Jackpot, Nevada: As promised, we’re headed west. After getting our furnace fixed (we hope) in Idaho, we drove across the southeastern part of ID into the teeth of a stiff headwind and are now a few hundred yards inside northern Nevada.
You might like the speed limits on ID interstates - 80 for cars, pickups, RVs and the like, 70 for big trucks. The elevation here is a good 1000 ft. lower than at our WY place, and it is correspondingly much warmer. Autumn which was well-advanced in WY has hardly begun here.
The tiny berg of Jackpot came about to provide the farmers of southern ID and eastern WY a place to enjoy what were once NV’s unique pleasures. The spread of Indian casinos has taken some of the shine off NV’s monopoly on sinful pastimes.
Farther south at Wells, on I-80, there are still two active houses of prostitution - quite legal, NV has county option - and it’s likely most towns along I-80 have one or more open, advertised brothels. Reno is the exception as its county has outlawed them. If there’s one in Jackpot I’ve not seen it, perhaps it has atypically chosen subtlety.
Bars in NV can stay open 24/7, and do so if they have enough wee hours custom to make it pay. There is a Jackpot-style cluster of casinos, motels, and ancillary businesses on every highway of any consequence leaving NV, just inside the stateline. It’s a fine old NV tradition.
Folks from WY and ID still come here to try their luck, eat a restaurant meal, maybe watch a live performance, and get away from the everyday humdrum. We come here because it is on the best route between our WY home and CA vacation property, it’s a reasonable distance from WY, and has both a nice RV park and a decent restaurant. We rarely gamble.
