2012 Great Race Completed!

Drove from STL to S Indiana and then to Metropolis this weekend...a few notes:

1) don't use google maps to get to the S Indiana property...if my wife didn't have her I-Phone we would still be driving through cornfields and dirt roads

2) the hotel and casino are far apart...walkable but, a long walk...part of it with a moving sidewalk.

3) rooms are pretty standard...TV channels didn't work very well...the usual $11 charge for the internet

4) very bad VP options with 9/6 only on $1 machines and not very many VP machines at all...four decks of gaming available

5) casino is dirty...soda machine out of ice, no napkins...would not go back

6) we could swipe cards in the machine for activating the promotion

Then on to Metropolis

1) most interesting thing was seeing the side that indicated the water level during the recent flood

2) casino is pretty much a dump and representative that Harrahs has not put any money into any casino recently

3) we got our 25 points and left

4) drive down the street and see the giant superman in the townhall square

5) had to go to the desk and give our cards to the clerk to swipe for activation,,,she asked for ID but, we noticed sometimes they did not ask for ID

Good Job. We have three properties complete, Biloxi, New Orleans and Tunica. We'll be getting Philly and Atlantic City next week, Cherokee over Labor day and then Vegas the weekend of Sep. 15th. Already planning on how to spend the comps.

NOte on S. Indiana = while they do charge for Internet they told me they would take it off my bill since I a a Diamond.

Also, there is a free computer and printer in the lobby (a bit hidden) you can use. No one seems to know about it.

DaveOKC

Congrats to those who have finished or will finish The Great Race. I'm still boycotting because they grouped Laughlin.Vegas and Phoenix/San Diego together.

I am boycotting too.

- bcc

GPS woes were common on our trip. Prior to leaving, I had Google map diections printed out. Many times the two were not the same.

Upon leaving the Metropolis area, GPS took us through Paducah, KY and wanted us to take 61 (the scenic route) all the way to Memphis. Got out the trusty atlas and connected back to 55 South. (Alas, no smartphones for us)

Google preferred the back roads of IL to connect with I55 much sooner. Should have listened to Google.

Joy

These GPS systems are often a problem - take it from an old time site location analyst! I worked on a program which was trying to incorporate their output into a computer site location model, and we could not get it to work properly.

I use Google and Mapquest for directions, plus ALWAYS take a map along as backup.

DaveOKC

I agree with the GPS comments. I MAPQUEST every trip I take so I know exactly the way I want to go prior to leaving. My wife's I-phone GPS is almost always contrary to the best way (in my opinion) to go. Also after reading the comments re: St. Louis Harrahs and based upon my knowledge of Metropolis (not to mention the $59 they want me to pay to stay there) we have modified our Aug 27-30 trip mentioned above. It is immaterial which casino we play in even though St. Louis is one point and the Met is two points because we will have an extra point when we go to Reno/Lake Tahoe in September. Now on day one we will drive from Indy to St. Louis rather then the Met, stay overnight in the Hampton Inn close to the casino (night free with my wife's Hilton club points), and then drive to Tunica the next day. We are actually saving money with a free night vs. the charge at the Met and based upon the reports found in this forum the St. Louis Harrahs is a lot nicer casino then the Met (I is hard to be worse however). Finally it appears that the Met does not have a pool but the HI does so after earning our 25 tier points we can hit the pool and drink a few cold ones. You might ask why we are not staying in the casino hotel? The charge for that night is over $200. I have no idea why. While I am in a writing mode I will address the comments made about Horseshoe Southern Indiana:

Hard to find is correct as the casino is out in the country.
The hotel and casino are in different buildings with a walkway and a shuttle if you want it. However it is not THAT far unless you have to occasionally run to your room to get your wife a gluten free beer like I have to do.
VP-8/5 bonus poker can be found on the bottom floor in quarters on a few machines. You have to look. 9/5 DDB can be found at the fourth floor bar in quarters (all the rest of the DDB is 8/5).
I last visited this property in May12 and I did not find it to be dirty. I do not go there often but I have always found the property to be in good shape. That is not to say that things might have changed but probably not in three months. Anyhow I will find out for sure on Aug 29th.
One thing I know for sure there is no comparison between Horseshoe SI and the Met in Illinois.

I congratulate all those who are able to travel the distances to many of the casinos.
We too have completed this year's Great Race to Rewards. Our trips were all out of Los Angeles LA to Tahoe, LA to LV, and LA to Rincon. Done. Only $100 in rewards credits, but fun. We did visit Red Hawk casino near Folsom, CA on the way to Tahoe, seems very nice. Much nicer than Rincon. It is also an Indian owned property and has no affiliation to CET.

I have tentativly planned a trip in Sept. to do the Great Race. It will start with HS Indiana for 3 nights. Then on to Metropolis. Yes, we were there last year. Very nice rooms, not so hot VP, diamond lounge closed. This is merely a stopping point on a Saturday as it was the only place we could comp then. I am Catholic and plan to go to a Church a couple blocks away. We will leave early on Sunday with the hope of getting to Tunica to watch our Sunday game Cleveland vs Cincinnatti away. Anyone who can help, if there a place to watch the game that has the NFL ticket to watch any game. It's not clear about bars on CET website. It appears that Roadhouse has some kinds of bar that might be a try. We are staying for 2 nights at HS Tunica.

We will then head to St Louis where we will stay for 2 nights. Then on to Joliet for 1 night. As we have Vegas and Cleveland this will be 15 for the 75,000 RC's. We plan to start this on Sept. 12 if it all goes as planned. All nights are comped.

I will post just before our trip with this info if all goes as expected.

We really like HS Indiana. They do have a lot of decent VP both on the 4th non smoking deck and the 2nd floor smoking unless things have changed since May. 8/5BP and 9/6 JB, lot's of quarter and some at fifty. All bars have 50 cent in better games including bonus deluxe and shorter pay quarters. They have a nice outdoor trail if you like to walk. Most of the time we have the pool to ourselves and sometimes very few people probably 10 at most. We went there for the Escape last year and have been there twice this year. It is a long walk from the hotel, but I like it for the exercise. We will be there on Thursday which is Happy Hour as I stated before. It is amazing the drinks they serve that night. We were drinking Long Islands and the girl was bringing them pretty frequently. We don't drink much, but this is our drink night. We drink 2 or 3 lol! My sister & sil really got their share though. They went back right before it was over. They were more than happy when it was over, lol!