Jackpot

My family drove from Stockton, CA to Yellowstone National Park one summer, and we spent the night here at Cactus Pete’s Hotel and Casino. It was an alright place to spend the night, and they had a nice buffet. I was under 21 so I couldn’t tell you anything about the casino.

I donated $20.

One summer a friend and I drove from Seattle to Minneapolis. We took a lot of detours along the way and spent a lot of time (for some reason) in Idaho. Anyhow, we drove to Jackpot from southern Idaho based on the recommendations of my friend’s cousin. As we made our way into the desert, our minds ran wild with images of a mini Vegas like oasis. Finally, we crossed the state line and within a short while we came up over a hill that overlooked the trailer park that is Jackpot.

Undaunted we decided to give it a chance. That’s when we made our next mistake. We decided to skip the only two high rise hotels on the “strip” and pulled into a roadside motel. As my friend went into the lobby to check us in, I became a little worried after a rough looking local decided he wanted a closer look at the contents of our jeep (even with me in it).

Still, we were tired (after days on the road) so we made our way to our room and settled in. As I lay upon my musty mattress, I decided our dingy room could use some sunlight, so I opened our drapes. That’s when we noticed that everyone walking passed our room would peer in at us. Worse yet, this motel, with the exception of us, only seemed to have male guests…and they all seemed to be living at the motel instead of just visiting.

Feeling a little bit like we might not make it through the night without being devoured by locals (or robbed and raped at gunpoint), we decided to check out and head back into Idaho. We did however, close the drapes and take showers before checking out…afterall we had already paid for the room.