March 2012: Along for the ride … and what a ride it was!

Wonderful things usually happen to me when I’m in Willie’s orbit. This was once again confirmed by a recent trip to Reno, Nevada.

I’d planned the trip in early January. Willie was playing two shows back-to-back over a long weekend, and a friend from Oregon had suggested that we meet in Reno for the occasion. 

I was the first one in our group to arrive on Thursday afternoon. My friends were still en route by car from Oregon, and Willie & Family would not be arriving until late the next morning because they were playing a show in California that night. 

I took a shuttle bus from the airport to the Horseshoe Casino hotel, checked into my room on the 24^th floor, and relished in the unobstructed, spectacular, breathtaking view of the Sierra Mountains.

After everyone else had arrived, the fun started. Our rooms and food had been comp’ed, courtesy of Willie, and we enjoyed lavish breakfast buffets and meals. We hit the casinos and Lana tried to introduce me to smart gambling. Unfortunately, I proved to be a slow learner.

We took a trip to Virginia City, visited the Bucket of Blood saloon, marveled at the Suicide Table in one of the casinos, and got swept up in the whole Western atmosphere.

The two days passed by much too quickly and then it was time to go home again. I had a flight out of Reno at 6 am on Sunday morning, with a plane change and four-hour layover in Denver.

Willie & Family were leaving after the Saturday night show, and my friend and her husband were driving back after breakfast. Being the first one to leave, I had set my alarm for 4 am so I could make my 6 am flight.

At o-dark-thirty, I stumbled into the lobby, dragging my suitcase behind me, and checked out at the front desk.

“You’re good to go – everything has been taken care of,” the friendly desk clerk said, looking at my reservation. Because Willie’s management office had made the reservation, it said “VIP” on the ticket.

“How are you getting to the airport?” she asked. 

I knew that the morning shuttles didn’t start running until 5:15 am.

“I figured I’d take a cab,” I replied.

She looked up.

“Let me see if I can find someone who could give you a lift,” she said.

I thought that was rather nice of her. I wouldn’t have minded paying for a cab for the 15-minute ride to the airport, but if they had a hotel van to take me, then that would be even better and I’d give the driver a good tip.

Soon after, a jolly older gentleman appeared, grabbed my suitcase, and motioned me to follow him outside.

I did, and got the surprise of my life. What waited in front of the hotel was not the van I had expected. It was a massive, shining black Hummer stretch limo!

I was so speechless and overwhelmed that I headed straight to the other side of the limo and climbed into the front passenger seat next to the driver. 

“Don’t you want to sit in the back?” the driver asked, after he’d stowed my suitcase in the trunk.

“I wouldn’t know what to do with myself back there,” I stammered. And then we had an animated conversation all the short way to the airport, about the weather in Reno, how he’d ended up there from Ohio, and how the weather in Reno influences the gardening choices.

“What airline?” he asked.

“United.”

It wasn’t until he’d pulled up to the curb in front of the United counter, unloaded my luggage, and thanked me for the bill I’d pressed into his hand that it dawned on me.

The massive black HUMMER limo that had just taken me to the airport was leaving – and yet, I had no idea what it looked like inside. 

That’s because I didn’t even take a look in the back. I didn’t take any pictures of the limo, inside or out. I had no pictures to show to friends, nothing for my scrapbook, no visual record of this Kodak moment.

I’d been so overwhelmed by it that I’d simply climbed into the front seat next to the driver and acted as nonchalantly about the whole thing as if this was something I was doing every day.

NOT! 

Needless to say, I hope there’s a next time, and then I WILL take a picture, for sure!