Visitreno

CaSwede · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 866

There has been little activity here in the trip report section, so here is a short report on a quick trip to Reno.

I checked my calendar at home and decided with a break in the heavy snow storms that I could pull off a short Reno trip. I called the Peppermill late morning to see if I could come up today and they set me up.

I drove over I-80 and wow- the amount of snow was huge. It was a beautiful drive, but my truck did not look so beautiful with driving through the dirty slush.

My first stop is always Gold Ranch for their $3.99 breakfast- 2 pancakes, two eggs and two pork sausage. Great as always. I fueled back up and back on I-80 to Boomtown. I spent about 2.5 hours there. The place was very quiet, but is was a weekday. I had $20 in free play and $40 in match plays which I used. I told the dealer I was going to play 4 games only as I had 4 $10 match play coupons. I won two games and netted $20 on the match play deal. I broke even on the video poker, so not a bad play at all.

It was cold in Reno with some snow on the ground, so I just drove over to the Peppermill and got my room. It was getting late and I just did not feel like being out in the cold. I played a little and never did have any dinner as the late breakfast seemed to be enough to get me through the day.

I retired early and found the room to be rather cold and I could not seem to get the heater to work, but went to bed anyway. I kept waking up cold, but went back to sleep. Well, about 3 AM I woke up really cold and the room was getting colder. With the outside temperature of 17 degrees, I could see that the room would get even colder, so I called down to the front desk and asked to get another room. She said they would send engineering up and within 10 minutes the guy came to check the heater. He messed around and got the heater to work. It seems the heater valve had been turned off, so I was good to go. Well, the sleeping for the night was shot as I got back to bed at 3:45 AM and could not sleep. I finally got up at 5 AM and went down to play in the casino. I felt terrible due to lack of sleep.

I was able to come back up to a warm room and got about an hour of sleep, but I was all out of wack for the entire day. Nothing much more to report, other than an entire day of playing in the casino. I started out slow and had some good luck to recover my losses. I ended up down about $150 to $200, so that is acceptable. I had a great time, despite the heating issue.

When I left for home the temperature in Reno was in the 20's and I do not think the outside temperature ever got above freezing. I had an easy and pretty drive over Donner Pass and got home in the early afternoon. It is about a 4 hour drive for me.

BC Dave · Site Admin Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 1599

Sounds like a nice quick break to to fantasy-land. Except for the cold - both inside and out. Wish it were a 4 hour drive for us too!

JD · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 956

9 hour drive for me...in the Summer. I've been getting some great offers from Boomtown recently . First, they are good for three nights, weekends included, and some great food comps. A vaguely recall dropping quite a bundle at the Guitar Bar last trip. Oh... great food comps too. But that can be a looong 7 miles after all day in downtown. I get nothing from Peppermill anymore. Must have been some wicked storms recently. The Virginia City newspaper had some radical pics. Next trip.... Maybe March for the Teste Fest,

remano · Joined: 20 Dec 2005 Posts: 717

Sounds like a pretty entertaining quick trip (except for the cold room) and you got lucky with the travel conditions. Lots of road closings for the snow storms, and after that the rain, snow and tire chains left the highway pitted with potholes. All of last week the highway department had westbound I-80 closed down to one lane for pothole repair basically from the west edge of Reno to the border, and as a result the traffic was stop and go, bumper to bumper for miles. They opened it up for the weekend but have signs out notifying drivers that the repairs and resulting traffic jam will resume Monday. But you made it and had a good time. Thanks for the report.

CaSwede · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 866

JD- I also had some additional great offers from Boomtown including 3 free night, some nice food comps and a car wash which I could have used. However, with a return trip over dirty slush there was no use. I should have used the fuel discount, but I had just fueled up at the Gold Ranch.

Remano- I did get caught up in the traffic delay for "emergency pot hole repairs". It was one lane from Boomtown to the Gold Ranch. However, it was not bad as we traveled about 50 mph through that zone and then good to go. This section gets bad during the commute home for some. I have a cousin that works in Reno, but lives in Truckee and she gets caught in the delay that you mention.

BC Dave My record time is 3.5 hours, but it is always a wild card with Sacramento traffic and road repairs in the mountains.

JD · Joined: 18 Dec 2005 Posts: 956

I used the fuel discount....not like it really mattered. Boomtown offers include a 15 cent/gallon discount....But that Chevron is about $ 2.89 ...+ 30 cents than most stations in Reno ($ 2,60- $ 2.65) and 60 Cents more than Carson City ($ 2.25). And I drive a rig that takes 32 gallons when dry. But their car wash can take my 15 passenger, long wheel base van.

SeahawkSiren · Joined: 14 Sep 2015 Posts: 137

Nice report there Swede! 40 hours in Reno is better than zero hours! I have a trip to Reno here in about a month. I hope to see some snow on the ground when I get to Reno. But since I will be flying down that is certainly a lot less stressful than trying to drive in the white stuff!

Glad you were able to recover some of your losses. And glad they got the heater working in your room!

CaSwede · Joined: 28 Feb 2006 Posts: 866

JD my gas offer was like yours for 15 cent /gallon discount, but also a 50 cent discount after 150 points. I had scored over 100 points before I left and could have easily done the 150 points. They also offer $1 off per gallon(now we are talking) with 300 points. However, in the fine print it states "Maximum 10 gallons". With your gas guzzler of 32 gallons and my huge tank of 36 gallons, the fuel gauge will barely move with 10 gallons.

Under the old owners, I used to get 10 free gallons and I used that one a lot of times. They also used to have much better video poker, but that is a story for another time.

SeahawkSiren- Good luck on your upcoming trip in a month. Who knows what the weather will be for you, but who cares in a warm casino?

stan_allen · Joined: 19 Dec 2005 Posts: 1129

Good stuff; thanks for sharing! Fighting that post-storm drive from Sacramento is not for the faint of heart, and you are clearly undaunted by such - of course, having a big truck probably helps!

alison · Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 1152

Thanks for the report. Your room at the Pep sounds just the opposite of ours this past trip. Its was so fricking hot in there..SUCKED!! The casino was even hot which was unusual. Im jelous you are so close to reno. I would be there all the time if it was just 4 hours. Currently planning the next trip for mid june.. Will be a bit different as we may not stay at the Pep at all. EEK!