December Vacation - Day 5

We couldn't leave Shreveport fast enough this morning when we checked out. We didn't even stop for food or gas until we were back in Texas!

The weather was good as we traveled south towards Houston. From Shreveport it's US59 for the most part, and once again we passed through a number of small towns and encountered some roadwork along the way, but that's OK...We were heading home.

We finally stopped in Nacogdoches, Texas for gas and a meal. We arrived in Houston just as afternoon rush hour was beginning, but that's OK...We were heading home.

Once home we unloaded the car, cleaned it up as much as we could by using a hand vacuum to attempt to remove the large amount of dog hair that was all over the interior, changed all the sheets on the beds and started multiple loads of laundry. Some from the trip, and some created before we left on our journey. I was planning on cooking tonight, but that diminished quickly as I got sleepy after all the driving, unloading and laundry. Popeyes Chicken sounded good, and as we departed for Popeyes, I decided to check the mailbox knowing very well that there wouldn't be any mail in there since I carefully requested all mail to stop and be held until we got back. In typical U. S. Postal style, that notice was ignored and the mailbox was bristling with weekly ads and five days of mail. I'm sure none of you are surprised by this, and frankly, neither was I.

We still have a few days left in our week of vacation, and we have no idea what we will do or where we will go. Whatever or wherever it will be, we will stay close to Houston, and that's OK...because it's home.

December Vacation - Day 4

The day started off great and went downhill as the day progressed.

We got the car loaded and checked out around 11am. All the fog had disappeared, and it was a lovely day. We drove about 100 yards to the casino where we played for a while with not much success, a revolving theme to this bank-account-draining misadventure. We headed to the lunch buffet and enjoyed our fill of the many items, good service, and at a reasonable price. I'm having to watch my pennies at this point, you know.

We got back to the car and programmed the GPS for Tyler, Texas, where I thought our friend Roy lived, only later to discover through a phone call that he actually lived in Longview, which was basically in the same area. We drove highway 69 all the way, and it was irritating as it constantly changed speed limits as we passed through every podunk town in our path. It was fatiguing.

We arrived at our friend's apartment and had a nice visit for about 30 minutes. My plan was to stay the night in Longview, then head south through East Texas meandering our way back to Houston. After the visit we decided to go ahead and drive another hour to Shreveport and go to the Horseshoe Casino, which I originally decided not to do. I should have stayed with the original plan. We got to the casino, got our players cards, and quickly discovered that the huge hotel and casino sign outside were making up for the fact that the actual playing area inside is very small, had old machines, was kinda dirty, the machines were tight, and was a big disappointment for both of us. To demonstrate how money-grabbing these casinos have gotten, this casino has now discontinued giving the first-time guest a cheap plastic tether cord for the new players card. We were welcome to purchase a cord in the gift shop. What a waste of time and gas. We only stayed about 45 minutes and promptly left.

It's really been like that at all the casinos we have visited this week. No comps, very small discounts, if any, etc. It's gotten really bad. At this point I don't ever plan on going on anymore vacations for the sole purpose of gambling. If we see one along the way during a future trip somewhere, we might stop.

Maybe.

We'll see.

We got back to the car and headed down the freeway to find a place to stay for the night. We checked a few places and finally settled on the Howard Johnsons. As I have discovered on many occasions, a low price usually means low expectations. I'll throw hundreds of dollars to the wind at a casino, but when it comes to a hotel, I'm a major tightwad. I'll search and search to find the best deal, and that low price always comes with irritants, such as the case with our selection this evening. The back security door doesn't work. All the sprinklers were on around the property with most of them damaged and shooting in the air like Old Faithful. The building, sidewalks, and many customer vehicles were getting watered more than the grass. Once in the room, the air conditioner is barely working. I have it on "high fan" and it's barely blowing any air at all, and no, it's not frozen up. Lawrence already made that suggestion.

Tomorrow I plan on somewhat bee-lining it to Houston by way of East Texas and doing some antiquing along the way. I can't buy anything of course since I now have $27 to my name until payday. We'll just browse, thank you. I have a new iPhone 6+ waiting for me when I get home, along with my own bed and thankfully no casinos for hundreds of miles in any direction. The further away they are, the better.

As some of you know, I drive part-time for Uber now, and I'm gonna need to do a lot more driving to recover from my losses on this trip. $800 could have gone to a lot better use, like a trip to London to visit friends, or fly to California and visit my brother. Oh, wait, they have casinos in California. Scratch that.

December Vacation - Day 3

Although it was foggy overnight, it was clear and sunny when we checked out this morning in Norman. We got the car loaded with all the luggage, electronics and the dog, and we drove about 200 feet to the Waffle House next door. Being that it was Monday around 10:30am, we were the only ones in the restaurant, which is unusual if you've ever been to a Waffle House. We both had breakfast, and it was actually quite good.

We then drove about 50 yards to the Walmart directly behind the hotel and got some supplies for the dog, namely rawhide chewies and some Beneful meal starters to mix into Desiree's kibble. She's being fussy about eating and needs some moist encouragement.

We then drove about a mile to the ATM at Chase Bank for me. It's going to be a long 4 days until payday.

After all the errands were done, we headed back south on I-35 a little over an hour to Highway 70 East towards Durant, Oklahoma, home of the Choctaw Casino. The casino is beautiful inside and very large. Again, being that it's a Monday in the early afternoon, you could throw a rock in any direction inside the casino and not hit anyone, but you would hit a slot machine. There's a bunch of them in this place. By the way, I wouldn't throw any rocks in any casino. Security would not be amused.

We played slots for a few hours, and I tried blackjack as well. The table wiped me out of $40 in about five minutes. I stopped playing as I was once again heading down the road to the poor house, so I followed Lawrence around and watched him play for a while. We broke for dinner around 6pm, and we decided to try the Monday special in the cafe instead of the buffet. It was Steak and Shrimp for $9.99, whereas the buffet was about $13.50 with our players card discount. We were both a little disappointed in the dinner as the steaks were small, and the shrimp were a few small broiled morsels. Not what we expected at all. It tasted good, but it wasn't very filling, so we ordered a piece of coconut cream pie and shared that. Lawrence had iced tea and I had water. Add it all up and we spent about the same as we would have at the buffet with a large selection of everything. Live and learn.

We went back to playing for awhile and I finally found a neat slot machine I really liked called Frankenstein. Fun to play with lots of easy little bonuses. I was actually able to maintain a decent balance of money for a few hours. A nice change.

It was just after midnight when I made arrangements to stay at the casino lodge which offered a good non-weekend rate, and good thing because when I walked out to the car, it was 37 degrees and so foggy you couldn't see more then about 50 feet in front of you. I drove all around the casino property very slowly looking for the lodge, and it took about 20 minutes to find it, although it was right next door in a shared parking lot. That tells you just how foggy it was.

We're not sure what tomorrow brings. Should we drive four hours to Shreveport and do more gambling, or jump across the border into Texas (which we are very close to) and head for Tyler, where our friend Roy lives? I'd rather go to Tyler and give up on this very expensive outpouring of money, but I'll leave it up to Lawrence and what he wants to do.

Tomorrow is a new day filled with choices of destination. I just hope the fog lifts before we head anywhere.

December Vacation - Day 2

Last night we didn't get to sleep until after 3:30am, so I requested a late checkout from the usual 11:00am time. The front desk clerk was generous with an additional 30 minutes. Gee, thanks.

As I was loading the car, Lawrence was walking the dog and was approached by the same front desk clerk who stated we needed to pay a "pet fee", and was perturbed that I didn't mention the dog when we checked in at 3am. Whatever. $16.95 later, and we gladly depart.

We headed down the freeway to the IHOP in Gainesville, Texas. Although it was nearly noon, we both had breakfast. Another stop at the Valero station down the street to fill up the car and it's discovered that the Valero has a built-in German bakery inside! Lawrence, with his combination of sweet tooth and a German background, purchased a few treats. All three of us, yes...even the dog, enjoyed the cream cheese filled pastry.

We now head north again into Oklahoma, with our next scheduled stop being the Riverwind Casino in Norman, which is just south of Oklahoma City. It took a little over an hour and a half to get there, and we walked the dog before heading inside. For me, it was a bloodbath. I've always had bad luck at this place, and it was proven once again as I lost just about all the cash I brought with me. Lawrence did fine and is flush with cash. The problem now is we have plans to head to eastern Oklahoma and visit new casinos we have never been to, before dropping south into Shreveport, Louisiana. I'm debating whether to stop at an ATM or cut my losses right here and now. You can probably figure out what I will end up doing.

We are all checked in at the hotel in Norman and looking forward to a restful night. There's a Waffle House next door, so breakfast will be an easy choice.

So far, all the roads traveled we have traveled before. Tomorrow begins a journey into uncharted territory for us, and we're looking forward to it.

December Vacation - Day 1

Lawrence and I decided we would take a week long vacation as it had been a long time since we have had one of any length. Namely, about three and a half years. We were long overdue! We weren't sure for a while exactly where we would go as the weather is tricky this time of year, so up to departure day we watched the forecasts for different areas of the southern U.S. To visit. Discussions included West Texas to see mountains, then up towards Amarillo and Palo Duro Canyon. Other ideas were to go north towards Oklahoma and hit some casinos, and maybe on to Kansas City for the same reason, then curve back down to Texas.

As we prepared to leave, it was decided. North to Oklahoma, then east towards Shreveport, Louisiana, then back south to Lake Charles, Louisiana, then back to Houston. No Kansas City this trip.  We'll make an appearance there next June when we head up to Minnesota.

As usual, we got a late start out of Houston. I slept-in late, then had some laundry to do before packing, then we had to do some shopping to pick up some accessories for our new iPhones and iPads. The car was loaded with suitcases, all sorts of electronic gear, and of course, Desiree the dog and all her supplies. We first went by and visited with my mom who is temporarily in a nursing center. She is nearly 93 years old and pretty much needs full-time care.

We finally departed Houston around 4pm and turned north towards Dallas. I decided to take the Hardy Toll Road out of Houston as traffic on I-45 can be brutal. We got about one mile on the toll road and hit a wall of traffic. They had the whole thing shut down for roadwork and all traffic was diverted to the service road. We finally made it through and there were no more problems from there. We of course stopped at Buc-ee's in Madisonville for potty breaks, a pulled pork sandwich, and a beverage. It's a law in Texas that you have to stop at any Buc-ee's you approach. Not really, but it should be. Great place.

It was well after sunset when we hit downtown Dallas. We transitioned onto I-35 northbound towards Oklahoma, and let me just say here that I despise this stretch of freeway between Dallas and Denton. It's always under construction, you got jockeyed around all sorts of detours, and the lanes are very slim. I drive a big car, so it's like driving in a destruction derby.

We made our next stop at the enormous Winstar Casino, which is at Exit 1 as you cross into Oklahoma from Texas. They call themselves the "Worlds Largest Casino", and I think they're right. This place is huge! I lost a little more than I wanted to (?), and Lawrence was only down a few bucks. We are now checked in at the Rodeway Inn just outside of Gainesville, Texas. A little ratty, but the price is good.

We'll be out of here about noon tomorrow, get some gas, and head back to Winstar for a short time before heading north to Oklahoma City and the Riverwind Casino. Hopefully, I'll do better there.

Yeah, right.