Ka-Ching

You wake up on a morning in September and realize something is different. Something about the way the sun’s rays slant differently through the window. And then you know—even though southern California temperatures are still hitting the 90’s—you know.

Damn, it’s Fall.

Still…Fall can be beautiful—even in southern California—more precisely, it can inspire…you guessed it…another ROAD TRIP. This time up the coast to Santa Ynez where my faithful blogreaders will remember (come on, everybody—let’s hear it) yes! There's an Indian casino. Pardon me, a Native American casino?? Anyway…so yesterday, my partners in crime (you know them as Marty and Ann) loaded me up in the car and off we went. Our route took us along Pacific Coast Highway through Ventura up to Santa Barbara where we cut inland along the San Marcos Pass. I don’t know why, but lots of people freak out as they drive over this bridge. They’d REALLY freak out if they could see it from afar.

Once at Chumash, Ann and I gravitated toward the penny and nickel machines (yes, we’re SUCH high rollers). At one point, I was playing a penny slot called KABOOM--in honor of Ann’s recent performance in Rosarito--and won a jackpot worth 6100 2 cent credits...which...after much mental calculation (and cashing out) turned out to be $122. Cool!

Eventually, we moseyed into the “high limit” area. (Notice the interesting dichotomy here--Ann and I go from pennies to $5 without blinking an eye). Long story short…won a couple of jackpots together and in the end, managed a net gain of about $270 a piece for the day, so we were happy campers.

On our return home, we retraced the route through San Marcos Pass—and would have made good time if we hadn’t run into a sobriety checkpoint! Chumash doesn’t even have a bar (and no, the sound of bottles clinking in Ann’s oversized purse were NOT mini-sized wine bottles—so don’t think that they were) and Marty doesn’t drink while he gambles, so the checkpoint didn’t give us pause, but geez. It sure added time to our drive—and caused me to miss Amazing Race (sob).

But wait. $270? Small price to pay for missing a dumb reality show, huh? And a great way to spend a perfect Fall day.