Sean and I had been wanting a second car for awhile. We kept putting offers in on Priuses we found on eBay and Craigslist til finally one seller accepted: $3,250 for a black 2007 Toyota Prius with a grey interior in Kernersville, NC. So we suddenly had to plan a trip to North Carolina to retrieve it! We made arrangements and booked cheap one way flights on Frontier for 7/12/16.
Day 1 - 7/12/16 (Flight to North Carolina):
We were supposed to fly out from Vegas to Greensboro, NC with a Denver layover at 6:15am today but at midnight we were informed via email and text that our flight would be delayed until 2:15pm! We later saw that our flight wouldn't be til 3:15pm so we planned for that and got an Uber to the airport, arriving a little before 2pm. Unfortunately, it turned out our flight WAS actually leaving at 2:15pm so we just missed it. What a mess! Luckily, Frontier was finally able to work something imperfect but acceptable out with us; they got us on a flight to Raleigh leaving Vegas at 5:45pm with a 3 hour layover in Denver. It was 3.5 hours til the flight out of Vegas, we wouldn't land in NC til 5:14am, and we'd have to figure out transportation from Raleigh to Kernersville (as initially the dealer was going to pick us up from the Greensboro airport but the Raleigh airport was an extra 1.3 or so hour drive from there) but it was the best option we had. Luckily, I still had Turo and Uber credit so I booked a 1-day rental car through Turo to pick up after landing.
The flights were both long and SO uncomfortable. We're usually really good at roughing it so I was surprised we struggled so much this time but something about those planes.. It was our first time flying Frontier. We'd flown with other cheap airlines before but I'm sure we'd never had such little leg room, plastic seats that don't recline, and no adjustable headrests before. I never imagined I'd mind that, actually, but I was just miserable the entire way. When we landed in Raleigh at 5:14am we were DEAD tired but still had so much to do so we had to man up and push through.
Day 2 - 7/13/16 (New Car!):
We booked an Uber from the airport to the house of the person I'd rented a car from through Turo. (It cost me just over $2 out of pocket thanks to friend referral credit I still had left!) The rental car, a 2014 Nissan Altima, only allowed 200 miles on it per day. After that, it was $0.75/mile. We had nearly 100 miles to cover each way so we had to be thrifty! We DID need caffeine though so we made a brief stop at a Starbucks just off the freeway and used more of our Groupon deal credit to get cheap tea for Sean and a frappuccino for me.
At 8am, we'd made it to the dealership:
TCB Enterprises Auto Sales
4015 Old Hollow Rd
Kernersville, NC
As we pulled up, we spotted our beautiful new (technically used but still awesome) Prius waiting for us outside! The owner Ken came out to greet us and let me test drive our car and then took us inside to finish up the paperwork. The dealership was a tiny, extremely humble place but got the job done! I paid the rest of what we owed in cash then and we all went to the North Carolina License Plate Agency to get Sean and me a temporary tag so we could drive ourselves back to Vegas. (Oddly, it was a little office and not at the DMV.) We arrived a few minutes before they opened at 9am and there was already a short line. It didn't take terrible long though and it only cost us$15 for a 10 day tag. Not sure why they couldn't give us a 30 day one but it probably would've cost extra and we didn't need 30 days anyway so we didn't argue. We just finished things up there, said goodbye to Ken, and were then on our own with our new car!!
We wanted to start enjoying the car and planning our long route back to Vegas but we still had another point of business to take care of: the Turo rental car. We got that out of the way next. I drove the Prius with Sean following me in the Altima back to it's owner's house. We filled the gas up for about $14 before arriving and got to his house with the odometer EXACTLY at 200 miles for the day! (From 47,716 to 47,916.) WOW. Couldn't have been more perfect!
We were absolutely destroyed then so we got a drink and 2 cheeseburgers from a McDonald's, found a shady parking space at a nearby Wendy's, and passed the fuck out in the back of our new car. Haha
After waking up, we were dying of thirst so we got $0.69 fountain drinks from a gas station in the parking lot.
We got some supplies from a Dollar Tree location then and were just about ready to start out trip! We got some WiFi to plan it out but ended up killing our car battery before we had a chance to start heading out. Turned out our battery was on its way out. We kind of expected it when we bought the car but for the price we paid for the car we didn't give a crap! We just got a jump, used the battery sparingly and carefully for the rest of the trip, and ordered a new battery from eBay which would arrive in Vegas before we would for just over $120 after discounts and promo codes and such.
We didn't get far before getting hungry again so we found a Walmart and discovered and bought lots of strange things, especially canned meat types and flavors and bottled soda. There was WiFi there too so we managed to find a parking spot close enough to the store that Sean could leave some work running, making us money, on his laptop while we bought and ate a rotisserie chicken and then slept it off til morning. Hey, we still had some catching up to do! Besides, we were getting paid to do it.
Day 3 - 7/14/16 (Headed North):
In the morning, we finally got up and started making some progress on our chosen route home. We'd realized the south was way too hot to be sleeping in a car this time of year, miles and gas weren't much of a concern in a Prius, and we could make money while traveling if one person worked while the other drove and we stopped for occasional WiFi. Casino freeplay and transporting things for people could help too! So we decided on a 3,500+ or so mile route that ran something like this:
Raleigh, NC
Charleston, WV
Harrisburg, PA
Buffalo, NY
Niagara Falls, NY
Toronto, Canada
Detroit, MI
Milwaukee, WI
Minneapolis, MN
Mount Rushmore, SD
Alliance, NE
Denver, CO
Las Vegas, NV
It wouldn't be exact and wasn't complete, but that was more or less the plan. Might as well make use of the great gas mileage on the new car!
On the way, we got hot and thirsty. We used a coupon for buy one get one free McFlurries at a McDonald's and got a couple of big Mountain Dew Pitch Black fountain drinks for $0.69 each at a Speedway gas station. We found good gas prices at a Shell station too so we topped up with about $10.
Eventually, we reached the North Carolina/Virginia state line. A little later, we got to West Virginia. Pretty sure it was both of our first times in West Virginia!
While Sean was driving, I managed to get our first Uship job booked! We'd be picking a table up from Mechanicsburg, PA the next day and delivering it to Denver, CO more or less on the way home. After Uship's fees, we'd get $184. Not bad for our first job!
It had had started getting pretty rainy and wet as we drove north. It got colder very slowly, more wet very quickly, and even more green. We saw some lightning too. There were some thunderstorms on the move!
In Charleston, WV, we stopped to take a few pictures at the state capitol building.
Then we made a tiny detour to get $20 freeplay each at the Mardi Gras Casino in Cross Lanes, WV just for joining their players club. We profited $39.25 in free money but ended up spending $5.25 of it on the way out at their little cafe. We got Palm Beach Punch hot tea, something called an Ohio Buckeye (a chocolate-dipped peanut butter ball), peanut butter fudge, and a no bake cookie (also peanut butter!! SO MUCH PEANUT BUTTER). I didn't end up caring for any but at least we got to try some new things!
An hour or so later, we stopped at a Pilot gas station, filled the gas tank up with $20, left Sean's laptop on the WiFi there making us some money, and went in for a $12.72 shower. We were finally clean and had made some money while washing! Sean got a Pilot rewards card while there. They gave him 5 free drinks for signing up so we used the first one then and headed out with a big, cold beverage.
Soon, we were in Maryland!
When the sun started to come up, we stopped at the Youghiogheny Overlook Welcome Rest area to sleep.
Day 4 - 7/15/16 (To New York):
There was a nice view from the rest area when we woke up. Lots of trees and the Youghiogheny river and reservoir.
Down the road a little, we stopped at a Pilot for another free drink and some WiFi to get work done.
Rocky Gap Casino was pretty on the way so we stopped off to join their players club. We got $10 freeplay each for joining, gambled it all on Wheel of Fortune because they didn't have Game King machines, and made $36 in free money! We also got free tea, coffee, and soda from their beverage station there!
The Pennsylvania state line came up a little later.
At 8pm, we got to Mechanicsburg, PA. We picked the table up from a guy named Craig's house to deliver to the buyer he'd sold it to in Denver, CO.
We stopped at a Sheetz gas station on the way out. Not sure if we'd been in one before but we were pretty pleasantly surprised by what we found inside. They had lots of unique food, snacks, drinks! Decent prices on a lot of it too. We got a couple of tiny, prepackaged crepes that turned out to be yummy and tried a couple free donut hole samples they had.
We spotted fireflies for the first time this trip then!
We were close anyway so we paid a visit to Pennsylvania's capital city Harrisburg. We parked outside the capitol building to get some pictures. Then we drove across a bridge to City Island, where there was FNB soccer field, baseball field, batting cages, an arcade (no music games), and other things were. We went there to get a couple of pictures of the city buildings from a distance and spotted the first skunk either of us had ever seen while there! Cute little thing was munching something in the grass as I walked up to it. I must've gotten within about 1 to 2 feet of it by the time it started trotting off. Lucky I didn't get sprayed but I couldn't help going up for a good look!
We detoured a tiny bit to visit Hollywood Casino east of there. It definitely proved to be worth the drive though. They had free soda and gave us $25 in freeplay each! They were linked with the MGM casino in Vegas, of which we're both members, but they still gave us the freeplay just for providing our email addresses, I believe. We left with $34.25 in free money!
Hungry, we stopped at another Pilot gas station and got a footlong sandwich to share at Subway. Then used WiFi and outlets there for a short while.
We stopped in a Walmart a bit later but didn't find anything special.
The New York state line came next!
There hadn't been any rest stops for probably over 150 miles, maybe way more, but we eventually found rest areas and travel centers suitable for sleeping at as the sun was coming up. We picked another Pilot, parked in front, left some work running on WiFi, and got some sleep.
Day 5 - 7/16/16 (To Niagara Falls, Canada, etc):
In the morning, we got another free Pilot drink and got back on our way.
At one point, we were forced to turn around by a bunch of cops blocking the road where a telephone pole had fallen into it. Luckily, the route change didn't add much time at all.
We were detouring about 36 miles out of the way, perhaps, for Finger Lakes Gaming and Racetrack up near Rochester New York. It was a worthwhile detour though. We made $32 in free money after gambling the freeplay they gave us for joining their players club and taking this route made another casino on the way:
The next casino: Batavia Downs Gaming. We only got $8.75 there but it was totally free and we didn't really have to go out of our way to get it.
We spotted a movie theater. It wasn't the first we'd saw but it was on the way and we had a minute so we stopped:
Regal Cinemas Quaker Crossing 18
3450 Amelia Dr
Orchard Park, NY
It wasn't either of the Regal Cinemas that were listed on ddrfreak but that site isn't kept up to date by players much anymore and never had everything anyway so we checked. Small arcade there but no music games.
We made another half hour detour then to see the Ralph Wilson Stadium, home of the Buffalo Bills!
Maybe 8 minutes further south was another casino called Hamburg Gaming. We got $20 freeplay each for joining their club and left with $28.25 in free money.
Leaving there, we spotted a big, dead skunk in the road. :( It was mostly intact and neither of us had had a good look at one in person before so we stopped to see it and get some pics and a vid. Weird but whatever. We were curious! It would've been so cute if it was still alive!
On the way north to Buffalo, NY, we stopped to fill up the gas (another $17). We saw a groundhog, I think it was, a short distance from the pumps there and went up to it for a better look. We got pretty close before it started running off so we managed to get a couple of pics and a vid before it ran into its hole in the ground making lots of noise all the way in. (It was cute too and so chubby!) Then got some snacks and a can of alcohol each in the gas station and continued on to Niagara Falls, stopping in Buffalo to snap a few quick pics in the city center!
We stopped on the New York/United States side of Niagara Falls and, after a mini struggle, managed to find a parking space a reasonable walk from the falls. Then we made the journey over to see Niagara Falls in person for the first time in our lives!! Obviously, we got tons more pics and vids there!
Seneca Niagara Casino was next after we'd finished at the falls and made our way back to the car. It was right near where we'd parked so we went in to sign up with them and were each awarded $10 freeplay for doing so. We only came away with $13 total in free money from it BUT we also found $3.86 (our biggest random money finding this trip) someone had left in a machine and the visit hadn't been out of the way anyway.
Next was Canada!! After getting through the 10-15 minute (at the time) line to cross the border, we were on the Canadian side of Niagara Falls. We were ready to explore Ontario, Canada for the first time together and then make our way up to Toronto! We wanted to go to two casinos in the Niagara Falls, ON side before leaving the area but the roads on that side were stupidly crowded and parking was an average of about $30. Such a drastic change from the United States side! It was insanely busy and kind of like Vegas with everyone walking down the street drinking, being touristy, and heading to casinos and various noteworthy sights. It was uncomfortable and so hard to get around. We finally had to give up and carry on.
We eventually found ourselves parked outside a closed Starbucks using their WiFi from the car to leave work running while we ate really crappy food (canned meat, a slice of bread, and peanut butter crackers) because almost nothing was open, watched Mr. Bean on my phone, and played with ourselves to release some "stress" for the first time this trip. It was a pretty low moment but we enjoyed it! Then we found a more subtle parking space in the lot and parked to get some sleep.
Day 6 - 7/17/16 (Toronto):
In the morning, we checked out a dollar store called Dollarama in the parking lot we were in. I think we might visited other Dollarama locations when we went to Vancouver a year or two prior, unless it was some other dollar chain. We found lots of fun things inside but ran into difficulties when we went to pay. They didn't take credit there, American debit didn't work there, and they accepted US dollars at a 1 for 1 rate. (Canadian dollars were only worth $0.77 USD at the time though.) We only had 4 Canadian dollars left from our last trip but our purchase was $23.75 CAD. Luckily, Sean's UK bank (Barclay's) had a deal with Scotiabank so Sean was able to get money out there without paying an ATM fee. There was a 2.99% fee to do it but it was still our best option and good enough to get us our Dollarama treats!
We went back in the Starbucks we'd sort of violated the night before next. We sat down to use WiFi and outlets to get work done and make lots of money. Did some Facebook and such too. We didn't totally abuse their hospitality though. We used more of our gift card credit and got tea and a frappuccino! It was about the same number of Canadian dollars there as it would be US dollars in the US and there was no fee or loss from exchanging so it came out pretty cheap!
We got back on the road then, headed up to Toronto, and picked up some tasty poutine from a McDonald's on the way.
It took a short while but we eventually found some free parking in the city about 1.5 miles from CN Tower. We figured the walk would give us a chance to get a good look at the city anyway! We took the cocktails we'd bought at the gas station the day before and went walking, getting a nice mini buzz on the way! Lol We crossed Yonge St, the longest street in world, on the way. It was around 6:20pm when we got to CN Tower. The Toronto Blue Jays stadium was right next to it so we got a couple pictures of that before paying $79.10 CAD (about $61 USD) to go up the tower. Then we waited in line for a little while, eventually got on an elevator up the tower, and were rewarded with the most incredible views of the city! We spent a decent amount of time up there taking tons of pics and vids, taking in all the sights, getting our money's worth.
Back down the tower, we explored a tiny bit more. We walked maybe 0.2 miles, I think it was, to Lake Ontario to see what we could see. Got more nice views of ships, the lake, the city buildings.. Yonge St actually ended (or started!) at the edge of Lake Ontario there so we got some cool pics and vids at one end of the world's longest street!
We'd done a good several miles by then and it was getting late and dark so we finally started back to the car, picking up some foods at a convenience store along the way. Then we got on the road out of Toronto, headed back into the US towards Detroit.
Before getting too far out of the area, there were a couple of last casinos we wanted to visit. The first was Woodbine Casino. They gave us $5 CAD freeplay for then and $10 CAD for 24 hours later each for players club sign up but we wouldn't be there in 24 hours and we only got a TOTAL of $1.10 CAD from the freeplay we actually could use at the time. On the bright side, we found another $3.15 CAD left in machines while walking around and we got lots of free coffee, tea, and soda being served by waitresses with carts and trays. Drinks had to stay in the casino so we left feeling pretty bloated but sufficiently caffeinated!
The next casino was linked with Woodbine and was called Mowhawk Raceway. There, we asked whether we could just use the extra $10 CAD we'd each gotten at Woodbine right away and they let us. We only profited $12.65 CAD from it but was also found $17.57 CAD in machines around the casino and got even more free coffees and sodas!
Quite awhile later, we saw the first TA Travel Center and first 2 Flying J's I think we'd ever seen in Canada. We stopped in one of each for a quick look. They weren't strikingly unique compared to US locations, though the Flying J seemed a little smaller than normal and the TA seemed a bit bigger and slightly different from normal lookswise, but they did have some Canada - exclusive items. Neither of the arcades in the ones we stopped in had music games.
Come 6am, we finally decided we'd better call it a "night". I pulled into a travel canter chain location called OnRoute and we watched a bit of Mr. Bean on Sean's laptop in the car before falling asleep.
Day 7 - 7/18/16 (Thru Detroit, some Indiana, to Chicago):
In the morning, we did the last little leg to the country border but spotted a McDonald's just before hopping on the bridge back to the US in Windsor, ON. We stopped for one last poutine each, a strawberry rhubarb pie each, a big drink, and a bunch of syrup packets (only $0.10 each and probably one of the best Canadian souvenirs we could've gotten for friends and family).
There was a fair bit of wait to cross the border but it wasn't ridiculous. Border patrol told us we came at one of the busiest times of week. If that was true, it wasn't too bad, considering!
Just across the border there was Detroit! Pretty sure neither of us had been before.
The first place we stopped there was MotorCity Casino. They didn't have freeplay for all new signups but they had some promotional thing where you MIGHT win something. I didn't win but Sean got $5 freeplay. We had to start it off by putting $1 of our own money in and we only wound up profiting $2.50 but we did get some free drinks there, including some Vernors soda - a ginger flavored soft drink from Detroit and the oldest surviving ginger ale brand in the United States. It was our first time trying it. Definitely tasty!
Greektown Casino Hotel was next. No freeplay there either and we had to pay $1 to park nearby for an hour but they had beverages and we found $0.40 left in a machine there.
With a population under 700k, Detroit didn't seem as booming with attractions we cared about as most places so we didn't stay long but we did make one last stop to see the Ford Field multi-purpose stadium where the Detroit Lions play, next to the baseball field where the Tigers play.
A little after leaving, we passed thru Ann Arbor, MI.
We weren't stopping at every single casino as some were too far out of the way, too small, not open at the time, and we just didn't have enough time. We did stop when we got to one called FireKeepers though. We checked a TA Travel center across the street for music games first but didn't even see an arcade. :( FireKeepers Casino didn't offer any freeplay but they had more free drinks and we found $2.33 left in a machine.
The fireflies flying around outside there, twinkling at sunset, made everything so much prettier!
We'd been maintaining our hygiene by more or less washing one body part at a time if we visited a quiet restroom and had spare time, cleaning with baby wipes, etc but we were past due for a good hair wash so we stopped at a rest area that didn't look very busy in Kalamazoo, MI and washed our hair at the outside tap.
We made a small detour in the tiny town of Hartford, MI to visit the Four Winds casino there. We each got $5 free play for signing up there. We each had to put $1 in to activate the free play but, of course, we got the $1 back along with a total profit of $7.75 and more free drinks. They even had iced coffee there which, of course, is what I got.
On way back to the freeway, I stopped for Sean to pee AGAIN at a Shell station. (Too many free drinks!) We found some cheap snacks inside and got a pickled sausage for Sean and maple bacon chips, pepperoni pizza chips, and cheesy garlic bread chips to share.
We put about $11.50 in the gas tank at another gas station on the way a little after that.
We didn't do much in Indiana, cutting the corner of the state to get around Lake Michigan before entering Illinois. Just before the Illinois state line, however, there were some casino BOATS (yes, boats) in a nearby harbor. No land casinos there because of some weird state law but we pulled off to check out the boats. The first of these: Majestic Star Casino. It was actually 2 boats, I believe, all linked up to an on-land parking garage and connected to one another so you never even see the water let alone the outside of the boats. I didn't feel the boats moving at all either. The casino wasn't huge but it was so weird! The parking garage and entry were like any normal casino. You might never have known you were getting on a ship if you were just dropped off in the parking garage. The inside of the boats just looked like any old casino from Fremont St in Vegas - a little run down, pretty dated, but still pretty cool to look at. There were dodgy people walking around and in the casino. No freeplay but we got more free drinks and had a good look around before heading out.
Ameristar Casino was just a few minutes down the road from there and was pretty much the same deal - on a boat, no freeplay, same ghetto clientele. It was a little less visually appealing than Majestic Star. We did find $3.06 left in machines there though.
Minutes later, we reached the Indiana/Illinois state line, entered Chicago, and had to pay two tolls pretty much all at once. We'd hit a handful of tolls already this trip but at $6.60 total within a span of about 5 minutes, this was the highest so far. Had to pay another $1.90 toll not long after as well. Still, nothing on France's tolls.
We were both DEAD tired then so we pulled over at a huge travel center called The Lake Forest Oasis to nap for a couple of short hours. The travel center extended over to both sides of the freeway, being made on an overpass, and had lots of chain restaurants inside.
Day 8 - 7/19/16 (Milwaukee, Minneapolis,..):
After waking up, we got 2 chicken and 2 steak flatbread things from Taco Bell for $1.49 each. They were new and pretty good!
We got back on the road then, had to pay a $2.80 toll, and were in Wisconsin for the first time a minute later.
In Milwaukee, we stopped in Potawatomi Hotel and Casino and got $16.50 total in free money (from $10 freeplay each) and free drinks!
With a population under 600k, Milwaukee was kind of small, despite being the largest city in the state. It wasn't very busy either so we were able to do a quick drive through to see it.
Near downtown, we went to a grocery store called Metro Market where we got an assortment of authentic Wisconsin cheese from the deli and a couple of other bits. I don't typically eat pricey cheese, especially on its own, so I couldn't say exactly whether the cheese we tried was way better than average. Also, I'm not a huge fan of swiss cheese. I think it was all pretty good for what it was though. The mild cheddar was fantastic and the Muenster was really creamy with a weird aftertaste (not sure if that's just how that type of cheese usually tastes). The Swiss and Colby just seemed fairly normal to me but I'm not exactly a qualified judge so sorry to anyone I've offended!
On the way out of Milwaukee, we saw Miller Park, home of the Milwaukee Brewers baseball team.
Around Madison, WI, the state's capital, we visited Ho-Chunk Gaming and got $10 freeplay each, profited $11.95 (from freeplay and found coins), and got a couple of drinks including some soda called Doc that just tasted liked Dr. Pepper.
We got a few pics at the Wisconsin Capitol Building in Madison, got supplies at a Dollar Tree, and continued towards Minneapolis.
Filled up at Pilot for $21.58
Driving several hours through Wisconsin, not much stood out in particular. It was pretty much just farms, grass, and trees broken up by occasional gas stations, shopping centers, and communities. I guess it was pretty much what I'd expected except that the population seemed to be more evenly spread than I'd anticipated, rather than being majorly condensed in cities and completely deserted for hours anywhere else.
Finally, we reach Minnesota! St. Paul and Minneapolis were shortly after the state line, past a few other little towns. There were other things I wanted to do and see first but the Mall of America would be closing in an hour so I needed to take Sean to see it before worrying about the rest. Couldn't do Sean's 1st and my 2nd real (not including any flight layovers) Minneapolis area visit without!
Navigating the outside of the Mall of America was a bit different since my previous visit, as they'd done a little renovation on the parking and entry. The inside seemed almost exactly the same to me though. It was more or less just how I remembered it. We walked and looked around at as much as time would allow
Mall. We checked the Nickelodeon theme park in the middle for music games but they didn't have any anymore. :( (They'd had a DDR there when I'd visited before.) On the top floor, the Sky Deck Sports Grille and Lanes (owned by Gameworks) stoll had a dance game, though they'd gotten rid of the old DDR machine and now just had an old PIU cabinet with replaced monitor running PIU Prime. The pads were good though! We found a few credits left in various games, including PIU, around the arcade so we spent a good 25 minutes or so gaming! The stores in the mall were closed by the time we finished but there were still people walking around inside the building so we finished looking around til we'd seen enough, about an hour after closing. Lol
Then we drove down the street so I could show Sean the Water Park of America by Mall of America. Everything of importance there was closed at the time but just went in for a quick look. We peeked through the Northern Lights arcade's windows and shutters and saw that PIU was still there. (I'd seen it there during my previous visit.) We got a good look at the Water Park through it's windows too. Then we moved on.
We drove 20 minutes to the Minnesota Capitol Building in St. Paul for a look. It was totally dead there! I think we saw two cars pass the entire time we were there taking pics and vids.
The Minnesota Vikings' brand new stadium, the US Bank Stadium, had just been finished 1 month ago and apparently grand opening woukd be in a couple of days on 7/22/16! We drove over to it to get a look and some pics and vids. Their former stadium had been demolished to to build this one in its place (literally in the spot the old one had been). They'd been playing at the University's stadium in in the meantime while the new one was being built. It was right in downtown Minneapolis so we got a little look at the city at the same time.
Hungry, we got 8 original sliders, 2 bacon breakfast sandwiches, and 2 chocolate dipped cheesecakes at a White Castle. Maybe it's because I've gotten too used to homecooked meals in recent years but I swear the food wasn't as impressive as I used to think it was.
We tried to go to a casino called Mystic Falls, I believe, on the way out of the area but wound up at a much tinier casino called Little Six. They were linked though and neither had freeplay so we just got some drinks for the road and headed out. We were amused by two things before leaving: some of the casino games had USB charging stations at them (so you could bring a phone cable and charge your phone) and while we were there they made a loudspeaker announcement that all alcoholic beverages would need to be consumed or disposed of by 2am in accordance with state law. Crazy!
Finally, we were on our way to South Dakota for the first time to see Mt Rushmore! I think I'd read that there were 382,578 people in Minneapolis. Small city but by far the biggest we'd be seeing for quite awhile!
Driving thru middle of nowhere in Minnesota, I wasn't sure if GPS was just being dumb but in one long section it kept kept zigzagging me down random, unlit, middle-of-nowhere, 1 lane roads running past farms rather than putting me on a freeway. It even sent me down an unfinished, rocky, dirt road with "Road Closed" signs simply pulled to the side both where I got on and off of the road. Eventually, I made it back to a 2-lane highway and found gas for $1.97 per gallon! I filled up for $12.68 and caught a little deer mouse, I think it was, while doing it! Unfortunately, the mouse got loose in the car and we could NOT find it again. Well, new pet?! :/ Oops..
Shortly after that, I caught a glance of a weird animal, maybe a couple of feet tall or so, but couldn't quite make out what it was.
It started raining HARD then but only for a few minutes at a time off and on. Lots of lightning but that didn't last long either. Funny, the lightning had been going nonstop, lighting up the whole sky, for hours the 2nd night we were in Toronto. No rain, at least of significance, near us at that time though.
When the sun started coming up, we found a place called Blue Fin Travel Center and parked for a few hours of sleep.
Day 9 - 7/20/16 (Mt Rushmore):
When we woke up, Sean used WiFi in Blue Fin to do work before we started driving again.
In under an hour, we were at the state line and entering South Dakota!
We exited a few miles down the road to take a peek at Sioux Falls, SD. The population there was under 125k but was still the highest of anywhere in the state. There were lots of tiny casinos there, some even in/attached to gas stations, but almost none were any bigger than a house and most of them seemed a little old or run down. We stopped in one called Red Eye but there were only a handful of slot machines, the rest of the space was taken by a couple of pool tables and and bar, and the total of maybe 6 people there - including the bartender just stared at us, rubbernecking as we walked by. The other little casinos looked similar so we didn't bother. There was a much bigger casino called Grand Falls but we called to check and were told they didn't offer freeplay for new signups there. Seemed to be the case most places in the region.
In Sioux Falls we found a pretty area called Falls Park. Lots of mini waterfalls there.
Cheap gas in Sioux Falls. We stopped at a Kum & Go station to put $7 or $8 in at $1.86/gallon. We downloaded their phone app while there too and took advantage of a deal they had one: $1 for 2 slices of pizza. Cheap and delicious!
A little further along the 90 West freeway, we saw a giant bull head and some other odd sculptures. The place was called Porter Sculpture Park and the bull head was the world's largest bull head. :p
We put about $10 in the gas tank again again a fair while after that.
We'd been seeing signs for some place called Wall Drug for a couple of hours or so so when we finally got to the exit for it (exit 110) we caved and stopped for a look. It was kind of like a smaller version of Old Sacramento with lots of shops, various gimmicks, and an old western style about it. (The drug store that started it all there WAS from 1931). The coolest thing I saw there though was their 80 ft dinosaur statue overlooking the freeway!
I think it was close to an hour later when we reached Rapid City, SD. We were low on oil so we pulled off at a gas station called Big D there to get a couple of quarts. Sean got a $1 scratch card while there and doubled his money. (He'd been begging to get one the whole trip!)
The last town as we approached Mt Rushmore was Keystone. It was pretty much at Mt Rushmore, actually. Maybe 1 mile or so away? We got another quick $5 gas in there.
Then we were at Mt Rushmore for the first time! Admission to see it was free and we parked 1/4 mile from the designated lot and walked in to avoid the $11 parking fee. There was a big gift shop and other neat things to see on the way to the viewpoints including a walkway adorned with flags and plaques for each of the 50 United States. There were more trees near and obstructing the view from certain angles of the presidents' faces than I'd expected and for some reason I thought they'd look larger from the lookout points there than they did but it was still every bit as impressive as I'd thought it would be! In fact, the way the eyes on each head and the glasses on Teddy Roosevelt were done in an ingenious way I'd never realized til seeing it in person. So cool! Obviously, we took tons of pictures and videos. Probably the biggest highlight of our trip!
We started towards Alliance, NE then for our first look at Nebraska. We had to journey to Denver anyway so going to Alliance added less than an hour onto the drive and neither of us had been to Nebraska before.
The unfinished Crazy Horse Memorial was just off the road as we started driving but it was too dark out by then to see much of anything and it'd cost us $22 to get in and try to see anything anyway so we didn't bother. Maybe if we end up back there again during daylight for some reason or if it ends up being completed in our lifetimes.
We stopped to get drink refills at a gas station called Fresh Start and noticed they had a text offer for $0.20 off per gallon. Paying cash and getting the text discount, gas was $2.14/gallon. We took advantage and filled up with $18.43 before leaving that little town.
It was dark and completely dead for a short while after that til we reached the most interesting-looking, adorable town of Hot Springs, SD (population 3,711).
There was a casino just a little off route for us called Prairie Wind Casino. Visiting it added 30 minutes to the travel time but it was worth it, mostly because we wanted some caffeine and I'm not sure there were many other options to remedy that popping up soon. Also, we'd seen online that they had a refer a friend promotion so Sean signed up for their players club, got $10 freeplay, referred me, and got another $10 freeplay. I got $10 freeplay for signing up too. At the end of it all, we had $21.60 in free money and tea and coffee to show for it! Used the WiFi to do some work before moving on too!
At 1:35am, we reached Nebraska but there was no state sign to be seen! :( There was one for south Dakota across through
In a town called Chadron (population a little under 6k), we got food at a McDonald's and parked across the street at a Maverik station to eat and watch Mr. Bean on Sean's laptop. While there, we spotted 3 deer behind the building and walked over a little closer to see them.
Finally, it was time to get some rest in the car. The was a Walmart with WiFi next to us so we went there for the night.
Day 10 - 7/21/16 (Through Nebraska to Denver):
In the morning, we washed up in Walmart a bit, used their WiFi to get a little work done, and bought a little food and more oil to fill the car up. We didn't seem to have a leak but apparently the car was almost empty when sold to us, despite the dealer having said he'd filled all the fluids before we arrived. :/
Driving through Nebraska, the landscape was pretty wide open and covered in half-dry, half-green, grassy fields rolling over shallow hills when not completely flat.
Less than an hour from Walmart, we reached Alliance, NE! Not much to see there, mostly just tons of farms and a few businesses, but they DID have a version of Stonehenge made with vehicles (instead of rock) called Carhenge! It was only a few minutes out of the way so we got drinks at a Maverik station in town first and then headed to Carhenge for a look!
Some strange mountains and plateaus appeared in the distance a little later, still amidst endless fields.
We'd seen plenty of livestock and some other animals this trip but it was a cool surprise when we saw a bull right next to the road
Just after that, we were in Wyoming for Sean's 1st time, my 2nd!
La Grange (population 338?) wasn't far from there. Not much to see but we passed a group of people and they waved at us!
In Cheyenne, we didn't spend much time but we got a couple of pics and a video at the Wyoming Capitol Building and went to Plush Cue Family Billiards 1 mile away. I wanted to show Sean the one and only dance game location I'd found in the area years ago but it was closed when we arrived. It was 6pm on a Thursday so it should've been open. The place was still full of games and pool tables so we weren't sure if it was permanently closed down but it looked like it soon would be if it wasn't already. We couldn't see DDR or any music games anymore either, unless they were hidden somewhere. :/
We filled up at a Flying J for about $20 then.
In Denver, we didn't stop but we got good views, pics, and vids of the city and the Broncos stadium from the freeway on the way to Lakewood, CO (adjacent to Denver) to drop off our Uship delivery! Things went smoothly when we arrived at the customer's house. We had a short little chat and then headed out with our first Uship payment finally on its way!
4 minutes away was a Goodwill store. We stopped for a look but didn't buy anything.
Just starting back towards Vegas then, we saw a sign for Buffalo Bills' grave and exited the freeway for a look. It was several miles out of the way up Lookout Mountain in a park in Golden, CO. The park was closed but we parked just outside it and walked in anyway. From there, we had a really nice view of the city lights, especially through the $0.25 binocular things there. The gift shop was closed but we found the grave and got more cool pics and vids of it. Found $2 on the ground while there too!
A bit after that, we detoured a little to check out Black Hawk, CO and Central City, CO. The placed were only 1 or 2 miles apart several miles off the freeway and up to an elevation of maybe 8,000 ft. The area was SOOO drastically and completely different. It was much cooler temperature-wise, so peaceful, quiet, kinda dead, seemingly isolated amongst the mountains, heaving with casinos, and nothing like you'd likelt expect without seeing it for yourself.
Black Hawk came first. There, we stopped in quite a few of the casinos as follows:
-Isle of Capri Casino. We got free drinks there, signed up for the players club, and were given a choice for doing so: $5 in freeplay or $10 in food credit per person. We were pretty hungry and it was way better value so we weng with the food and got two big, delicious burritos from their cafe for only $2.15! Insane.
-Monarch casino: No freeplay but they had free drinks - even cappuccino!
-Golden Gates/Golden Gulch/Mardi Gras (3-in-one casino). Sean got $3 and I got $5 freeplay for signing up. We profited $5.25.
-Lodge Casino: No freeplay but we found $1, got some drinks (they had a bit if selection including fountain drinks in a weird soda machine!), and used a FREE photo booth they had there for a couple sets of free pictures to take as souvenirs! Too fun!
-Ameristar: Big and pretty but nothing for us other than visual appeal. Maybe drinks but we'd had enough.
-Canyon Casino: Kinda small. The inside was made to look kinda like caves carved into rock in parts. Free drinks but we didn't get any.
-Z Casino: Nothing that we saw.
Too many casinos here! We wanted to stop in every one but never would've had time. We did drive to Central City for a mini look then though.
In both towns, they were seriously ID crazy and hadn't developed the most efficient method of ID'ing either so it got a little annoying. We had to dhow ID 2 to 3 times per casino on average. If we got a wristband from them the first time, it would only be 2 times (once at the players club and once to the first security guard who spotted us).
Central City was very dead. Mostly like Black Hawk but just smaller and more dead, at least when we arrived. It was cute and really amusing though! The casinos we visited there:
-Johnny Z's: Linked to Z Casino.
-Century Casino: The players club was closed for the night but we found $0.37, turned it into $1.54 on some slot machine, got some beverages (they had that weird soda machine we'd seen in Lodge Casino), and used their wifi to do some work.
-Reserve Casinos: We got our last free drinks for the night, got $5 freeplay each for signing up, and left with $7.50 profit.
We were getting tired then so we finally called it a night and headed back through the middle of nowhere for several miles til we reached the 70 W freeway. 475 miles to go there til reaching the 15 S to Vegas! First though, we needed some sleep. The sun was already coming up! We tried to stop at a rest area in a town called Georgetown but couldn't find the rest area off the exit. The town was pretty neat to look at though, as were many of the towns we saw up there in the mountains.
We were winding up and down, through and around the mountains. It got pretty chilly up high by the time we found a good rest area to get a nap in at. There, we ate some burrito leftovers, watched some Mr. Bean, and cuddled up in the now-empty back of the car to for a sleep sleep.
Day 11 - 7/22/16 (Home):
We hadn't noticed before sleep but after waking up again a few hours later we noticed there was a great view from the rest area.
We got going again, getting $5 gas at a Kum & Go on the way.
Coming into Grand Junction, CO, I wanted to take Sean to the only dance game location I'd ever played at there: GJ Scores. I Google'd it but found it'd be permanently closed down. :( We did visit the only dance game location still listed on ddrfreak though. The place:
Bananas Fun Park
2469 Riverside Pkwy
Grand Junction, CO
We didn't have high hopes that they'd still have a dance game, as the location's last ddrfreak update was in 2005, so we weren't disappointed when we arrived and they had not music games whatsoever. It was a shame to delete the last place in town from ddrfreak but at least it was on the way and not far from where we were going for gas:
A few minutes from there, we filled up with $14.82 at Sam's Club.
We tried to go to a Goodwill Clearance Store 4 minutes away then but it ended up being a regular Goodwill retail store. On the bright side, they had free tea and coffee! We got one of each, bought a couple of bit, and donated some change to support their cause.
We had some work deadlines approaching so found a McDonald's, used some wifi to catch up a bit, and used app coupons we had to get a free McDouble each.
As expected, nothing other than the landscape caught our attention til the Utah state line.
Quite a few lookouts on the way. We stopped at a cool one called Black Dragon Canyon view point to get a few shots.
In Salina, UT, we exited to get gas at Maverik. The station was 2 miles off the road near downtown Salina which, til now, we'd never even known existed. It was like a tiny, secret town you'd never know was there without following a gas sign off the exit. We put ~$14 in the tank, got a drink refill, and bought some chicken popper things. Then we did a quick drive through Salina for a look before getting back on the freeway.
The Arizona state line finally appeared, then Nevada,....then we were FINALLY home introducing the Prius to our Mustang and recovering before The Art of Rap concert we'd be going to the next night! Mobb Deep, Kurtis Blow, Naughty by Nature, EPMD, Sugarhill Gang, Grandmaster's Furious Five, and Public Enemy all in one place and all in one night. Holy shit.
I'd forgotten to look at the mileage when we got in our Prius for the first time but the mileage we'd found it listed for sale with was 208,006. When we got it into our driveway for the first time, we were at 212,649. That's a difference of $4,643!! I don't know if a few hundred miles could've been added on before we picked the car up (and I'm too lazy to work it out) but I know we'd done at least close to 4k miles getting the car home, if not well over. Definitely a new record for the both of us. Wonder how long it'll be until we top it?! :o
