craps

sometimes you roll

a lot of eights and sixes

sometimes all you roll

comes up craps.

we were rolling up

interstate eighty,

in clear blue late october

in a forty foot motor home

called a beaver contessa.

laughing about trips

from many years ago,

disasters rendered now

to stories of bad luck

and narrow misses.

looking out the window

at the granite bones

of the sierra.

til we hit the long climb

up to Donner summit

and the water temp

climbed past boiling.

the oil pressure dropped to zero

and the engine trouble

warning light lit up

it's angry little red eye.

so we pulled off

on exit 155 at blue canyon.

no services, just a gravel

pull out beside the ramp.

the dealer's son who

was following us to nevada

parked his hot little sedan

behind us, says what's problem?

no oil pressure, man.

and the temp is almost pegged.

the dipstick looked a little low,

we hoped that was the cause

left the beaver beside the road
and drove back thirty miles
to colfax in the dealers car

to buy a couple gallons of oil
and a funnel that would work to top it off.

because we had to improvise
with four feet of tubing from a hardware store

and a cheap funnel. stand on a couple

of folding chairs to get the oil to flow.

the engine cooled down

and we resumed our journey,

the gauges reading fine

-for about ten miles.

off the highway once again

to the parking lot at boreal ridge

this time it was going to need a tow.

the sun went down and two hours passed

trying to get a big enough tow truck arranged.

we were cold and hungry and the tow

was going to take an hour

so we rode up to the next exit

to get some food and heat.

triple A was supposed to call us with an estimated time,

but failed to warn us til the tow was up at the parking lot

which now was barred by an electronic gate.

too late to get the contessa out of the lot,

and the tow man wasn't inclined to wait

while we tried to get somebody to open it.

the motor home was trapped.

we called the highway  patrol

and an emergency number on the gate

to no avail. finally the fire department

at soda springs took mercy on us

came up and punched in the code.

towing a forty foot motor home

is not a simple matter.

the drive axle has to be removed.

pressure in the air suspension

has to be maintained.

which requires the engine

(which was the problem)

to run the pump.

it felt like we were screwed,

but big wreckers are resourceful 

and two hours later the rig 

was finally ready for the long haul

down to big truck repair shop in Sparks.

by the time we arrived in the RV dealer's car

and the tow truck dropped off the motor home

it was past midnight so we needed to find

a hotel to stay the night.

decided we might as well go to a casino,

they claim to have the lowest prices,

so we got a room at Circus Circus.

and went down to the bar for a night cap.

i've never played craps,

but my brother knows the game,

so we found a lively table

and he tried to explain.

don't think i really grasped it all,

-so many ways to bet,

but watching and listening to the players

was amazing.

they were talking to the shooters,

talking to the dealers, calling out their bets

on eights the hard way.

fire bets, and come lines, pass lines,

backing bets or letting them ride

when a shooter is hot and the chips

start stacking up. and everybody is smiling

-til someone throws a seven

and all is swept away.

sometimes you hit on boxcars

-and sometimes the bones

just come up craps.