Early in the morning, a woman and a man got into an argument, and the lady was screaming obscenities, while the man remained docile. That went on for a minute or two.
To top that off, sometime around 8:00 am, someone in a nearby camp site started blasting music. I thought this guy must have been going to a rock concert and got lost and ended up at the state park. The music went on for about 5 minutes. The music was so loud it rattled through the entire camping area.
I finally decided to leave late in the morning after having a long night and morning, and having so many rowdy groups. How can so many inconsiderate people end up at the same state park at the same time. Was there some rude convention that weekend I didn't know about? Nevertheless, I managed to get enough rest for the long road ahead, and I was very glad to be out of there. There was about 1000 miles left to be driven before I would arrive home in Houston, Texas.
The day was spent driving through Virgina and North Carolina. Virginia had more of the same scenery as West Virginia, but not quite the contrast of mountains and valleys, but picturesque nontheless. I stopped at an Autozone to pick up a quart of oil, which was latered drained into the Cresseida's engine, but it turned out the engine didn't burn too much oil. The oil was dark after 6000 miles of driving.
The first thing I noticed entering North Carolina on a country road was a Christmas tree farm (also known as fir trees). So this was the state where all those Christmas trees are purchased in November, and end up abandoned down on the beach or somewhere if not disposed of. Till this day, I still cannot understand why people do not use reusable artificial tress, but instead, they make Christmas a tradition of tree killing. In a way, it's like people having to start a camp fire to truly feel like they are camping. But it is an industry, and supply only continues with demand, and I suppose the trees are grown to die.
At our home, we've used an artificial tree my mom purchased about 20 years ago. About 5 years ago, she packed it to throw, but I salvaged it before she could trash it, and we still have it today. Although we don't put up a Christmas tree anymore, we still own it, and one year, a friend borrowed it for her apartment.
Gasoline prices in Virginia and North Carolina was cheap. Much cheaper than up in New England.
North Carolina didn't have much in store for me until I ran accross a sign for a Harrah's casino in the city of Cherokee, near the Great Smoky Mountains. I really wanted to move on to make some time because the casino doesn't have any table games, but for some reason I decided to try it out since they did have skilled games involving machines. After passing the exit to the casino, I decided to take the next exit and use the country roads to get to the casino. Originally, I had plans to make only one more casino stop somewhere in Lousiana to bet big with what little I had left.
The casino was packed for a weeknight in such a small town. Cherokee itself looked like it catored to visitors because there were many low budget motels- and they looked low budget. The casino and the nearby national park was probably the main source of revenue for this native American city. I played for a couple of hours and lost $200 at Harrah's casino.
It was dark outside when I left the area, and I probably could have gotten a room comp or something, but after losing, it's not easy to stay. My gambling was done for this trip and at least for the rest of the year. My little pyschotic dream of playing big in Lousiana faded into a puff of smoke, like many other dreams we let pass us by. Of course I was angry at myself. I was at a new low- fooled myself, beaten, broken, and almost out. But life does go on, I just had to learn from these mistakes. It turned out this would be my last gambling for a while.
I was only able to drive an hour or so before stopping at a church parking lot in a small town in North Carolina to go to bed. That opporunity to get a room swayed on my mind since I didn't get very far, but then again, I may not been able to get a room.
Casino journal: North Carolina casinos are only allowed to have video games and slots. For video games, they are required to have games which involve skill, such as blackjack or video poker. Skill is important, but if the rules are set correctly to favor the house, no amount of skill will lead to winnings in the long haul, which was the case with the blackjack rules at Harrah's in Cherokee. My analysis is Harrah's in Cherokee is a terrible place, one of the worst places, to play blackjack.
Foolishly, I got on the $5 minimum ($100 maximum) 4-deck blackjack machines and played for an hour or so. I only had $200 and this was something new, to play blackjack with a machine dealing. Even with the bad rules of doubling only on 9, 10, 11, and only a single split allowed, I was able to win $100. Also, there was no way to card count since each player was at a different station around the automated dealer. Now I had $300. I made the mistake of not leaving. I cashed out the $100 and got on a different machine, and lost all $300. It was an incredible bad streak; however, I was doing okay playing by myself before a couple of ladies got on 2 other stations. I never recovered after that. Everyone I played with at both machines had lost, and as usual, I tend to be the last to leave because I would usually make my money back playing pure basic strategy (in this case I hit on soft 18's against dealer 10-up card.) Without other good rules, such as doubling down on any 2 cards and replitting pairs, I should have left while I was lucky to be ahead. This was the first time I mentioned luck in my playing, because it was luck, and in the long run, with these rules, I expected to lose all gains, and I did. It wasn't long, but it sure was fast.
