August 12, 2008

• Its time to finish up my trip. So, Tuesday morning I got up with several goals in mind. First, I was going to see the grassy knoll where JFK was shot and to make it to Tunica, Mississippi before the end of the day. Tunica was a 9 hour drive and I was planning on stopping in Shreveport, Louisiana for lunch and to gamble. So I got up about 9:00ish. After breakfast I checked out and had one of the front desk guys from the hotel drive me to Dealey Plaza, which is where the grassy knoll is located. Although I initially only wanted to spend about 15-30 minutes there, I changed my mind when I found out it was a 10-15 minute drive from the hotel. I didn’t want to make the guy drive me all the way there only to have to turn right around and come back and get me. He dropped me off shortly after 10. I walked around the area for a few minutes examining what happened on that fateful November day in 1963. For a minute I wondered if my dad had done the same thing when he came to Dallas 60 years ago. Then common sense kicked in and I realized that shit, my dad was here 15 years before Kennedy was killed.

  With time to kill, I decided to hit up the JFK 6th floor museum. You can check it out here at this link:

  http://www.jfk.org/

  Although it was pretty interesting I don’t know if it was worth the $13.50 I paid to get in. Had I more time to really sit and examine the whole thing it probably would have been worth it. One thing I found fascinating was the similarities between JFK and Barack Obama. I’m sure some of them were intended similarities between the 2 by the Obama camp, but yet there were more that were not, such as the fear their Republicans rivals have injected into each race. In today’s day and age the media and Republicans try to strike fear of Islamic terrorists into our lives. Back in the 1950s and 1960 it was the same thing except the fear was communism. Obama is the first dark skinned person to run for president and that has brought a lot of fear and prejudice with it, in 1960 Kennedy was the first Catholic to be elected which brought lots of fear and prejudice with it. I will leave it up to you to come up with other similarities.

  Getting back to the museum and Dealey Plaza though, it was humbling to be at a place where a great man like JFK was killed. It wasn’t quite as powerful or humbling as going to Lincoln’s tomb in Springfield, but still kinda stunning nonetheless. No, stunning is not quite the right word. Maybe moving suites it better.

  I was back on the road by about noon. I was thinking I could make it to Tunica by about 10 in the pm which accounted for about an hour stop for lunch and gambling in Shreveport. I made it to Shreveport shortly after 3. Once again, it was very hot but not as bad as it had been the previous day. After a quick burger at the casino’s cafe, I went in to gamble. I was fortunate enough to be able to catch the last inning of the Cubs win over the Houston Astros as it was playing in the casino. I was also lucky enough to win $60 while I was there.

  Soon I was back on the road. I had made a decision to drive through Louisiana to Mississippi instead of cutting through Arkansas. I thought this might be an easier route, but maybe a little longer. To get there though I had to get off the expressway in Mississippi and drive north on a state road. Well, this road was not nearly as………..er…………….statey as the other state routes I took through Oklahoma and Texas. In fact, it was a 2 lane country road in the middle of fucking no where. And out on those roads, I swear the miles are longer. I see a sign for a town that would say it was 66 miles away. It would drive for 45 minutes and then it would only be 60 miles away. Then I would see the sign again later on and it would say 38 miles. I would drive for another 30 minutes and it would say 39 miles. I’m sure this wasn’t the exact case, but it sure felt that way. With the sun setting, no signal on my cell phone and only intermittent signs of civilization, I debated getting a hotel at the next town which was probably somewhere near the Canadian-Wisconsin boarder. Even though I was driving a new car, I felt that if I broke down I would never be heard from again. Shortly after 8 in the pm I glanced down at the map and realized at this pace, I would not be there for at least another 4 hours. That’s when the road opened up to a 4 lane highway and a 65mph speed limit. After that I cruised.

  I made it into Tunica right at 10 in the pm. I made my goal, now where the fuck were the casinos? I drove around town thinking they would be impossible to miss, yet they seemed to be nowhere to be found. The town itself was not as pretty as I imagined. In fact, for a town with a hair under 1100 people, it was kinda slummy. I decided to do the least guy thing I could do: I pulled over and asked a gas station attendant for directions. He said the casinos were still about 8 miles up the road. So off I went.

  Sure enough within minutes I started to see signs of the casinos. I drove over to what turned out to be the biggest (or is it the second biggest) building in all of Mississippi: the Gold Strike casino. Check out their link:

  http://www.goldstrikemississippi.com/

  The hotel stood 32 floors high. Its was every bit the size of a Las Vegas casino, as were the 2 casinos right next to it. So, I got a room, asking the hotel clerk to give me, the guy with a big fear of heights, a room on the highest floor possible. This turned out to be the 25th floor. The room was nice and included a rather large bathroom and a flat screen 22 inch tv which may or may not been hi-def. Come to think of it, I’m pretty sure it was not hi-def. Although to be honest, I’m guessing on the size of the tv. After jumping on king sized bed and checking out the room, I went downstairs to grab some grub and commence gambling.

  It seemed to be forever for me to get my food, and keep in mind this was not a sit down place but rather a little cafe. After that though I went right into the casino and started getting free drinks while playing roulette. A few hours and a 2 beers later I was drunk and probably $100 poorer. So, I went to bed.

  I was able to sleep in the next morning until about 10ish. After showering and breakfast, I made my way back to the casinos, eventually finding myself at the Sheraton which is affiliated with the Harrah’s casino, which we have in Joliet. I have a players club card at the Harrah’s but did not bring it, so they gave me another one. These cards are really only handy for getting comped for meals and shit like that if you spend a lot of money. I started playing blackjack, roulette, and three card poker while drinking rum and cokes. I even took a couple of shots at a game called Mississippi Stud but since I got my ass kicked to the tune of something like $40 in three hands, I left that game never to speak of it again. Until now. And the times before that when I told people about my piss poor experience.

  After a couple of hours I drunkenly made my way to the bar where I asked them to put on the Cubs game while I played video poker. They were more than happy to oblige my request. I then took my players club card and put it in the machine. Only problem is that it wouldn’t take the card. I put it again and again but nothing. So, I put it in again, you know because if I did it enough it just HAD to work. Still nothing. So I put it in the next machine, still nothing. Again and again and still nothing. I could not figure this out when the bartender came up to look at my card. She told me that it was my card for the Gold Strike casino. I put it back into my pocked and reached for my Harrah’s card. I then thought about it for a second “I don’t have a Gold Strike card.” Upon closer inspection, the card I repeatedly trying using was my hotel key card!

  After a while I decided to eat from their buffet which was free thanks to my real players club card. After taking my drink order the waitress walked me to my seat and told me that I could go grab food from the buffet. Once again drunk, I loaded my plate up with food and headed back to my table. Only one problem. I forgot where I was sitting. I wandered up and down the section I was in looking for my seat. What made it even worse was that it was empty so I should be able to find it. I thought I was sitting much further away from the food then I actually was. I saw a glass of Pepsi at a table with a receipt. I thought this might be my table but wasn’t positive and slowly hunched up. I didn’t want to just take a drink of the pop without first confirming it was my seat. I glanced down at the receipt and saw my name on it. Ok, lesson learned, never go to a buffet by yourself when you are drunk.

  After eating I was soon sober and had a couple of hours to kill before my Texas Hold Em tournament at 7 in the pm. I went back to my room, made a couple of phone calls and watched the Simpsons. I was also a little bit hung over. With in a couple of hours though, I was fine which meant that I had gotten drunk, been hungover and recovered all in the same day. Ahhh, you gotta love vacations!

  As for the tournament I was at a table with a college student who looked a heck of a lot like Zach Braff. He was very cute and cool, a Memphis college student who happened to be a big Cub fan. Right next to me was an old lady from Texas. She was in Tunica escaping the hurricane that was hitting Houston. She had been playing poker for about 8 hours at that point, however this was a new game so she started with the same number of chips as the rest of us. She was probably well into her 70s, very sweet but also very touchy feely. She kept touching me every time she talked to me. So I grabbed her hand and shoved it onto my cock. Wait, no I didn’t. Nevertheless, although I’m sure it was just her Texan old lady way, it was still a little bit creepy.

  As for the game itself, I only lasted for about 45 minutes before losing. I then went to one of the other casinos and played more slots and three card poker. By about 10:30 in the pm I had enough of losing and pretty much cut myself off from gambling. Although I did have a great time, the only gold strike was the casinos into my wallet. I watched some cover band for a few hours before going to bed. The next morning I was up and gone by 10am. The ride home was non eventful and I made it to Mark and Amy’s for Addison’s birthday party about 7ish.

  A couple of things I did not mention was that I saw quite a few Obama bumper stickers in about 4 or 5 of the states. As for McCain, well I did not see a single McCain bumper sticker.

  With each road trip there is always a song that you seem to hear several times on various radio stations. I heard several All American Rejects songs throughout the trip. Also one of my song highlights was cruising down a Mississippi back road listening to the Doobie Brothers “Blackwater” which is really a great song to listen to in the middle of nowhere. As much as I love those songs, the song that kept coming back to haunt me throughout my vacation was the hated Journey song, “Don’t Stop, Believin‘” which I heard played in the casino over the intercom. If that wasn’t bad enough, the cover band played it both nights I was there. Then I went to Romeofest on Friday night and the cover band there played it. The next night, while sitting at home watching tv I could hear the cover band in the distance at Romeofest playing it again. I have never liked that song. Then it became the anthem for the 2005 Chicago White Sox so I hated it even more. It gained some points with me when it was used in the final episode the the Sopranos but I still hate it even more so now then ever.

  • 11:16 pm
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