Thursday 5-1-25 Happy May Day, Playing Pinball & Moving On

 

May Day

 

May Day is an European festival of ancient origins, it celebrate the beginning of the summer, about halfway between the Northern Hemisphere's spring equinox and midsummer solstice.

Last night around 10:00 a storm came through our campground. There was a lot of rain and strong winds. The winds rocked the Minnie back and forth. At 10:45 the power went out and everything switched over to battery power or propane. When Larry got up at 6:00 this morning a park worker had just restored the power. I got up about 6:30 and made oatmeal for breakfast. The rain had stopped in early morning. It wasn't bad sleeping without power because the temperature had dropped and Larry cracked the vent. 

After breakfast we got ready to go, the rain had gone away and the clouds were breaking up. I went over to the bathroom and noticed, there were a few branches from the trees down throughout the campground. I walked by the river and it was very high. Yesterday, when I was walking around a couple of park workers told me they were keeping an eye on the river because it was suppose to rise 13 feet. If it did we would have to leave. We were glad it didn't happen. When I got back we finished putting things down and secured.

 

The river at the campground

 

 

 

 

Branches down in the campground

As we were leaving the park we had to wait a few minutes because the storm had blown a tree over and it was laying across the main road. A couple of workers were using a chainsaw to cut it in pieces so they could move it. Once they had a lane open we were able to leave. As we were going down the road we saw more small limbs in the road. It was a strong storm. 

Larry drove 240 miles today on four lane highways. As we were driving towards Springfield we saw lots of destroyed billboards, but the roads were in good shape. We had been watching the weather for a few days and Springfield had gotten hit hard with tornadoes and heavy rain. We saw a lot of dead armadillos, which was a big surprise.

When we got to Springfield, which was 154 miles from the campground we stopped at Meta Games Unlimited to play pinball. Before playing pinball we had lunch next door at Firehouse Subs. We shared a New York Steamer sub and chips. The sandwich was very good.

After lunch we went next door. Larry talked to one of the owners at Meta Games about the store and the games. Matt was very happy to help. He explained how the store started over 20 years. The owner was a 20 year old guy at the time. Matt and his friend knew him and joined him in the business later on because they were too young to work. It was very interesting learning about the background of the store. We had no idea how popular board gaming was and we knew nothing about the games they play. They have tournaments on Saturdays and people from all over come and play the games. They get between 20 and 40 participants. 

We were there for almost two hours playing pinball. We played Godzilla, Foo Fighters, Dungeons & Dragons, Rush, Iron Man, Metallic, Jurassic Park, Indianapolis 500 and Monster Bash. The price to play pinball on most of the games were .75 for one game and $2.00 for three games. We ended up playing Iron Man seven times because we kept getting an extra game. We had a super time.

 

Dungeons & Dragons

 

Foo Fighters

 

Godzilla

 

Indianapolis 500

 

 

 

Iron Man

 

 

Jurassic Park

 

Metallica

 

 

Monster Bash

 

 

Having fun playing pinball

 

 

Larry playing Rush

 

After playing pinball we were back on the road. Larry drove another 86 miles to Downstream Casino & Resort. We arrived around 3:00. We found a site for the night, which was #12. Then we walked over to the gift shop to register. I'm a card member for the casino so it was easy to register. It was free to stay but you had to let them know what site you were in. Larry went back to the Minnie and I stayed for a couple of hours and gambled. Then I went back to the Minnie for dinner. After dinner I went back for a couple more hours. By the end of the evening I came back with $36.00 in my pocket. I had won $16.00. It was great entertainment for four hours.

 

Sunset at Downstream Casino & Resort

While I gambled Larry did research on where we are going to stay tomorrow. He found a Corp of Engineers park, he had to pay for two nights because it was the weekend. Not sure if we will be there one or two nights. That's ok because we get the camping for half price. 

When I got back I read for a bit. Then I did the event in Solitaire, was Event: World Tour Mini of 10 games. It took me 32 minutes and 01 second to complete, which put me in 10th place in my group. Then I played Angry Birds. I ended up only doing 6,000 steps today.