Hi everyone -

This is the "Steve's Spot" forum - a place for stories, opinions, and wild ramblings about casino gambling in Colorado.

Thanks for tuning in...

Our gaming destinations in this state are in rather curious locations. Like about 30 miles STRAIGHT UP ! That makes for some intersting transportation challenges. Throw in some weird weather and high gas prices and suddenly many folks aren't going as often as they'd like.

Enter the casino bus.

What a deal. $15 round trip, totally reimbursed by a casino after a certain amount of gambling. The "amount" varies - everywhere from 40 points (Fortune Valley) to 100 points (Century) - but a good deal regardless just for the ride.

And a beautiful ride it is. The Clear Creek Canyon is fabulous. Towering mountains, the crystal clear creek roaring along side you, wildlife everywhere. Even nutso rock climbers trying to break their neck and good-ol-boy fly fisherman coaxing a trophy rainbow trout out of pool. Makes even the long-time local appreciate what we have.

You lose a little in flexibility time -wise, but what you gain in relaxation is worth it from my perspective. And there's some serious entertainment value INSIDE the bus as well - more on that in my next post...

Try it foilks!

So - on to the story of my most recent casino bus trip...

I climb aboard at Alameda and Harlan at 11:30 AM. Fortune Valley coupons in hand. The bus is full.

And hot. Cool outside, but cooking inside, especially in the back where I was. A long tall Texan sits down next to me. Now I don't mind folks from Texas, especially if they're here to spend money and go home. This guy was from "LOUD MOUTH" Texas, you know, just south of "OBNOXIOUSVILLE".

Anyway, there was a couple of other folks in the back who had started on their "adult beverages" right after breakfast. There was also a woman who hadn't missed too many meals lately taking up two seats across from me.

So - they start yelling at the driver from way in the back to "turn on the a/c". "We're dying back here". The two toasty ones stumble all the way up for a face-to-face with the driver. The Texan is hootin and hollerin. The chubby one says she's going to be sick. It's getting amusing.

Well, there's a point on the trip where the bus usually goes straight through on 6th ave on the way into Golden. We take a left. Hmmmm.

Up the hill we go to the Heritage Square bus stop. I figure we're going in for repairs or maybe drop off a couple of employees.
We pull in and the driver, a petite young lady with a headache, tosses the malcontents right off the bus! Gone. Catch the next bus in 1/2 hour. See ya.

They leave. The driver announces "anybody else have a problem with the bus or my driving???" Not a peep. Away we go.

But it ain't over yet. Check back tomorrow.

Hillarious. Can't wait to hear the rest...

Now for the rest of the story...

We take a left out of the Heratige Square parking lot and before the bus gets into second gear.... the a/c comes on. Everyone has to smile. Things cool off on all fronts.

We carry on through Golden - I'm thinking the thrills are over. Not so fast buck-o. As we approach the turn into Clear Creek Canyon, we suddenly pull over to the right shoulder and stop. Now what, me wonders...

I look out the front windows and I see it. Colorado State Patrol has closed the canyon ! Cop cars block the way. We start moving - the bus driver has decided to PULL A U-TURN across 4 lanes of traffic on 6th Avenue. This oughta be good...

We actually get 1/2 way through the U-turn, (I had a flash of ending up in the ditch on the other side cause we weren't going to make it by my quick calculations) and the brakes slam on. We sit there, blocking traffic for what seemed like 5 minutes, and I started to calculate how long it would take me to walk back to Lakewood. ..

Low and behold - we turn back towards the canyon ! The road is OPEN ! State Patrol is packing up their little orange cones! We actually head on up...

About 2/3 of the way up, we slow for some traffic. The downhill lane is closed. A tow truck is winching a car out of the creek and it clears the edge as we pass by. Totalled. Something you can avoid by just taking the good 'ol casino bus - almost as entertaining as the casino itself.

That's the end. The trip took an hour and a half - about twice what is normal - but we all made it to our casino of choice.

About 10:30 that evening I caught the Alameda and Harlan bus outside Fortune Valley right on time. As I walked up the bus stairs I looked at the driver - it was the girl with the headache from my earlier trip.

I didn't say a word.