Plummet to Death Opportunity Number 27

Day 4 - Part 4

Fortunately, it was time for the High Roller. I went and got the Poon Stang and picked the guys up outside the California. Tron is 6'9" so he got dibs on the front seat. There is no legroom - none - in the back of a Poon Stang. So poor Dr. Raoul had to compress his tibias down to about 1" by flattening them with a tire iron and the drag himself into the back. I don't think either of them could breath, so I made haste!

I parked efficiently at Harrah's congratulating myself at my parking prowess (another Poon Stang only spot - what are the odds?). I'll cut the the chase and say that this ensured a 28 minute walk to the High Roller, and that I should have parked at the Dinq. I could have even parked at the High Roller. Sue me, it was my first time.

We readily found Funk, walked the 28 minutes, got our tickets sorted, and got ready to board. It was great, we breezed right through the whole process.

High Roller Sheilas.

They take safety very seriously at the High Roller. You could actually plummet to your death in all sorts of imagined scenarios.

Safety Sheila named Manjula.

The High Roller takes you, in a surprisingly large pod, a full 10,000 feet into the stratosphere, so high that you can't actually see anything much on the ground anymore, except for a bunch of out of focus lights.

When you get into your pod, you could plummet to your death, except for the Safety Sheilas.

Funk tried to get us into a pod that didn't include 3 or 4 screaming toddlers, but it was not to be - they were our close, screaming companions for the next hour.

Dr. Raoul almost wasn't allowed to get on board - they had a sign saying "Your tibia (that bone in your leg) must be at least two inches wide to ride" and his tibias were flattened pretty close to the limit from what we did to him to be able to fit in the back of the Poon Stang on the ride over. But we managed to sweet talk the Safety Sheila and get him into the Pod.

The pods have great expanses of curvy, thick plexiglass that garner a ton of reflections - so if you want to take decent pictures, you have to really be careful and pay attention. As you can see...

Plummet to Death opportunity #27.

I like to get candid photos of people so I yelled at Dr. Raoul, "THE POD IS FALLING, THE POD IS FALLING!!!" - which it was, albeit at 3 feet per second.

"GUYS - THE POD IS FALLING!!!"

"Just fuckin' with ya."

That's Gambletron on the left, Dr. Raoul Shiboubou on the right.

I took a whackload of pictures from the Pod, some of them pretty decent, and I'll put them up on Royal Flusher World 'real soon now'. Don't worry, you'll see the link. You, see I Jimmy Poon excels at repetitive self  promotion, if nothing else.

When it was time to get off, you kind of have to step from the pod to the platform - and the union of the two isn't level. And, I actually almost plummeted to my death getting off - there was quite a lurch as I stepped from the moving pod to the platform - with a yawning chasm of doom beneath my feet.

But, as the existence of this post indicates, I did survive. And, there is netting down there. But then, doesn't the existence of the netting sort of indicate a high propensity for people to plummet to their netty deaths down there?

Lawyers are standing by!

They have the stupid 'pose for a photo before the ride' thing. This is where the Photo Sheila's sell you your own image for big bucks. Fuck that.

Printing my own of this sweet family shot! Lookin' good, kids!

Once again, I owed Funkhouser big time for sharing his comps. We probably would never have gotten the opportunity to do the High Roller otherwise, and certainly, we would not have pulled off the massive Pod 'Dutch Oven' that we did on those 3 or 4 toddlers. 'Pull my finger' really works with that crowd.

This is so real it hurts.

We spent 20 or 30 minutes walking back to Harrah's, through O'Shea's - where I spotted an opportunity.

Is there any chance this is still there in O'Sheas?

And then we spent 20 or 30 minutes cramming ourselves into the Poon Stang and headed back downtown. I really dodged a bullet because Dr. Raoul had rented a convertible Poon Stang, which is a whole nother level of poon cooler than my hardtop, and had plans to do about a 5 hour jaunt to the Hoover Dam, Laughlin, and the like.

And the plan was that I'd ride along in the back seat.

I politely made a change of plans - I value my tibia. And the other tibia too.

Back downtown we said 'so long' and I headed back to the Nugget. But I was unable to resist the siren song of the casino. "Gam-bllllle..." it said. "Gam-bllllle..."

I played some single quarter Caveman Keno (oh the humanity) and waited for the band to start at the Rush Lounge. Start they did, so I played the machines right outside, quarter Bonus Poker.

Before long, I was even on the day. I'd blown my lead. But dammit, I was in Vegas to live on the edge!!!! So I risked an additional $20 and lost it too, thus snatching defeat out of the jaws of victory and posting another losing day.

I didn't really mind. I'd had a great, fun, day of it, thanks to Funkhouser, Dr. Raoul, and Gambletron. And the four toddlers and their parents, who should be regaining consciousness about now.

Day: -$20
Trip: -$210
Bankroll Left: $790

Check out the full High Roller Pictorial on Royal Flusher World.

---

Special shout-out to SideTrackTap - thanks again for your support! One of these is winging it's way to you. It is guaranteed to bring you luck. (No guarantee on which kind of luck.)

---

The $1K Scrounge Trip - June 2016: All Posts

Planning the $1K Scrounge Trip - June 2016

---

We like Ike! We click Like!