Bruce's Travels

Merry Christmas, everyone! I start by getting my coffee fix at the Horseshoe, and breakfast there also. I finish my draft of my story on Longines watches, then call Aunt Pat to wish her a merry Christmas. It's the usual monologue about how she is overwhelmed at every turn. Her speech is barely understandable at this point. But I try and listen patiently and interject  a benign phrase here and there in an attempt to avoid exacerbating her already seemingly agitated state, but at the same time not sound patronizing, which I know will piss her off. I feel like this will be her final Christmas, and that an extra measure of patience is called for and deserved. She has certainly pulled more tricks out of her bag than any us in the family could have imagined, but I believe the bag is finally empty, and that one day in 2014 Dawn and I will be going to Maryland to take Aunt Pat on her final journey, fulfilling her prophecy that "feet first" will indeed be the only way she will lea...

First of all, Merry Christmas to all! Yesterday, following breakfast at JB's Cafe, I dial up niece Kris on Internet chat, and I watch as she works on a new feature for my website. It fascinates me that I'm sitting here in a casino in Tunica, Miss., sipping coffee, while watching my website build in real time as Kris works her magic nearly 700 miles away. I suit up for another workout at the fitness center. I'm figuring the center hasn't had a facelift since this casino/hotel opened as Circus Circus in 1995. I even think some of the equipment is the original. I ask the lady behind the window cut into the wall if I can see one of treatment rooms for massage, thinking these are antiquated also. She says she can't access the rooms because they are locked, and only the massage therapists have the key to "their" rooms, and all therapists are off work until Dec. 26th. I view this as rather strange since, technically, the massage rooms are part of MGM property...

Yesterday morning (12/23), I went next door to the Horseshoe Casino and Hotel, where I found "JB's Cafe" for a delicious cooked-to-order breakfast at a reasonable price. I had eggs over easy, bacon, hash browns, and some of the most delicious melt-in-your-mouth buttermilk biscuits I've had in a long time. More crap Nescafe coffee, unfortunately, but I found out they have a Starbucks in the hotel lobby, so I will remedy the coffee situation tomorrow. "JB" stands for Jack Binion, who started the Tunica  "Shoe" in 1995. Jack is the son of the Vegas Horseshoe's founder, Benny Binion. Even though the casino is now owned by Caesar's Entertainment, Jack Binion (or at least his image) continues to be a goodwill ambassador for the casino. While at the casino, I get a Binion's reward card, which will get me a $1 discount on future breakfast orders. Between the cafe (with discount) and availability of Starbucks coffee, I will probably make this ...

I started out at 10:10 a.m. from the Embassy Suites, bound for Tunica, Mississippi, 323 miles away. I was happy to see two things: 1. Dry pavement; and 2. gasoline for $2.969 a gallon at some area stations. I was so dumbfounded to see this, that I had to stop and fill the tank. Even though I was only half empty, I just had to fill 'er up in case this price was the result of a local price war or something, and skipping out would mean missing out on the largesse. I can't even remember the last time gas was less than $3/gallon, so I had to  look it up on the Internet. It was in Nov. 2010, a little over three years ago. So I stopped at a Shell Station on McNutt Street in Herculaneum, Missouri. I swear I am not making this up.  Where did they come up with the name Herculaneum? I am going to propose that be the new rare ore that's being mined in the next "Avatar" movie, to replace "Unobtainium" from the first movie. Anyway, I filled the tank, past the filler n...

On the Way to Tunica I started out for Saint Charles at 8:35 a.m., and swear I could see the devil in the rear view mirror of my Prius all the way until I arrived at my hotel at 3 p.m. I had drizzle,  full-on rain, sleet, and at times fog. I kept thinking, "I'm heading south. The temperature's gotta go up, right?" But the temps stubbornly hung in the 32 to 34 range just about the whole time. There must have been tons of salt of the roadway, because I could see ice forming on the Prius at times. Only one combination gas/pee stop, and I didn't even stop for a meal anywhere, settling for a small bag of M&Ms grabbed hastily from the gas station shelves. By the time I arrived at the Embassy Suites, I had to pee like Seabiscuit, and make a mad dash for the men's room. So not exactly the most relaxing drive I've ever had, and certainly not the way I like to motor, but I made it. The devil will have to go fu** with somebody else. For now, anyway. My bl...