Missing the casinos

My world has changed, I'd like to visit a casino & there are not any close to where I am.

For most of my life if I wanted to visit a casino I had to go to Nevada. A trip to a casino was a big deal

Then things changed.

For the last 15 years there has been a casino within a reasonable drive of where ever I was.  For half of last year I was in Altoona Iowa and the Prairie Meadows casino was across the street!

Today, right now, there is not a close by casino.


Yes, I really want to try my luck with my $20 entertainment money!


Casinos are more than gambling, more than maybe a good place to eat, more than a place to park my RV for the night,  they are a great place for people watching.   Quality people watching, almost as good as an airport!

Just one of those little things....

I thought about using the picture of a penny slot machine with an 80 cent minimum but who am I to ruin the illusion of the penny slots?

Iowa State Fair Pork Chop on a stick

What day is it?

This morning, after starting the water for coffee & half way thru the on-line comics I had to stop and look to see what day it was.

I was curious. I thought it was Saturday but I wanted to check.

Easy enough to do, put the mouse cursor on the time down in the corner of the computer monitor or look at the pocket computer (phone).

What is interesting to note is that life can get to a point where "what day of the week is it" is a question to be asked.

Just noticing a change in my life.

The last CG HU-16E on the west coast the day it left in 1979

 I really needed to add a photo, I like this one.

Standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona....

I was sitting in a diner watching "the standing on a corner in Winslow Arizona park".  The diner needed a sign you could see from the corner, breakfast was ok, the waitress was good, the cook was slow but you could watch the corner park.

Winslow's claim to fame

View from the diner

A steady stream of 'older' tourists stopping to take pictures of and with the bronze statue of a guy with a guitar or the flatbed Ford.




I emailed some pictures to my kids and they had no idea what I was talking about, quoting the memorable lyrics gave about 50% return of "oh ya, that song".

Where else has a song proven to be this kind of draw? Why else would I have been in that diner for breakfast Saturday morning if not for that song? I can think of no reason to be in downtown Winslow other than that & I only knew about the park from another blog!

I wonder how many years it will be before they clean up the corner because no one remembers what it's all about...

Changes

I'm back in Sonoma county for a few days.
I moved up here after high school to go to college & left when I joined the Coast Guard.  My first son was born in Sonoma county.
That was a long time ago.

Here I am, after driving over 3000 miles I'm cleaning  my sister-in-law's garage, and I'm enjoying it!
 Everybody needs to 'do' something & this will do for today.

I was out front, it was warm enough for just a tee shirt, it was quiet enough that I could hear the birds. Just off to my left two deer were eating... Sonoma county.

I thought about changes... This Sonoma county is (for the most part) not the Sonoma county I left in 1976. Then again I'll bet there are not many places that have not changed since the 70's, or people going back & looking at the places.

Grapes, grapes and more grapes. Grapes everywhere! This is new

If I was 18 again in Sonoma county, it was 1971 and I was just starting out would I do anything different?
Maybe a couple of minor things, maybe not too... The good & the bad that has happened to me in the last 40+ years IS who I am.

Old VWs used to be everwhere

This could be 1973

This looks like it used to

Change is part of life.