3rd-4th June: Days 56 & 57
At some point over the previous 3-4 days our water heater stopped working. This is more of an irritation than a major disaster but there was no easy ‘Hampson Fix’ by reading the manuals. All the RV service centres are booked weeks in advance at this time of year so we arranged a mobile mechanic to come out to us at our next big town, Bismarck in North Dakota. This left us with a day in hand which we decided to fill by knocking another item off The List. A night’s stay in an Indian reservation casino resort hotel, one of which happened to be on the way from Lemmon to Bismarck.
A walk-around king sized bed, a bath, full wifi, 700 pokie machines…what more could a girl ask for?? We were definitely ready for our next night on dry land, so to speak.
For those who may not be aware of the broad concept of Indian reservation casino resorts they are situated on tribal land, owned and run by the tribe with seemingly a different set of rules than normal state or federal ones. To describe this one (for the kiwis): think a chimera of Sky City (minus the tower) and a 4 star hotel in the middle of nowhere on the west coast of Northland or the East Cape. A bit incongruous.
We rocked up and happily secured a room without having made a reservation. Next small hurdle, how to get into the Tin Can without being plugged into power. The camper has 2 ‘slides’ which push out with motors to increase the living space when we are stopped. We can’t actually get inside when they are pulled in and we needed to pack overnight bags. The solution was to start the LPG generator in the casino carpark, fairly destroying the peace and quiet for 10 minutes or so, whilst enjoying a car picnic. Problem solved and overnight bags packed, (for overnight bags read reusable supermarket shopping bags-all class, Hampsons, all class.) We installed ourselves in our room and spent all afternoon watching movies on the massive high def TV. I had a long blissful bath and dressed a teensy bit smarter than usual, we ‘hit the floor’.
The main room was full of slot/pokie machines and marinated in a haze of cigarette smoke. The bar was seemingly overstaffed but it still strangely took 20 mins to get our first drinks which were served in disposable plastic cups and we had to wait 2 hours before there was availability in the ‘fine dining restaurant’ (as opposed to the ‘all you can eat buffet restaurant’). But having said that we had a fun evening. We broke even on the slot machines and had some of the best steaks we have ever had. The best bit, however, was the opportunity to observe a particular group of people in their very skewed natural environment… A woman on a portable oxygen supply, with her credit card plugged into a machine, smoking… There was a lot of money being spent. At one point a lady on the machine next to us won a jackpot of several thousand dollars. After the excitement of the win died down it transpired that she was still significantly down overall on the evening.
The next morning we emerged back into the daylight of the real world and headed the short distance up to Bismarck.
I’ve been remiss!!… and missed some posts while the ink dried. Good stuff. I especially liked the bit about discharging the loo 😜 Reminiscent of my boating years 😄
I’ve been remiss!!… and missed some posts while the ink dried. Good stuff. I especially liked the bit about discharging the loo 😜 Reminiscent of my boating years 😄