Friday 10-4-24 We're Home

 

 

Home Sweet Home

Today I woke up at 7:00. Then we had a quick breakfast. We're going home. Larry drove 135 miles to get home. 

We got home by 10:30 and unloaded the Minnie. Then I put everything away and started doing laundry. Larry turned on the water to the house, backed up the computers and started read his e-mail. 

Larry did some work on the pinball machine. He loaded up a new version of Marty's Willy Wonka, both in 2D and Virtual Reality. 

A few months ago when they had updated the pinball software it broke Metallica. While we were on vacation they updated Metallica so he loaded the new version. It works excellently. 

Larry had fun playing both Willy Wonka and Metallica. Then I played the games and had fun.

After playing pinball we started catching up on our YouTuber videos we follow. After Larry went to bed I watched Sherlock Holmes from our movies collection. I ended up doing 18,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group.

Thursday 10-3-24 Bishop Cidercade & Loyd Park

Bob Pool Lake

 

We had an outstanding day. 

I woke up at 7:30 and made pancakes for breakfast. Then we read a little bit. We left the campground at 9:20 to go play pinball at Cidercade in Arlington. It was 14 miles away from Loyd Park. As we drove we passed by the Texas Rangers Stadium and the Dallas Cowboy Stadium. Both were huge. We got to Cidercade at 9:45. Cidercade opened at 10:00.

Cidercade is a huge facility with 30 pinball machines, 300+ arcade games, shuffleboards, pool tables, skee-ball, rhythm games, fighting games, basketball throw and many more. It was well decorated for Halloween. Everywhere you looked there was some type of decoration, cobwebs were on the machines, skeletons on the tables and things were hanging from the ceiling. The employees were very friendly and helpful. The condition of the machines were super, they played well. We ended up playing for over two hours We played 22 of the 30 pinball machines, 7 arcade games and a couple games of pool. The arcade games I played were Ms Pac-Man, Bubble Bubble, Donkey Kong, Donkey Kong Junior, Popeye and Mappy. I didn't do too well on the arcade games because I haven't played them in a very long time. Larry and I both played Video Pinball. We played a giant two man Pong. The one we got for Louise is a lot more fun. I shot some hoops, my score was 22 points in a minute. We had a super time at Bishop Cidercade.

 

Cidercade entrance

 

 

 

 

Happy Halloween

 

 

Just hanging around with friends

 

Welcome 

Some of the pinball machines

Jurassic Park

Guardians of the Galaxy

Jaws

Attack From Mars with LED lights

Elvis

Terminator

 

 

Elvira House of Horrors

 

 

Shooting pool

Bubble Bubble

Donkey Kong Junior

Popeye

Playing video pinball

Cidercade wasn't setup to serve food, but was in the process of getting it done. They said you could go get food, bring it back and eat it there. We went across the parking lot and had lunch at The Cartel Taco Bar. We shared a cheese burger and fries. I know we went to a Mexican food place and had a burger. It was very informal. You place your order at the counter, they give you a buzzer, when it vibrates and go and get your order. The place was very clean, employees were friendly and the food was delicious. They did have a bar and outside seating. 

 

The Cartel Taco Bar

 

Our lunch

Once we got back to Loyd Park we spent the rest of the day reading. 

After dinner I walked around for 45 minutes to get some of my steps. By the end of the day I got 17,500 steps, which puts me 3rd place in my group.

        

 

Wednesday 10-2-24 Back in Texas & Loyd Park

 

Back in Texas

This morning I slept until 7:30 because we only had 90 miles to go to our next destination. I made mini waffles for breakfast. Then we put things away and secured. Yesterday when we got our site at WinStar World Casino, Larry filled the Minnie with water and dumped the tanks. This morning he didn't have to do this project, which got us on the road by 8:30.

WinStar was only a couple of miles from the Texas stateline. They also own a smaller casino called the Border Casino, which is right across the stateline. Today's drive was strictly via interstates. When we got close to Dallas/Fort Worth area parts of the interstate were toll. We have a toll tag so it will be taken out of our account. We also drove tolls roads in Oklahoma and Kansas, our toll tag works in all three states. We drove around Dallas and there still was a lot of traffic and road construction. I'm glad Larry was driving because it would be too nerve racking for me. We had to drive through Irving to get to Grand Prairie, where are destination was at Loyd Park. 

We were at the park by 10:15. We didn't have a reservation so Larry had to check in at the office. He had no problem getting a site. The lady in the office just assigned us a site and was very nice. We'll be here for a couple of nights. 

Our site was right by a bathroom with showers and is heated. The other bathrooms have showers but aren't heated. The site has water and power, a covered ramada over the picnic table, the RV is on blacktop, there's a fire ring in the ground, charcoal grills and a lot of trees. 

Loyd Park is on the west shore of Joe Pool Lake. It has 221 sites (water, 30-amp and 50-amp), full hook-ups are available, 8 lake front cabins, group campsites, swimming beach and bathhouse, boat ramp (four lanes, boat dock, camp store, kayak and canoe rentals, hike and bike trails, paddle trail, 28-room lodge, free Wi-Fi, golf cart rentals, a historic 2-bedroom cabin with a hot tub, playground and picnic areas. The park is beautiful with a lot of trees.

 

 

 

Camping at Loyd Park

 

 

Joe Pool Lake

Playground at the day area

The beach area

A bridge, that crosses over a creek

 

We spent the day relaxing with a book. I finished reading Jubilee by Margaret Walker. It was a good book about the life of a female slave. Then I started reading Sherlock Holmes and the Mayfair Murders by David Britland. Larry finished a book and started another one.

In the evening I walked around for an hour to get some steps. By the end of the day I had 17,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.        

   

Tuesday 10-1-24 WinStar World Casino and Resort

 

WinStar World Casino and Resort

 

I woke up at 7:00 and got dressed. Then I made mini waffles for breakfast. We were in no hurry to leave Green RV Park because we only had about 80 miles to go.

We were on the road by 8:15. Our drive was strictly interstate. Before we got to our destination we stopped and filled the Minnie with gas. We arrived at WinStar World Casino and Resort by 10:00. 

We have been to WinStar a few times, when we have been here before the temperatures have been cool and we stayed in the parking lot. Since then they have built their own RV park and today's temperature was certainly not going to be cool. They have a promotional going on, if you sign up for their players club they give you a free night in their RV park. If you extend your stay it's $35 during the week. Larry signed me up for their club. The lady, who helped us told me now that I'm a member I just had to go into the main entrance and ask about the promotions for the first time members. She was very helpful and gave us site right next to the restrooms and showers.

WinStar RV Park is beautiful and incredibly well maintained. It's huge. It has a pool, a couple of restrooms, hoops and pavilions. The have a shuttle bus, that takes you back and forth to the casino.

 

Playground for the kids at WinStar RV Park

Camping at WinStar RV Park

 

The bathhouse

We had lunch and then I went over to the casino to gamble. I gambled for a couple of hours. I was going to walk over to the casino but I couldn't figure out how to get out of the RV park. The shuttle was there so I took it. I was glad because it was hot and the casino was pretty far. I got off the shuttle at New York and got information on being a member. The lady gave me a candy bar and told me all about the promotions for first time members. I played for a couple of hours. Then I took the shuttle back to Larry.         

After dinner I went back for another two and a half hours. I had a great time. I didn't figure out how to get my free stuff. When you get your first point you should get $15 free spins. When you get 25 points you get an extra $15. I guess maybe I didn't gamble on the right machines. That was ok I came back with $5 out of the $20 after giving the shuttle driver a dollar tip. I gambled in the non-smoking area. We had a map on where they were located. I spent in in New York and the Rio areas. The casino has multiple countries to gamble in. They are Beijing, Cairo, London, Madrid, New York, Paris, Rio, Rome and Vienna. The casino floor is over a mile long.

 

 

 

Rome and New York 

Paris and Vienna

Madrid and Cairo

London and Beijing

When I got back to Larry I finished doing my steps. I ended up doing 14,000 steps, which put me in 2nd place in my group.

Sunday 9-29-24 & Monday 9-30-24 Playing Pinball & Napawalla Park

 

Two Awesome Days of Pinball

Sunday 9/29/24  The Arcade & Napawalla Park

 

Larry wanted to get an early start so I got up at 6:15. I got dressed and made a quick breakfast of cinnamon raisin bagels. Concordia City Park was a great overnight place to stay. It was big enough for me to walk around and get my steps. It's convenient to Walmart. 

Our next destination in Kansas was in Wichita to play pinball. The pinball place was called The Arcade and is located in downtown Wichita, 140 miles from Concordia. The drive was mainly 4 lane highway and some interstate. Larry knew it would take over 3 hours. As we drove we saw a lot of farmland. The road was rough at places. I slept on and off. When we got to Wichita we had to do a detour off of I135, they had it totally closed going south, unfortunately they didn't offer a detour, the signs simply said the road was closed and you would have to find an alternative route. We were lucky our GPS gave us an alternative route. We arrived at The Arcade about an hour and a half early. This was ok, we read in the Minnie while waiting for The Arcade to open. 

An hour before The Arcade opened the manager arrived, he said they open in an hour and we may have to move. Larry explained we were parked there because we were going to play pinball, he said in that case we were fine to stay parked there as long as we wanted.

The Arcade is a very nice place with a bar and grill, pinball machines and arcade machines. The pinball machines work on tokens (4 tokens for a dollar). Then if you put four tokens in the machine you can play 3 games. If you just want to play arcade machines you pay one price for the day. For adults (11 years and up) $12.00 and kids (10 years and younger) $10. 00. When you pay they give you a wrist band to wear. You can also reserve a room for private parties. Outside they have other games, a giant chess board and blocks to turn for young children. They have their menu on the internet, made it easy to plan what you want. The pinball machines are in one row and the arcade machines behind them in their own area. They have headphone jacks installed in the pinball machines. We seldom see this. This is great because you can listen to the game and be able to hear the call-outs. We played games that are new or popular (John Wick, Foo Fighter, Jaws and Venom) and some games we have played other places (Iron Man, The Mandalorian, Fun House, Ted & Red Road Show, Godzilla, Metallica and Batman). They had other games. Each pinball machine had a camera displaying part of the play-field. There were three gentlemen who spent all their time playing one game. One played The Addams Family, another played Elvira Party House and the third one played Jaws. For lunch we had a delicious BBQ Bacon Delight burger. It was a 1/4 lb burger with barbecue sauce, tomatoes and crispy string onions on a kaiser roll. The sandwiches come with tater tots. We played an hour, had lunch, and then played another hour. The gentleman, who managed the place was very friendly and explained how everything worked. He made sure our stay was very enjoyable. He also said, that the owners were two guys and the games were out of their own collections. The machines were in excellent condition and some looked brand new.

The Arcade

 

Giant chess board outside

 

The pinball machines

 

 

 

Getting ready to play

 

 

John Wick

 

Ted & Red Road Show

 

Larry playing Metallica

 

Lunch

Godzilla

The Mandalorian

 

Fun House

 

After playing pinball and thanking the gentleman for an outstanding time we went back to the Minnie. We were on the road once again. Our final destination for the day was 40 miles away in Oxford, Kansas. Their city park is called Napawalla Park. Napawalla Park is $15.00 per day for electric and water sites. It's a self-service pay system, you fill out an envelope, put your payment in the envelope, seal the envelope and slot the envelope. It has restrooms and showers. The sites are in a grassy field and some of them have shade because of the trees. It has a couple of covered pavilions and a playground.

 

Napawalla Park entrance sign

 

The playground

 

After dinner, when it cooled off a bit I walked around for an hour and a half to get some of my steps. I ended up doing 17,000 steps, which put me in 3rd place in my group for the week with 113,438 steps.   

 

 

Welcome to Oklahoma

Monday 9-30-24  Cactus Jack's & Green RV Park 

I woke up once again at 6:30. I got dressed, we had a quick breakfast and got ready to move on. After breakfast we put everything away and secured. We had a great time at Napawalla Park. We were on the road by 7:00.

Our next destination was Oklahoma City. It was 140 miles away. The drive was interstate all the way. When we got to Oklahoma the roads became rough and at times it was very rough. We stopped at a visitor center to pick up a map and to stretch our legs. We were surprised that they lock the gates to the parking lot at 5:30 and they had a lot of workers in the center. It was a nice facility.

 

Welcome sign at the visitor center

 

After stretching our legs we were back on the interstate. Our next destination was Cactus Jack's Family Fun Center to play pinball. We were here in the spring so we knew what to expect. We had a great time and today was no different. We arrived there a hour early so we relaxed for the hour, for lunch we had a salad. Cactus Jack's doesn't sell any food or drinks so we had lunch in The Minnie. 

After lunch we went inside and played pinball for an hour and a half. We played Elton John, Attack From Mars, Medieval Madness, Scared Stiff, Elvira House of Horrors, Aerosmith, Ghost Busters, Star Wars, Cactus Canyon, Whoa Nellie!, Black Knight, Godzilla, The Munsters, Venom, Rush, Iron Maiden, Guns & Roses and White Waters. Cactus Jack had more pinball machines and a room full of arcade games. The pinball games were $.75 and $1.00 per game and you use quarters, which you purchase from the owner. No food or drinks were allowed in Cactus Jack's. The owner was very friendly and nice. We had a super hour and a half of playing pinball.

 

 

Some of the pinball machines

  

Playing pinball

Larry playing Elvira House of Horrors

 

Attack From Mars

 

Black Knight

Elton John

 

 

 

Iron Maiden

 

 

Medieval Madness

 

Rush

 

Star Wars

 

The Munsters

 

After playing pinball and thanking the owner we went back to the Minnie. Larry called a couple of RV parks to see what was available. The first park was full but the second park, Green RV Park had a few sites available. This was great, it was 70 miles from Cactus Jack's and closer to where will be tomorrow. 

Green RV Park is an old park. The sites are off a gravel road and close to each other. There was no shade but it was only $30 a night for full hookups and we were only going to be there for the night. We were super happy to get power and a place to stay at a reasonable price. 

We had another super day of playing pinball.