My Story

As I said before, I used to live in Las Vegas, or at least it seems like I did.
Between April of 1996 and April of 1999, I made 30 trips from my home in Huntsville, Alabama to Las Vegas. That averages out to a trip to Vegas about every five weeks. Over half of those trips were two weeks long, and the others were a week long, so I actually spent close to a year in Las Vegas during my three-years of traveling. So now you see why I say I used to live in Las Vegas.

You may wonder what an innocent Alabama born and bred young man was doing
going to Vegas so much. Well, it was my job, and that's about all I can say about that. And as far as places to have to travel on business go, you can do a lot worse than Vegas. Any time, any day, you always have a place you can go, and it doesn't have to cost you a cent. There are a lot of shows there you have to pay for, and there are a lot that are completely free.

Of course, my perspective on life in Vegas is completely different than the average "vacationer" or the true resident who makes his home there. I knew I was going to be there, off-and-on, for a pretty long time, but I also knew that I had a real place to come home to. The vacationer goes there with the intent to have fun and spend money (and maybe to win some!), but he knows that he will soon go home. So he is there to cram as much fun and excitement into a short time as he can. Who knows when you'll get the chance to go to Vegas again!

On the other hand, the Las Vegas resident, if he has his head screwed on      straight, lives there normally, just like anybody else in any other town. He has a job to go to, he has a mortgage or rent to pay, he has a family to take care of. He is just like us. The Strip and the slots and the Showgirls are as far away from his daily life as they are for us who don't live in "Sin City." (But there are the tell-tale signs. What other place in America has banks of slot machines in the grocery stores!).

My situation was rare, if not unique, among those who happened to be in Vegas at any particular time. I didn't really live there, but I was there an awful lot, and I knew    that when I went back to my true home, it wouldn't be long before I was flying       back to Vegas again. So I felt like I could take Vegas for granted, I would always be there again in just a couple of weeks. And I was there so much that I knew my way around town, I knew where all the major neighborhoods and entertainment areas were. I got in the car and just drove to where I wanted to go without thinking about how to get there, just like you just seem to go on automatic pilot when you're driving around your home town.

So, like I said before, it seemed like I lived in Vegas.   But who else who lives in Vegas lives in a different hotel room every few weeks and is given $38 to go out to eat (or gamble or whatever) with every day? It was a fairly bizarre existence! Many   times I found myself sitting at a bank of video poker machines with a local     (resident) on my left and a tourist on my right. The local was there either just out        for a little fun or desperately trying to make a hit to offset previous losses, while the tourist was there to lose a little vacation money or get a lucky hit.

Me? I was there to pass a little time instead of sitting in a hotel room watching TV. I wasn't spending my own money, and sometimes I won, so I was always ahead. No other gambler can always make that claim!

Well, now I'm back at home for the time being. What was it like being gone so much? It was pretty strange. I felt bad because I missed my wife and kids, and it was a great hardship on my wife to take care of all the things for the family that normally two people share in. My wife and I have an equal partnership in this family, and when one of us is gone, it is very hard on the other. I can never thank her        enough for all the support she gave me while I was gone.

However, it was also fun. Sure, I have to admit it. I was there to work, but it was not really like being at work. I did work long hours (about 11 per work day) and did what had to be done, but there was not the regular office grind to put up with, and it's nice to be on your own and be able to go out in the evenings whenever or wherever you want to. It was really like a temporary lifting of all the normal responsibilities I have to assume at home and work.

So in that way, it really was a sort of fantasy life. Free money, free time, free hotel, free rental car. And plenty of free entertainment. If you don't gamble a dime in Vegas, you still get to enjoy many of the wonderful and amazing things there are to see and do there. And since I am basically a very cheap person, and my main vice is video poker (and nickels if I can find a decent payoff table), I know where to       find the cheap entertainment. So visit my other pages, and I will try to show you what Vegas was like for me. Your experience may vary!