Route 66 Xmas casino trip, Dec. 20-30

Congrats to your son on his good hit!

Candy

A tragedy, actually, as by far the best thing to happen to him would have been for each and every casino to devour his $100 like a starving wolf that encounters a moose carcass. Then he might have learned, maybe not to not gamble, but at least to not play slots.

I was blessed as a child by the proximity of Uncle Mickey, who only limited his slot machine play when it threatened to put a crimp in his alcohol budget. He was sort of my how not to live your life demo.

Winstar didn't have a signup bonus, but you do get $15 FP when you get one point, whatever that might be.  And then $15 more when accrued another level of points. We knew we were going to be there for a short time and never going back, so we didn't get the players card. 

Osage was more generous with the room comps and food credits.  Wife only had $10 in FP. 

Thanks Candy.  If they had tables, that's what he would have preferred.  He barely played any the other two days, and only played next to my wife until she was done and then we were going to dinner.  After the Win he literally took the money and ran.......to the restaurant for dinner.

Happy New Year to you. 

I thought that the OK casinos were huge and had lots of table games--or are those only the older ones within striking distance of Dallas?

I also remember reading that they charged blackjack players fifty cents a hand, win or lose, and I thought, dear God, why would ANYONE put up with that...then I realized that if you live in Texas, or even worse, Oklahoma or Nebraska, you must be dying for diversion/amusement and would gladly drive three hours to get shafted.

What was that movie about how the white businessmen stole the Osage nation's oil in the early 20th century? Seems like their casino is the perfect revenge.

Yeah, they have a 50 cent table tax, or whatever they call it.  We only saw other casino on our trip so far, other than Winstar that had table games. That was the Sandia in Albuquerque. 

The movie you are referencing is Killers of the Flower Moon, with Leo DiCaprio.  

<br>
Dec. 27- Lawton, OK to Santa Rosa, NM

After getting a good night's sleep (9 hours)!, we left my sister-in-law's house around 12:30. Got gas at Casey's, a chain gas station in Oklahoma. Gas was $2.03 a gallon, so filled up for a little more than $30. We then stopped at Braums for food and shakes. I had the 4 cheese quarter pound burger combo with a strawberry shake. Son had the spicy chicken sandwich combo with a peppermint shake. Wife had the chicken strips dinner with a German chocolate shake. Set us back just $30. I am amazed at the good food and prices we find in Oklahoma.

Decided to hit the Cache Casino again on our way to Santa Rosa. I hit a couple bonus games on crazy chickens for a $230 profit. Wife lost playing some of the different $1, $2, and $5 red screen games. Son didn't want to play. 

Amarillo was a little more than 3 hour drive. Stopped at Buc-ee's to get gas ($1.95/gallon) and to use the restroom. $25 for 13 gallons. This place is massive. I didn't even try to count the number of pumps.  The men's room had 20 urinals and 17 toilets. My wife says this is the first convenience store she has seen with shopping carts. We then stopped at the last Braums on the 40 to get our last milkshakes.

After a two hour drive we pulled into the Santa Rosa Hampton Inn, our accommodations for the night.  Not many restaurants in town, but we settled on the Silver Moon, a Mexican/American restaurant. Had to wait about 10 minutes to be seated, but we walked around the little shop attached to the restaurant that had various Native American knick knacks. Their Mexican food doesn't come with rice, but with pozole. Chips and salsa was brought to the table. I got the Asian Chicken salad, my wife got the teriyaki chicken and rice bowl, and my son got the spicy chicken sandwich with fries. Food was okay. The meal set us back $72 with tip.

Once we got back to the room, we planned our next day and hit the sack. 

$24 a person for that meal seems absurd. Most of the little towns in that part of NM are poor and stuff is cheap. I always have done a deep dive into the scruffiest part of town to eat and found amazing food for a song.

And of course, I consume as much Hatch green chile as humanly possible. If you see a Blake's burger joint in NM or AZ, stop and have a green chile cheeseburger. Mmmmm.

Thanks for the tip, Kevin. We had much better food at every spot in Oklahoma,  compared to last night. 

Did you have an onion burger in OK? Pretty much the state dish.

Blake's is actually Blake's Lotaburger, and has quite a few locations in ABQ...there's at least one in Gallup as well, as I recall. That's your last chance if you're going west on I-40, as their presence in AZ is along I10 and I8.

I know that my affectation for their green chile burgers and burritos may not be the same as everyone else's, but when they opened their first Tucson location, they had dozens of cars lined up at the drive through for literally every hour they were open.