Travelling home now. We packed up the big truck and headed out of Trophy Gardens, Alamo Texas on Sunday, April 10 at 9:30 AM. Our first night on the road was at the Isle of Capri Casino Hotel, Lake Charles, Louisiana. We arrived about 6 PM and had some supper and signed up for their players card and spent some of their bonus bucks on the slots. We stayed the next morning there until noon so that we could get a few more bonus bucks - senior's monday special.

Then we took off for the Paragon Casino in Marksville, Louisiana - only about 3 hours north. Another nice hotel room - this one had alligators and fish ponds in the hotel lobby. Another feature was their cinema with 4 theatres - so we watched "The Lincoln Lawyer" starring Matthew McConaughay and Marissa Tomai that night.

Off early on Tuesday morning for an 8 hour drive up to Tunica, Mississippi - a Harrah Casino hotel for the night. We crossed the Mississippi River and headed north. The Tunica area has 10 large casinos and is the 3rd largest casino draw in the USA - after Las Vegas and Atlantic City. We toured the new Tunica Museum and learned about the area - which was a very poor area until the casino started up about 10 years ago and now it is a destination in itself. The Harrah Casino didn't give us any fun money to play with so we went casino hoping and found one that had senior's day and signed up there for a player's card and had some fun. We did find a coffee shop in one casino that was an internet hotspot so we checked on our emails. All these casino hotels charge for internet in the rooms - from $6 to $12/night so we found other places for free.

On Wednesday, we got on the road early for our 8 hour drive to Cherokee, North Carolina - another Harrah Casino. Our travel took us through Tennessee - from Memphis to Nashville through Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg (very touristy area - all kinds of theme parks - Dollywood is there - and dinner theatres, wax museum, etc) and over the Smoky Mountains into Cherokee. It is a beautiful area - perfect for hiking in the woods but we didn't have the time - although the weather was sunny and warm and the wild flowers (including trilliums) were blooming in the forest. We have been enjoying the spring blossoms on the trees - especially the dogwood and cherry trees. This Casino Hotel is on an Indian Reservation and has alot of Indian art - wood and stone decor. It seems very new and is expanding by building another 500 room hotel on site too.

Thursday morning - another 7 hour drive - destination Tom and Diana's house in Chesapeake, Virginia. Here we are relaxing for a few days - this afternoon we played golf - 18 holes on a real golf course - a first for me - no great shots but it was fun. Tonight - a fish fry at Tom and Diana's church.

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