I happen to know several Mensans in Nevada: some are readers, several are relatives of good friends here in Colorado. They really begged and pleaded for me to come and talk at the first Regional Gathering they were doing, and I finally relented.
I have to admit that something on the sign-up form intrigued me: the group was planning to sponsor a brothel tour. And yes, the cathouses have billboards pointing the way to the front door. Insert obligatory joke here about how Mensans have social skills that almost require paying for sex. But after arriving in Reno we got bad news: the tour was pretty much an all-day affair, leaving in the morning and not getting back until the late afternoon, thanks to their using a shuttle bus that made a huge loop going all the way to Lake Tahoe.
Kit and I bowed out of the tour, as did several others. In total, five of us went: me, Kit, my buddy Russ, a gal who is quite high up in the national Mensa organization, and a friend of hers. Kit searched for the address for the main attraction, the Moonlite Bunny Ranch, which opened in and is known as the subject of the HBO documentary series, Cathouse.
Kit found the address in the phone book remember, such places are legal : 69 ha ha Moonlight Rd, just outside Carson City, Nevada. Yes, really. And yes, it felt decidedly odd to go down their driveway. After you pass the helicopter landing area for the high rollers flying in from Reno and Vegas , there is ample parking. We pushed the button on the gate, and a moment later we were buzzed in and met in the entryway by an employee who welcomed us in — showing no surprise whatever that there were women in the mix.
We told her that we were part of an arranged tour group, but had come separately. About a half-dozen of the girls lined up and introduced themselves. None were naked, or even nearly so; most were wearing some sort of lingerie. My first impression: what a wide variety of women! Thin and heavy.
