Make A Wish Poker Tournament Is This Saturday!

Not sure what to do on Saturday during the day? Then come on down to Morton's and play Texas Holdem' with us. It is a charity tournament and the buy in is $250 with proceeds going to the Make a Wish Foundation.

Not only does the $250 get you a seat at the table, but it also gets you all you can eat of the wonderful Morton's cuisine and two adult beverages of your choosing. Prizes include a World Poker Tour Experience, a seat at a World Series of Poker satellite event, two hours of free casino play for you and nine of your friends, as well as numerous one of a kind of prizes courtesy of our Sacramento River Cats.

Speaking of the Cats, several of their players are expected to attend as is our own hero in residence Donte Greene, as well as last years champ, and voice of the Monarchs, Jason Ross.

Concerned about the buy in being a little to much? Well, check out our friends blog over at Twin Soup where you can win one of two free entries.

Hope to see you Saturday morning!

Walk 'n Rock For Kids

The first annual Rock 'n Walk for Kids turned out to be a spectacular event and we at Luxury Limousines are happy that we could be a small part of it.

From the walk in the morning to the final farewells by Journey (pictured here with some of their children who performed with the band on their final encore), everything went perfectly. I would like to thank Pat McClain who along with Gary Lardy conceived and founded Hope Productions, and especially Debbie Gabelich, the CEO of Hope without whom the day would not have happened.

Hope Productions Presents Journey tomorrow night

Our cars will be out in force tomorrow night as we are providing transportation services to both Journey and the major sponsors of the event. Lisa Campodonico our Director of Marketing just left Raley Field and reports that the transformation from a baseball diamond to a concert venue is well under way.

For those of you who may be on the fence about going (and especially for those of you who already are), here is a short little video featuring Neal Schon - watch closely and you can see the influence Carlos Santana obviously had on the 15 year old Neil when he first joined Santana.

Great Time At Raley Field

The winner of our Office Day Getaway Promotion with the River Cats was Kenny S. of Intel.

Yesterday, Kenny and 19 of his co-workers spent their afternoon enjoying near perfect weather at Raley Field. Not only did they get to see the Cats win, but they also saw one of the rarest events in all baseball - a triple steal off a right handed pitcher!

To find out how you could be the next winner of Office Getaway on June 24th, follow this link to the River Cats website.

Stars In Our Cars

Over the weekend, we had the privilege of providing transportation services to both John Michael Montgomery and Jamie O'Neal. Both were in town for the Golf and Guitars event at Haggin Oaks which benefited Hope Productions.

This weekend will be even bigger, as we our the official transportation company of Hope Productions' Walk and Rock for Kids featuring Journey. There are still tickets available for this once in lifetime concert at Raley Field.

Barrel Tasting

One of our stops yesterday in Napa was for the annual Barrel Tasting of s at Nickel and Nickel. Because Nickel and Nickel produce only single vineyard cabs, we actually wound up trying 13 different Cabernet varieties.

Although my palate is not very sophisticated, I was able to taste how different Napa Valley locations and soils affect the flavors of the wines.

In this picture the ladies in my group are sampling one of our favorites, from the John C. Sullenger Vineyard. The vineyard takes its name from the first settler of farm that is now the home vineyard for Nickel and Nickel. The soil in this vineyard is from an alluvial fan, and is mostly clay loam. All of us preferred this particular wine over some of the others which came from soils that contained more rock.

Of course, your taste may be completely different - the only way to know for sure is to get out there and taste!

Training Day!

In another sign that the recession is easing, we have hired our first new chauffeur in almost a year. Although he wont be having any "wheel time" today, he is going to be experiencing a lot. Beginning about now, he is helping to stock the car with drinks, ice and the other little necessities that are needed for a day on the road.

At about 7:30, he will be heading out to my house where he will pick us up for a day in Napa. Although he doesn't know it yet, I will be throwing him his first curve ball of the day, when I will ask him to map a route to unexpected pickup via our on board GPS System.


From there we will head to the Napa Valley so he can get familiar with both Highway 29 as well as the Silverado Trail. We will also show him some of our favorite wienies (this just happens to be Nickel and Nickel's barrel tasting day - gosh what a coincidence - wonder how that happened?). We will also point out great places to pick up a quick lunch (Oakville Grocery & Bouchon are two of our favorites).

After lunch we will also visit at least two more wineries (probably Charles Krug so he can meet our friend Ralph) and then to Stags Leap Wine Cellars so he can learn the difference between this wonderful winery and a similarly named, but quite frankly not as good winery located right down the street.

We will then head back to Sacramento, where he will learn how to do a quick "turn around", as he will be responsible for getting the car ready for another ride later tonight.

It wont be an easy day for him, but once it is done, he will be one step closer to learning how doing the little things as a chauffeur, makes our customers want to come back.

If I Were The Guy In This Video, I Wouldn't Be Trying To Escape!

Congratulations Kenny S of Intel!

Kenny submitted the winning entry in our first Office Day Getaway Promotion with the River Cats. As the winner, Kenny and 19 of his business associates at Intel will be picked up next Tuesday in our Party Bus and taken to a Raley Field where they will watch the Cats take on the Round Rock Express from their very own Luxury Suite.

If you would like to find out how your office could be taking a similar trip on June 24th, then check out the River Cats Website for details on the promotion.

Last Chance To Win Next Week's Office Getaway To The Rivercats!

Today is your last chance to enter to win an office getaway to next Tuesday's Sacramento River Cats game. Imagine being the hero who wins a trip that gives 19 co-workers a reason to spend next Tuesday afternoon in a luxury box at Raley Field?

Well, all you have to do is click on this link and follow the simple email instructions for your chance to win. Oh, did I mention that your group will also be transported in style in our luxury vehicles?

Looking For Something To Do Next Weekend?

Then check out the Lodi ZinFest. It begins Friday night with a Vintners' Grille at the Lodi Lake Park. The grill will feature the Top 12 Lodi Area Zins pared with a barbecue prepared by Papapavols. Best of all you can reserve a table so your entire group can sit together.

The fun continues on Saturday and Sunday were 50 wineries will be featuring over 250 Lodi area wines. There will also be short classes in both cooking and wine, as well as live music and of course, more great food.

For more information, check out the ZinFest's site by clicking here. If the weather is anything like it is today, this will be a marvelous event.

Mother's Day Availability & Specials

I just checked the calendar and we still have cars available to help you make this Mother's Day extra special. For as little as $150, you can pick your mother and other family members in one of our chauffeur driven limousines and whisk her away to wonderful brunch or dinner at the restaurant of your choice.

Need help in getting reservations? We can also help there as we have relationships with a number of great dining locations throughout the Sacramento Area.

Book by midnight tomorrow, and we will even order this Official Rolling Stones "Have You Seen Your Mother Baby" T-Shirt for you!

Thank you Sacramento!

I would like to thank all of you who voted for Luxury Limousines in KCRA's Annual A List contest. We finished a close 2nd to API Limousines, whom we would also like to congratulate. John runs an excellent business, and we have an excellent referral relationship.

In fact, if you look closely at their website, you will notice that our Black Hummer and Party Bus are featured. We also proudly display their Lincoln Navigator on our site.

It is rare that two competitors can work so closely together and we hope this relationship will continue to grow so that we can both better serve the Sacramento market. Thank you again Sacramento, and John, watch out as we intend to be Number 1 next year!

Limo Incidents From the East Coast

Although I try to keep my blog articles positive, every once in a while I come across stories that are not so positive, and I feel the need to publish and comment on them.

The first such article comes from today's Boston Herald. Brian Harrison was arrested Friday night for allegedly driving under the influence while transporting 16 students from Lowell Catholic High School to and from their prom. The limo company has reportedly now fired Mr. Harrison and states that in his three years of employment he had no prior problems.

Having a chauffeur drive drunk is a nightmare scenario for a limousine company. Here at Luxury Limousines, we believe that we do everything humanly possible to prevent such incidents. For example, we have an outside company administer random drug and alcohol tests on a monthly basis. We also do extensive background checks, blind shopping rides and their is usually a manager or at least another chauffeur on duty (especially in prom and wedding season), to meet with the chauffeur before the ride begins.

The second incident comes from the Palm Beach area of Florida, where two young men were arrested for fighting in the back of the limousine they were riding in. When the chauffeur pulled over, the two men at least had the decency to take their fight outside, where they were both subsequently arrested.

In four years of operation, we have only had one similar incident. We try to minimize such situations by refusing to allow alcohol to minors (one of them men arrested was 19 and the other 21), and monitoring the the sobriety of our passengers as the trip progresses, and making sure that each passenger knows that we have the right to remove any passenger or even terminate the trip if the situation dictates.