It’s ‘Blogger’s Eve’. I wish I was out pillaging and screaming with the rest of the crew, taking Vegas by storm, but this kid’s butt is dragging. Long day and it started early. I had to go across the world to Camping World – way early – and leave my truck for the fifth wheel hitch installation and then across a continent or two to Wheeler RV where I finalized the deal on my fifth wheel. When Darian and me, include Riot, pulled up at the office, my fifth wheel was sitting out in the ‘walk through’ parking, waiting for me to drive it away, and it is HUGE! For some reason, sitting in amongst the other fifth wheels and motor homes, it looked sort of…well…sort of…quite not so big. But when I’m pulling up next to it in a truck…Kee-rist!

The whole process at Wheeler took much longer than I would have liked, especially since I’d had very little sleep, and Riot was engaged in being what his name implies…a real riot. He was racing everywhere as soon as we let go of him, running into private offices, screaming, “Puppy!” when he saw a cat, and yelling, “Bye-bye!” as he waved to everyone and went past them on a dead run…intermingled with a, “Hi,” now and then. Damn it! He’s so cute and so much fun. I really enjoyed every second of him and felt that he was pretty well behaved for a 20-month-old kid with an attention span that lasts as long as it takes for his eye to light on the next object.

Finally the papers were signed, my fifth wheel went back to the hold lot, it is going to get a special coat of Xzilon…hell yes I’m paying for it…and I will do the ‘walk through’ next Saturday and drive – it – off – the – lot. *Swallowing hard* Damn – it’s big. But then so is my truck. That’s a helluva lot of big.

And then it was back across the continents to Camping World where I ordered a generator and a w/d for the fifth wheel, picked up my truck, and headed back across the world for home. Too much ‘doin’s’ in one day for this kid. I was dragging.

*****

Here’s what I’m missing right now – NOT!

Oh yes, the scenery is beautiful, the setting so serene, but when winter rolls in it gets downright damn mean. Although this picture is taken by Flathead Lake (my MT buddette, Boly, furnished it – taken a few days ago), most of MT is colder than a well digger’s ass at the North Pole – freaking cold. My sis, the Ickster AKA Vickie, lives about 80 miles S. of Flathead Lake, in Missoula. Vickie told me – by phone – that it was -14 when she got up today. And last week it snowed six inches one night and was expected to snow six more the following day – with wind. No thank you! I’m freezing my ‘tee-tees’ off here when it hits 45.

But back to Blogger’s Eve. The tournament cranks off tomorrow at the IP – noon. Meet and greet happens around 9:30ish. From my angle, I’ve called in Michael Craig – The Banker, The Lawyer, and The Suicide King – he is a featured speaker and is going to play in the tournament also. BTW – he says he is a ‘donator’…isn’t that what they all say as they take your chips?

I asked Ron Rose to show – he did last year – and he responded that he’s going to be in LA. But he would if he could and I appreciate his efforts.

I asked Daniel Negreanu to come – he can’t make it – some filming thing going on that particular day but he sent me to his assistant, Travis, for some gifts for the Bloggers. After numerous phone calls, Travis and me hooked up for a few minutes tonight at a gas station on Lake Mead and Rampart…might have looked like a classic drug deal. I pull up, jump out of my truck, he jumps out of his car, ‘hi’ – ‘how ya doing’ – gifts exchanged, jump back in the rig and fly…all under three minutes.

These are the kewl gifts:

I think the signed picture should go to the BUBBLE. It’s such a drag to get so far and receive ‘zip’. I’m going to push for it.

And why not give the poker chip set to the first person out? I know…I know…the Gigly. Since I made the effort to land these kewl prizes…let me do the distribution…please! But no one will even be reading this before blast off tomorrow a.m. so it doesn’t matter anyway.

And I also sent an email to Barry Greenstein a few days ago. Asking him to attend our ‘meet and greet’. I found him at the poker table on Thursday night and asked him if he got my email. He said he did. That he hadn’t responded because he plays poker late night. If his timing permits, he will definitely be there. I told him he didn’t have to speak. He said if he made it, he definitely wanted to. He felt the bloggers had been very good to him every since the Charlie Tuttle experience. I thanked him much for his time and left with my heart singing that he would try to make it. Yippee!

I love this picture of Charlie; it was taken at my home, during the March Clan Jam.

Charlie won the tournament at my house. I was so happy for him then because he was so damn happy. When I found out later that Charlie was seriously ill, I was even happier that he’d won it.

So tomorrow, the day of bragging rights for the top poker playing bloggers is about to happen. I’m not much of a bragger but I’d sure as hell like to win.