Sports betting. Don’t need a bunch of money to end up a millionaire overnight.
In the chapter on rules, they said it’s okay to meet yourself in the past, but you’re not allowed to change your personal history because it could have a butterfly effect, and you’re not allowed to make out with yourself because it just freaks people out.
The gambling suggestion made me realize I could probably get a “low amount” lottery ticket. Like when you choose three out of five correct numbers and win $500. If the amount is low enough, you can redeem the winning ticket at the point of purchase and there isn’t much of a fuss about ID or anything. ::checking:: Yup, the area lottery/gaming commission says I can claim prizes up to $1,000 at the lottery retailer (if they can afford it, otherwise you have to go to a “Prize Claim Center” or a more affluent retailer).
So if I just set it up to win a few prizes in the $150-$200 range, I’m good, and I only need a handful of quarters to play.
In that clunker with 165,000 miles on it?
It was his grandmother’s. She only ever drove it to Bingo on Sundays.
Yeah, but if it’s a time travelling Mazda, EVERY day is Sunday. Grandma has a huge gambling problem.
What will the stickers on the license plates say? 2010? You’ll be pulled over for phony registration…
I don’t have anything to add really, just remember to party like it’s 1999. 
One wonders why you’d want to go back in time 12 years just to go camping. How would you even know what year it was out in the woods? By looking at the bears using TrashForager 2.1 rather than the 9000X Picnic-B-Gone? Because I can tell you that many bears even today haven’t upgraded to the new system and are not going to take kindly to some stranger coming in mocking them for not being early adopters.
You could reveal that the Y2K bug isn’t going to happen, so everyone can calm down and save billions of dollars. That should be worth a fairly substantial reward.
With that info, one can safely pay a little extra for pre-1998 bills. All you’d have to do is buy some gold in the past and sell it upon return to the present.
Older bills, while perhaps rare, shouldn’t be too difficult to accumulate. Have you asked the Time Consulate for advice?
Of the 85 cents in change currently in my pocket, 60 cents is pre-1998.
Thus preventing people from fixing their software, which would result in the Y2K bug actually crashing many systems, costing billions of dollars.
The time police would have you in temporal lockup for 10,000 years for that one.
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Stop for lunch a few times in 1998 in Las Vegas. Sports betting at a nice club with a buffet.
Super Bowl XXXII – Denver Broncos won 31–24 over the Green Bay Packers
World Series – New York Yankees win 4 games to 0 over the San Diego Padres. The Series MVP is Scott Brosius, New York
Chicago Bulls win 4 games to 2 over the Utah Jazz, to complete their second three–peat of the decade.
Kentucky Derby – Real Quiet, Preakness Stakes – Real Quiet, Belmont Stakes – Victory Gallop
Tris
Kid’s stuff. Print out a bracket and bring it with you.
This would be a decent way to dispose of a still-working-but-obsolete computer. Better than throwing it in the trash, and you might even make some money.
We’re only camping because it’s cheaper than a hotel. We intend to wander the cities and museums and go shopping. I bt I can re-find my favorite pants!
We just have to peel off the newer stickers. Granny just pasted the new ones over the old ones every year. It’ll be tough, but a little GooGone should do the trick.
You could always go back in a stepwise fashion. Collect, say, pre-2004 money, then stopping in 2004 to change for older bills. I don’t think it would be too hard to find 1998 money, but that might be handy to anyone planning to go back further, like to the 1950’s or something.
Step wise, the NCAA tourney, and a month in Vegas, once a decade, trade your winnings in on old cash.
Same thing with horse racing, pretty much anywhere there is a track. If you get greedy, you could screw yourself up, but a five thousand dollar winner once a year isn’t even going to hit the radar at a major track. Come to think of it, pay whatever for a few 1950’s silver certificates, go back, and do the steps coming back forward, playing two or three exacta bets a year you could be bringing the old cash with you in untraceable, circulated tens and twenties. Pick two or three different tracks, on busy days, no chance anyone will notice.
Tris
The steps idea is brilliant! I don’t know why I didn’t think of it. I just have to pull over in 2005 and 2001 and I’m pretty much guaranteed to get the bills I need for 1998! Genius!