Hi There; Long time reader, first time I've posted. I live in the Albuquerque area and can give everyone a little more info. getting there; I was at the event last week and from abq (without weather to contend with,) it is a 31/2 to 4 hour drive. I would suggest the Hwy 550 from Bernalillo hwy 64 thru Bloomfield-Farmington-Shiprock and north to the casino route. Almost all is 4 lane. If there is weather, you may not get there from abq. At one point you have to cross the continental divide (7,300 elevation). Standing snow and ice or a storm itself, they just shut down the hwy. We've had a very dry winter so far....no standing snow the entire route as of today. The last storm that dumped on denver stayed north and east of abq-cez. Flying in. abq-dro the only commercial flight is a single engine plane that carries about 6 people. abq-farmington. the only commercial flights are in a Beech1900 carries about 20 people. Don't know about out of denver, but again if the weather is bad, they cancel the flights. I don't mean to scare anyone away..watch the weather. There aren't that many storms and they are usually here one day and gone the next. We get lots of sunshine in NM and the snow melts quickly. Bring lots of warm clothes in case you have car trouble in the middle of nowhere. You may be there awhile! tournament results...The phillyplash and I were both at the final table but a local from the Farmington area (the wild card) won. The Ute Casino was very accomodating, but not very experienced in tournaments. Instead of keeping the players at the casino both days, they started the 1st round at noon Friday and the money round at 4pm friday...so the entire thing was over by 5pm Friday. note to Ken..I would be willing to drive if you want to pay the gas from abq...except I have to leave Sat when it is over. (work Sunday morning) The money round is scheduled for 2pm Sat. Watch for change of days......As i was buying in for the jan event Ron (I think was his name) who ran the event told me they were considering changing from Fri-Sat to Sat-Sun to see if more people showed up. He mentioned they had already sent out fliers for the 1st Jan event and it was still up in the air on what they would do. He suggested I call later this month. not sure what they will do for the jan 20 21 event. Hope this helps Randy
Great info Randy, Thanks for the great post and the additional information on the UTE situation. I haven't made any reservations yet for the tournament, but am planning to try to make it if the weather cooperates and I can catch a flight out on Thursday. I get to fly standby status since my daughter works for Delta so I can wait to the last minute to travel anywhere. I'll probably call the casino later this month to see if they are planning to change the dates to play on Saturday/Sunday. I think it makes more sense for them to do that since it probably makes it harder for most people to participate by playing on Friday. I'm like you, I have to still work to pay the bills, playing blackjack is just a hobby. If you find out that they are planning to change the times to start on Saturday, please let us all know. Don't just go back to lurking. Hope you will post some more about conditions and tournaments in your area. I look forward to meeting you in January if everything works out. Pat
Good weather for all! Hey -Alb, You are at about 5,400 ft right? I am at 6,950' just 320 miles west of you down Route 66 (OK, I-40). We really are not trying to scare folks away, just being realistic...right? I have lived in Northern AZ for twenty years, but goofed last March. I was booked for Laughlin. I looked at the Weather Channel. The storm was very local moving south to north across I-40. Usually they move right down I-40 from California. I got on the Interstate at exit 201 and made it all the way to a mile east of exit 191. The road was closed for three hours at high noon. This was an easy, but dumb one...move that is. I got to meet folks from Madisson, Wisc. and truckers from everywhere, while parked 10 miles from my house. Rookies on the Colorado Plateau beware. Folks, it can be sunny and 50 degrees in January or a snow-blind Hell! You could be a "High Plains Drifter". _jacks
