I thought you might like to read of the first part of our trip to East Chicago to visit the riverboats there. Harrah's; Trump and Majestic Star...Hope you enjoy.
My wife, Jill, and our “kid” Buster ( crown prince and Dachshund extraordinaire!) packed up the car and headed to Chicago the weekend of May 11th. Columbus, Ohio to Chicago, Illinois doesn’t look very far on the map, but take my word that the drive is a bit much. We sit in traffic for about an hour on 80 Westbound before arriving at our Days Inn in Lansing, Illinois, a ‘burb of Chicago.
After unpacking the baggage in the room, we give Buster a bowl of food and water and head for Harrah’s to sign up for our players card and kind of get our bearings for tomorrow’s marathon session of riverboat fun. Harrah’s is easy enough to find and we confidently make our way to the players’ card sign up desk. Much to my delight I see that they are advertising a commerative $5 chip of the grand opening in February. So I proceed to purchase 3 of those little devils and find they are numbered, 1201;1202 and 1203. Things are looking up already! The next boat excursion starts at 7pm and I talk my beautiful bride into standing in line to visit the casino. “Real quick,” I tell her, “Buster will be fine for awhile and we can get a lay of the land.” She rolls her eyes and agrees to humor me. Once inside of Harrah’s I find the Boat to be very large and spacious. The colors used are bright and cheerful and I feel a positive vibe from the atmosphere. The clinging and clanging of the slot machines - and the bright, pulsing lights start my adrenaline flowing a bit and I wander towards the first floor machines. Jill is a trooper and follows along. I notice a lot of the newer slots like Jeopardy, nickel Wheel of Fortune, Monopoly and the such. How can a guy choose? I plop down behind a Price is Right machine and promptly give it $10 of my money….Hhmmmnnn….I leave and don’t look back. After searching the first floor, we head upstairs. SCORE!! The Promised Land. I see my craps table with a spot just for me. Jill reminds me we have 2 days to play and I agree. The banter at the table is flowing and the players seem to be animated. The dealers are calling out the bets placed and adding their own little personality to the cacophony of voices. I only put $20 on the table. I can’t tell you how special I feel since the table is a $10 minimum. I make sure to ask the table manager to credit my players card. He just kind of looks at me and graciously tells me OK. This guy to my left is the shooter and it appears the dice have treated him very well. I figure with me just coming in it would be best just to watch and assess. As I watch, he continues to make his points and throw 7’s on the come out rolls…. As for my money, and me; I start my pass line bets. I play for about 20 minutes and leave with two $5 chips in my pocket. Jill asks me if I enjoyed myself and I tell her yes. She is such a great wife! She waited for me the whole time sitting on a slot machine chair about 50 feet away. Friday night is winding down and on the way out we stop at the gift shop to buy post cards for the family.We head back to our room and Buster is there waiting for us, tail wagging. Probably thinking, where in the heck were you guys? He gets a treat and we call it a night. The rest of the evening is top secret!
(To Be Continued)