Ron and Barb had spent a week in Las Vegas and had fun doing all the things one does in that city. As they were leaving, Barb remarked that she had had enough gambling and staying out late. Ron agreed. They got all settled at the Coast to Coast campground in Needles, California, and although it advertised being close to Laughlin, Nevada, these two agreed that they weren't interested. They had been to Laughlin earlier in the year. 

One of the places they wanted to visit was Oatman, Arizona, so Sunday after church they took off. They spent the afternoon enjoying this lively ghost town. They left for home and at the T intersection saw that they had a choice of going back to Needles or just a few miles to Laughlin. "Why not?," Ron said. "Lets go and have the $3.89 buffet at the casino," and off they went. 

Along the way, billboards advertised, "Every Room only $19.00" (at the Edgewater—one of the Circus Circus casinos). "Why not?," Barb said, "It'll be kind of fun and we would gamble $19 away anyway." 

So, full of anticipation and excitement at being so impulsive, they drove the short distance to this friendly casino town. 

They joked when checking in without luggage, that they would have the bell captain get it later. Truth was they didn't even have a comb or tooth brush, let alone luggage. After getting settled (?) in the room, they went to dinner. 

Now that they were going to be in the casino for the evening, they thought they would try their luck for awhile. Barb watched the roulette tables but didn't like the numbers coming up. Both tried a little black jack and weren't successful. "If I lose five hands in a row, I leave the table," Barb said. 

So it was, that they sat side by side at the quarter poker machines. Shortly after they sat down to play, the bells and lights went off just behind them. A lady got a royal flush, which is the big payoff on the poker machines. Ron and Barb kept getting full houses and even four of a kind. When either got to draw to three high cards in the same suit, they told each other so they'd have help cheering for a royal flush. But the right cards never came up. 

Ron put the last five quarters he was going to play, into the machine (they play five at a time) and got a king, queen, and jack of spades. He didn't bother telling Barb and drew two cards. Up came the ace and ten of spades. 

Ron said, "I thought I had a flush, but the bells and lights told me it was a royal flush." Ron started hollering, "I hit it, I hit it, I did it, it's a royal flush." 

It only took a few seconds for Ron to figure that 4,000 quarters equals $1,000. Soon the attendant came over and gave Ron 10 crisp new $100 bills. Later Ron said that he had considered the small losses as entertainment, so it was no big deal, but now this put him way ahead and that was a good feeling. "Getting lucky doesn't always happen to the other guy." 

Ron's luck continued the next morning when the two played the poker machines again. He won an additional $50. All in all, it was an exciting evening. 

Barb said, "Our life is exciting anyway, but this was really something special. To me, it was just fun to check into the motel without any luggage. I felt like a kid. Everyone needs to do something like this once in a while and the fact that we got rewarded for it, proves it was the right thing to do."