The Finale of the BOA Adventure

Once we completed Atlanta we only had the Grand Nationals in Indianapolis, Indiana left to conquer, but we had a week off in between for some rest and playtime. Originally we added Monday night so we could visit Atlanta Motor Speedway but due to the torrential downpours we decided against going to the Speedway, instead we did our laundry and some errands.

We left on Tuesday it was still raining, we drove only 230 miles to London, Kentucky and stayed at the Country Inn & Suites for one night. We headed out in the morning to our next destination and it had finally stopped raining. We arrived at the Belterra Casino Resort in Florence, Indiana, the hotel was nothing special and they charged double what we had been spending on our stays everywhere else so we would not recommend and we will not be back.

Our main purpose for staying there 2 nights was first a play night which thank goodness we won a few jackpots and most importantly to visit the Kentucky Speedway. 

They were having a great promotion and we were going to take advantage of it, for every $40 we spent on tickets or in the Gift Shop we would receive 3 laps around the track driving our vehicle.

What a rush…Traveling around 70mph on the track with the high banks is almost a third of what the racers do and I was feeling the G-Forces and could not imagine how they do it for hundreds of laps but it was a lot of fun! Too bad we didn’t have Maggie with us since she would have loved to put a few laps under her wheels!

Our next stop was in Elizabeth, Indiana at the HorseshoeSouthern Indiana Casino Resort where we stayed for 2 nights in an appropriately charged, very welcoming and clean King Bed room that we were allowed to check in early. Had some fun gaming and had a great dinner at Smoke & Rye.

To begin our meal, I had the Chili Verde which had a kick that was not overly spicy but just enough to make me want more and more…

Jerry had the regular Chili which had the right amount of spices that sent his taste buds to another place entirely and had a wonderful finish…

For our entrée we shared the best Smoked Rubbed Ribs we have tasted and an absolutely delicious Brisket Sandwich…

From there we headed back to the LaQuinta Inn & Suites in Indianapolis, Indiana where we once again worked at Lucas Oil Stadium, but this time we worked 4 long days for the Grand Nationals. We were so tired at the end but at the same time so proud of what a great job we had done throughout the prior weeks of events.

We are happy to say that we loved working for PepWear and would return anytime if they get more work like this again and we do plan on working again next September when the BOA starts up again.

All that was left of our adventure was to drive 1,000 miles back to Cedar Hill, Texas to drop off the trailer and pick up Maggie. We decided to take it slow and make sure while traveling we would also rest our aching bones.  My knee was just getting back to normal from when I had hurt it a few weeks prior when we were loading the trailer in Delaware so we wanted to just nurse our bodies back to health and since the weather was wet for most of our driving days, we just puddled jumped our way south to Texas.

Ate at a few marvelous places along our way...One of our favorites was 17th Street Barbecue in Marion, Illinois where we enjoyed not only the best service but also the tastiest appetizers...

the yummiest Moonshine drinks...

the most scrumptious sauces and sides...

and the absolute most flavorful and tenderest ribs and brisket ever...

we even took some of the Magic Dust home for us to use in our own cooking!

Another of our stops was in Bossier City, Louisiana where we stayed at Margaritaville Resort Casino and we had a blast. The room was a fantastic deal with a perfect shower and a marvelous King Size bed with these huge pillows and…we soon found out that with the exception of Nevada Casinos, usually all others do not offer free alcoholic drinks but they did and of course while at Margaritaville what better drink then to enjoy…Margarita’s! We hit a huge jackpot and left with much more than we came with which is always a great thing!

Our next step on our journey was to tour Texas MotorSpeedway but my knee had other ideas. We arrived at the speedway and paid for the tour, there was just the two of us so the driver did not bring out the step to get into the van and it being such a simple task I didn’t give it a second thought but then I put the wrong leg in first and while attempting to hoist myself into the van there was this crunching sound and excruciating pain, like nothing I had ever felt before. I then realized I could not put any weight on it at all…not at all! Jerry just about carried me back to the truck and I insisted he go on the tour without me and I would just rest my knee in the truck.

Thinking that it would just ache for a little while as it has done many times in the past few years but this time was so very different. A doctor or an emergency room was needed but since I do not believe in them I decided it just needed rest. So for the next few weeks I used crutches and/or a wheelchair to keep the weight off of it. Neither were too appealing and soon realized how inconsiderate many people are when it comes to getting out of the way…thank goodness I had Jerry! It ached a lot but the excruciating pain only happened when I tried to walk on it so I rested as much as possible but as the days past it began to feel better if I took a few steps every once in a while instead of being totally dormant as I had been for the past few weeks. Currently my knee constantly aches and at times a shooting pain runs through the knee but I can finally put some weight on it and stand for extensive periods of time, also the soakings in the springs are helping a lot.

We dropped off the truck and trailer and picked up Maggie…as usual she was a champ! After sitting for over 2 months, she started right up and gave us absolutely flawless travel days out of Texas. We had no plans and since we had most of our pay from PepWear and a few jackpots we were not concerned and actually thought it would be nice to just take the next few months off to relax and heal my knee. But then as usual our plans changed.

Long before we left Bryce Canyon, we interviewed with the Fountain of Youth in Niland, California but when PepWear got confirmed we opted out of FOY and thought we might have burnt a bridge but lo and behold out of the blue we received a call asking us if we were available and how soon we could arrive. My knee was beginning to feel better and I was attempting to walk more often but we still had a plan to go to Laughlin for some more play time and that is what we did…but in a little different way that we plan to do in all of our future visits.

We parked Maggie in the boondocking area behind the Tropicana where we got a room for 2 nights…free of charge due to our extensive travels with Hotel.com that we plan to continue to take advantage of the even more nights we still have left to use.

The room was old and worn without any extras…no coffee pot or microwave or fridge and they were even very skimpy with toiletries…we had 1 small bottle of shampoo which we had to use to wash our hands, bodies and hair since that was the only toiletry to be found. In our many visits to Laughlin this was our first stay at Tropicana and will definitely not happen again.

Also, we found the best way to get around in Laughlin…SCOOTERS! Of course our first call was to Sue at Scootaround but they do not have any in Laughlin so since it was so hard for me to walk and on the first day Jerry pushed me in the wheelchair was a real pain we found GR Scooter Rentals and Gary Kuchta delivered us 2 scooters for $60 for 24 hours…he dropped them off, we paid him cash and off we were exploring the area and we had a blast without hurting my already painful knee. From now on this will be the only way we travel while we are in Laughlin. 

We then headed to the Fountain of Youth to spend some time working part time in the Café. By the time we leave here we will be spoiled by only working 20 hours each per week and having 3 days off to enjoy ourselves soaking and checking out all the area has to offer, we have already met a bunch of nice folks.

This post has a lot of information and we did not want to include all of our reviews so look for them in the upcoming weeks and we will try to keep you all updated on a more regular basis. In the meantime, we hope you all enjoy your holidays and for the first time in a very long time we are not looking forward to ending this year but we will be welcoming the next one with open arms and hope that it comes close in comparison with our 2015 which has been the best ever!

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