brother-in-law. Folks tried to be friendly with me and I appreciated the sentiment, but all I wanted to do was finish with the badges and go to bed. Two dozen badges. Why did this year have to be such a good year for Virgins?!?
I found Tanya and convinced her to buy my entry to the 6 max tournament. She wasn't sober so it wasn't a hard sell. I shoulda insisted on keeping a % but really, I just wanted out of there. Of course she cashed! I stick around long enough for the announcements, wave hi to people, and then I head to the room where I turn on the TV and am in bed 8:00pm. Tuesday, I don't think I really ever got out of bed. Bayes fetched me some soup from the snack bar which was awfully nice of him. More Friends and Seinfeld. I think I was asleep by 7:30pm. Somewhere along the line, I managed to virtually sell my entry to the HOP.
Wed. I feel well enough to go down to the poker room and socialize for about an hour. I think I play Scott S. stack for about 4 hands of limit hold'em in HORSE. They were all folding hands. I meet up with the virgins and BARGE Welcome Committee for the virgin mixer. A good time was had by all. I get $20 to eat half a bottle of ketchup. The Howeler undercuts my market by offering to drink a bottle of tabasco for $10. Damn right I made sure he did it. After the mixer, I called it a night. Picked up some more soup and was in bed by 7:30pm again.
Thursday. I finally felt better. Not great, but 80%. I played my heart out at CHORSE. Ran over the table in the first round which didn't amount to much since the blinds were low. Then Murray disappears and is replaced my Kevan's Mom on my right. She gobbles my chips up. Makes quads on Kenny and then a couple hands later on me. I lose most of our stack to her. I have a drink. I feel awful. 3rd round. I make a comeback. Get a bunch of chips back from her and basically undo the 2nd round debacle, but that doesn't get us ahead or anything. After CHORSE, Kevan's Mom starts telling Kevan about how I beat up on her and she points me out and says "That little shit!" Highlight of my BARGE. Everyone goes to Sushi. I go to bed. It's only like 2pm. But that was it for the day.
Friday. I get up early and go do the fun run. I'm an idiot. Official start time was announced as 8am. I'm up at 7:15 and out there at 7:30 because I told people face-to-face that it starts at 7:30. The only person who believes me is Brian O'Grady. Fucking virgin. David Lawful shows up next and gifts me with a purple chip which I very much appreciate. I used it as my card protector the rest of BARGE. I also decided to buy a chip set since I wanted it all to match. (Ed. note: I'm back home and unpacked and can't find the purple. Saddenz. I'm still looking though.) I only do one lap and it tuckers me out. Back to the room to shower and then I meet up with QB, Mickdog, and Deadhead for breakfast. Somehow with coupons and math, I end up with a free meal. Well, nothing is really free, I had to wake my ass up to go run.
I give Skippy my seat for the CHORSE final table. He never gets to play so I felt bad for him after all these years. Next up is the TOC which is my favorite event. I hadn't really played any poker outside of the 30 hands of CHORSE limit hold'em and 4 hands of Scott's stack. There are no easy tables, but I'm happy to have Stephen Landrum on my right. It was good position AND I got to pick his brain. I also end up with Brian O'Grady way down on my left. We traded punches through several rounds. That dude would not fold to my bluffs (when I had four diamonds up in stud comes to mind). Thankfully, I took a bunch of chips off him when I wasn't bluffing. If I hadn't bluffed him at all, I'm sure I would have eliminated him. Instead he goes on to takes 2nd. The gall of him. Our table breaks. I get moved over to a new table with Sharkbait on my right and Andi on my left. Barry K. was a couple spots down on my left. I quickly notice that Sharkbait's game has drastically improved over the past couple of years and I resolve to stay out of pots with her unless I've got the goods. I busted someone (Joe Long's wife?) and was given a hat in a bag. It was a big mystery to the table, so I refused to show what was in the bag. Then, I noticed that Andi was missing a bustout gift, so I gave it to him. I then promptly busted him on a hold'em hand and got the same bustout gift given to me twice! Between you and me, Andi is a total fish when it comes to hold'em. Back when we played in the same home games, I would regularly crush him. He doesn't really stand a chance at BARGE but I know he has fun playing poker so I convinced him to go this year.
Soon after Andi departs, his spot is filled by Rich. Then comes a fun hand. It's a limit hold'em round. Barry raises from early. Folded around to me in the BB and I have QTo. I say "Hey buddy...raise up your nametag. I wanna see your nickname!" Barry does and asks what my nickname is. I tell him he will have to see after the hand. I call, because c'mon, he just min-raised. The flop gives me a some outs. I check. Barry min bets. I call. I think I have a gutshot to broadway now. Maybe I had that on the flop. Anyway, I check. Barry bets. I call. The river fills in nicely. I check, Barry bets. I raise. Barry grumbles and calls. I show the straight and cracked his pocket rockets. I tell him "See? My nickname is Schmuckbox!" Barry is tilted.
A few hands later, I managed to tilt Rich. I'm not sure what I did since it was Stud or Omaha, but he definitely got tilted. Then he busted to someone. Whee. Eventually we get to the break. The one thing I don't like about the new structure is going to break when half the field is still live. Not sure if I can have it both ways though (deeper play AND being close to the money by the break). I hung around for the symposium. Told Scott who to buy. He ignored all my suggestions, probably wisely. :) Then hung around for the Bored Meeting. It wasn't that bad, actually. More people should attend. Came back from the break and played some No Limit. This was fun. Got moved to a new table with Jeannie and Katie at the end. I tried to play a couple of hands where I min-raised, but got completely blown off them by 3 and 4 bets. This was not a table that plays around! One hand, I have 99 in the BB. Jeanie opens from middle with about 2.5bb, Katie shoves on her for about 15bb. Folded to me. I tank and eventually fold. Jeannie and Katie bet $1 on if I call or fold. Jeannie won. Got moved from that table, thankfully to my final table. (BOO!)
I've got Cider at the opposite end, and we are bookending Mav600 and Sharkbait and probably someone else that I can't remember. I get KK and min raise from early. Cider flats on the button. Mav600 and Sharkbait both call. The flop comes Qh Jh 9x. I'm not thrilled with this flop, but decided to make the best of it. Blinds check to me. I bet around half the pot. Cider thinks a moment and minraises. The blinds fold. Now I tank. He could have nuts, a draw, or air. Any of those are reasonable. Though we are both big stacks, I realize I have only two choices. Fold or Jam. I decide to jam. He instacalls with pocket queens and I don't improve. IGHN around 30th. He goes on to win. I go up to Karoke for a few minutes. Hear Un's song and then head over to the Grand. David Low was kind enough to gift me a two night comped stay at the Grand for Friday/Saturday. I offered it to Bayes since I was germing up our room at the California, but he declined. His loss. The room at the Grand was pretty fancy. Much nicer than at the Cal. I had more TV Channnel choices too, so I watched a censored version of Zack and Miri on Comedy Central and went to bed.
Saturday. I've got Lauria and Juliano on my right and Joe Long, Bree, Kevan Garrett, ADB Bigboy, and Kevan's mom on my left. I accumulate some chips pretty easily and help get Lauria down to his last 5k. But then Juiliano doubles him up a couple of different times and before long, Lauria is biggest stack at our table. On the last hand before the break, I end up with AhTx. I raise Kevan's Mom's limp from UTG. Kevan and Bigboy both call from the blinds, but she folds. The flop comes Qh Jh 5x. Kevan shoves for t15k into the 5k pot. Bigboy folds. I tank. I eventually call and Kevan only has 8h9h. He makes a pair on the turn and rivers the flush. After the break, the table breaks and I get moved to the Champions table. But Heldar is already gone, so there are only three remaining past champions to deal with (Rich, Russ, and Howler). Kevan is also moved to the table. I manage to bust him and get my chips back when I made a set. Then I get into a hand...I minraise with 7s8s. Rich flats from the button. John Grout calls from the SB and the BB calls. The flop comes with Ks Js x. John fires out. BB folds. I call, Rich folds (DAMMIT). The turn is a blank. John fires again, I call. River is a blank. John fires again. I tank. I cut enough chips out to put him all in if I bet. I think. My spidey sense is telling me I HAVE to bet big here, but my brain is saying "You dolt, you have 8 high. It's a pure bluff, it'll never work!" I stare deep in to John's soul and I see a man who is ready to call me. I fold what has become quite a massive pot. He promises to tell me what he had later. I get moved to another table. I don't recall much at this table as I wasn't there for very long. Dan G. was on my right and trying to get a price quote from me on eating a 1/4in collection of chip smegma from the blue chips. I get AK and coinflip with Monte. He is about half my stack. He wins the coinflip with 77 or something like that. A hand or two later, I get 88. He and I coinflip again and he wins again, this time with AQ and IGHN. Later, at the banquet, I corner John Grout. He tells me what he had and said he was terrified I was going to bet because he would have to fold. DAMMIT.
I play some cash HORSE with Bob J. and Bad Mav and a few other characters. I dust off a $200 buyin. Oh well. I go to the banquet and have a good time. I went for the Salmon this year figuring it will be overcooked, but still edible. I was right, but only because it was doused in sauce. Next year, I have a plan to get the Prime Rib, but I'm going to bribe the waitress to bring me a good one. The speaker was good. The hippy dippy vibrations thing was weird, but I enjoyed his stories and respect his intelligence. I had fun playing dealer's choice with the donkey's afterwards. I kept hearing that Andi was going deep, but I didn't figure him to last much longer so I didn't stop playing. Then I heard it was 3 handed. I thought..."I'll finish this hand of Oklahoma and go watch him". By the time the hand ended, Andi was already the winner. YAY! I bring good virgin's folks. The trick is getting them to return. Maybe since Andi won, he will come back next year?
I moved to Lowball after that and played for a little while before tiredness caught up to me. I called it a night around midnight and went to bed. The next day, I packed up, checked out, got a players club at the Grand and dusted off $100 playing slots because I'm an idiot. Then I got my stuff from the California room and caught a ride with David Lawful to the Goldman afterparty. Andi never showed up at the after party. Why? Because he was too busy final tabling ANOTHER GODDAMN TOURNAMENT on the strip. I closed the Goldman party down and Rodney was kind enough to drop me off at the airport around 1am. Turns out the airport actually closes. So I sat in a wheelchair for a few hours with a couple other early flight people and hungout until everything opened up. Breezed through security. Opted for the pat down instead of nudie scanner. I think I was the first pat down of the day. Boarded the flight, but and used the last drink ticket. Landed in Chicago on time, found the wife and kid at the gate for the next flight. Hmmm...ears wouldn't pop. I was like 80% deaf. The second flight helped the ears pop, but when we landed again, I still couldn't pop the left ear. Fetched the car, loaded the luggage and wife and kid and headed home for the 1.5 hour trip back. Hmmm...needed gas, so stopped at a fancy gas station. We decided to get road treats. I saw that they had a little cafe in the gas station. Said cafe offered Bacon milkshakes for a limited time. BACON MILKSHAKES! I had one of course. It wasn't disgusting but it wasn't all that tasty either. I wouldn't get it again. They should have used real bacon instead of bacon bits.
So...while I wish I could have filled my trip report with bawdy tails of drunken escapades, orgies, and tournament wins, alas the week was mostly a dude due to illness. It was still a great BARGE. I hope everyone had fun, I made the best of it and never got bummed out. Today, I went to the doctor because though I feel fine, I have a lingering cough that won't go away.
I told him a shortened version of the above and he looked at my chart and says "Yeah, I can tell you didn't have any fun in Vegas. You lost 3lbs since your visit a couple of weeks ago." At least he gave me a prescription for the good stuff, Codeine Cough syrup. That means it is lights out for me as soon as I post this!
If I missed any good stories, please fill them in on the comments below. I didn't take notes...
-R