Road Trip Notes

Drove out to Iowa this week - back to the plant for business. I finally completed the I-74 Casino Quinella! I have now visited all casinos within range of I-74, the interstate connecting the Quad Cities to Cincinnati. Stopped at the Par-a-Dice casino in East Peoria on the way back.

1) All the felt was not green colored, but a desert-beige. Shouldn't it be a law that craps needs to played on a green felt? I couldn't pick up the dice at the far end of the table very easily.

2) Likewise, the craps tables were giant-sized; more and more casinos are moving to larger craps table to accomodate more players. I still haven't got the hang of throwing the dice well at those larger tables. About 20% of the time one of the dice bounce around and out of the pit.

3) Everytime I go to another casino, I am amazed at the shoddy customer service that the Monte Carlo had. When I went to Belterra for the bachelor party in March (which I blogged about), that put me onthe mailing list and now I have received vouchers for $60 in cash and 2 free hotel nights. At the Par-a-Dice, I plopped down $200 at the craps table - the pit boss introduced himself, asked me if I had a card (no), made one for me, and when I left, thanked my by name. It's little things like that which make an impression.

Of course, I can't foresee any event in the future where I will go to Peoria again....

4) Bad night for rolling. True story. I was in the "straight away" position, standing to the left of a local named Frank (whom everybody seemed to know). I have been there for a bout an hour, and my rolls were not good at all. Frank had a good roll - about 10-15 minutes or so - and then sevened out. Then the dice were passed to me; I rolled a 6 on the come out.
One of the guys at the table yelled "all right, Frank, let's hit it again".
I looked at him funny; Frank looked surprised and said "no, he's rolling, I sevened out."

Without missing a beat, the first guy said in an audible voice:
"Oh, crap".

Of course, the next roll was a seven.

5) That's it - I'm done with the come and betting just the 6's and 8's.

6) Switching topics, here is Eric's Subway principle: if you order a combo and get the cookies instead of the chips, the cookies are technically a side item and you are free to order dessert later in the trip.

7) I stopped at an Arby's later for a Jamocha shake - they had small, medium, and large size. I got the large - my God, that can feed a family of 4 for 3 days! Not that I'm complaining about the size - I finished it. However, hey Arby's - if you are going to make thick shakes, how about giving us a straw that won't break when you try to inhale it in the first 10 minutes!