Tunica Resorts, Mississippi.

Earl and I are in Memphis for the weekend. He has been working here this week and I flew own on Thursday night to join him for a weekend together before heading back on Sunday evening. Yesterday I was a Digital Nomad in full effect, working from our hotel room, a Starbucks and a hotel lobby. I got a lot done yesterday. Travel is inspiring to me.

We’ve been steadily working on our “visit all the states” to do item for the past twenty years. We have a rule about this in that airport layovers don’t count, we have to drive at least 50 miles in the states and spend at least two hours there. Last night we added Mississippi to the list, as we drove from Memphis to Tunica Resorts to see what the casinos were like.

While there is no “strip”, the casinos have brightly colored, flashing lights, cheap buffets and plenty of opportunities to do some decent gambling. Earl learned a new card game (High Card Flush). I was going to play my usual roulette, but the energy around the roulette table didn’t seem to be inviting so I decided to play a slot machine.

Over the past few months I’ve settled into some personal rules for slot machines. Wheels have to actually spin (no CGI wheels). There needs to be a handle on the side. I stay away from the penny machines with their 40 lines and multiple bets per line; I’m most comfortable in front of a dollar machine with one line. Last night I settled on a dollar machine with a maximum bet of $2. I put in $60. I pulled the handle once, nothing. The second time I won $12. On the third pull, lights started flashing, bells started ringing and all eyes in the immediate area were on me.

Red White and Blue 7 single star, Double stars, Triple stars, all lined up on that single line. I had hit the $1,800 jackpot.

A woman promptly came over on her scooter and rubbed my shaved head for luck and wished me well. Another woman congratulated me.

“Call Attendant” was flashing on the panel so I pressed the Service button. A short, very pleasant woman dressed in a casino uniform came over and congratulated me and said “now we need to get to business.” She advised that Mississippi takes state taxes right off the top but I could wait until the end of the year to pay “the Feds” or have it taken out. I told her I’d deal with “the Feds” at the end of the year. She smiles. I provided my driver’s license and social security number. She punched a bunch of buttons to verify the win on the machine and said she’d be back shortly.

While she was gone I snuck this.

The casino attendant returned with a big smile, gave me back my credentials and a larger casino attendant. They counted my winnings back to me, congratulated me again and silenced the machine. Business in the area returned to normal. I had a huge smile.

I went over and visited Earl at his card game. He asked how I was doing and I went, “eh, I’m up.”. He asked how much and I told him. His eyes widened and he shared my big smile. It was a very enjoyable evening.