Dayton to Elko, Nevada – 9/5/2014
SEPTEMBER 5, 2014 (Friday)
When Pat and Sharon got home last night after dancing, their friends Eddie and Debbie stopped by for a visit. So good to see them again. So much laughing and stories. Loved it.
Slept good. Got up to a wonderful breakfast Pat had made – scrambled eggs with bacon, orange juice, and cinnamon bread – and coffee. Yummy.
Sometime during the morning conversations, Michael was on his computer and discovered that my debit card had been compromised and was being used in Calgary, Canada. They managed to get around $2,000.00 of our money out of the checking and savings account. Bummer. We will be much more careful when we go again in November. Makes you feel paranoid about how did they get my PIN, where did they get it, and why. Michael spent quite a bit of time with the fraud department at Bank of America. Hope they catch them. Anyway, we still love Canada and most of the Canadians (except the thieves).
Mike here. I have to give praise to B of A. The credit cards are protected from fraud by law, the debit cards are not. It is only because B of A has a policy of extending the identical protections of the credit cards to the debit cards that we are going to come out of this okay. They have already restored the majority of the funds. We’ve been on the road and I am reluctant to just log in to the checking account. My son shares his virtual private network (VPN) with me, and I use it. It is commercial grade encryption that keeps others out of our internet traffic. I logged on this morning and there were about 18 charges I knew nothing about. They were cash withdrawals followed by various bank fees. All in Calgary. Since I was online I looked for a link to report fraud. I could find nothing. I called the number on the back of the debit card, got transferred three times and finally ended up with the fraud division. They figured out it was Edie’s debit card that had been compromised, filed a claim for me and they killed Edie’s debit card and thought that should be it. Pat, Sharon, Edie and I were talking and a question came up that prompted me to go back on line and look at all our accounts. Dang, they were sucking money out of our savings! Another call, another transfer, another explanation, another claim. Within 10 hours everything but the bank fees has been refunded. I am really liking B of A right now. Great policy. We switched to them because of the policy, and they are everywhere we go. I’d have to say I have a little over $2,000. worth of appreciation for B of A right now! Back to Edie:
We still got in a nice visit with Pat and Sharon, despite the mess with our account. We finally left around 11:00 AM. The drive today is approximately 300 miles (about 5 hours).
Michael drove most of the way and told me San Quentin stories. I love hearing them and he loves telling them. I’m so glad he’s out of the prison business and just tells the stories of the good ole days. Not much to see along the way – dirt, hills, sage bush, lots of wild horses, cars – the usual in Eastern Nevada.
We got into Elko around 4:00 PM. We drove to a local McDonald’s, parked outside, and used their free wifi to connect and get on Priceline.
We were able to get the Red Lion Hotel/Casino for $78.34 a night. It normally goes for around $109.00 a night, plus tax. As we were driving to the Red Lion Hotel/Casino, we saw a rather large car show in the local park. We stopped and walked around the old (and new) cars for awhile. What fun some of them were. What money people have put into it. I asked what it was and a nice young man said it was just a local car show and fun run.
We got registered at the hotel and then went directly to a place Sharon and Pat had told us about, a famous Basque restaurant, called the Star Hotel Basque Restaurant. We were both hungry and had not eaten since breakfast because we wanted to try this and compare it with the one in Gardnerville. We got to the Star Hotel at about 4:55 PM and were told the dining room didn’t open until 5:00 PM. People were already lined up to get inside a rather small dining room area. The couple behind us told us that they heard the entree was huge and if we wanted we could split the entree and pay $12.00 or $13.00 for the other stuff.
The dining room was fun with a tin type roof and lots of fun pictures. Right at 5:00 PM we were the third group of customers to be seated. We got our own small table and the bread, butter, and soup was delivered right away. We were asked what we wanted to drink, and were told at this Basque restaurant they don’t serve the wine with the meal. (They also don’t serve the dessert with the meal, you have to pay extra.) After we were finished with the soup, a wonderful salad with a creamy dressing was next, then green beans, beans, garbanzo beans, French fries, and spaghetti were served, along with a HUGE top sirloin steak that we had asked to be split with one side being well done and the other medium rare. We had been told the top sirloin was twenty ounces but I think it was much more than that. Too much food.
Michael and I decided we liked the meat, the French fries, and the salad at the Star Hotel, but everything else we liked better at JT’s in Gardnerville. Glad we tried it and can now move on to regular sized portions at regular restaurants.
After dinner we came to our large room and are just relaxing and watching Netflix.
That was our day. Hope yours was great!