Good morning,
We are home from our 12th, and last trip of the season. We went back to Indiana Dunes State Park, which was also our 3rd, 7th, and 9th trip this year. We stay at this park often because it's only 45 min to downtown Chicago, and all it has to offer. It was a wet dreary weekend, and we were surprised to see so many tenters this late in the camping season. The temps got down in the low 40's at night.
We arrived around 3pm their time. The coast of Indiana is on Chicago time. Lansing is eastern time, Chicago, central time.
We decided for our anniversary, we'd have a casino weekend. There are 5 casino's near Indiana Dunes. 1 in East Chicago, 2 in Hammond, 1 in Michigan City, and 1 in New Buffalo, just across the state line in Michigan. All 5 less than 30 min from our campground. Now I know what your going to say, 'why go if you never win'. Well, we realise that and go for just the entertainment aspect. If you go without expectations, you can have a lot of fun.
So with the afternoon open, off to the Blue Chip Casino in Michigan City, just a short, 10 min drive.
This is a nice small casino, and never real busy. Probably because the extremely nice Four Winds casino opened 3 years ago just 20 miles north of here. Now, we did real good here the last time we came, but today, not so well. So it was back to the campground after about 2 hours. And since it was our anniversary, a treat! We stopped at Popeye's for some spicy chicken. They have the best Cajun Chicken!
Then Saturday morning, it was off to Chicago! Who doesn't love Chicago! Well, maybe except for the traffic. But we went in, did some shopping, and then it was off to East Chicago, and the Horseshoe Casino. This was the first time we've been to this one, and it was Vegas all the way! Big shiny ornate Chandeliers hung everywhere! Very posh! And we didn't stay long. The machines were quite expensive. This casino obviously caters to a different crowd. So our next stop was the smaller Ameristar Casino. Now the casino's in Indiana have to be on water, and the Blue chip and Horseshoe are built on large barges, floating on water. The Ameristar is an actual ship, with four floors of gambling. So back to the car.
But then, an incident happens. We get in the car, and it won't start. And by that, I mean Craig puts the key in the ignition, and it won't turn. He tried and tried, and then tried my key and no go. The ignition was frozen. He jerked and jerked on the steering wheel hoping that'd free it up, but nothing! Great! In a parking ramp and the car won't start. I said, we'll just have to call Good Sam's emergency road service. But he kept trying, and it finally turned! So now, he's afraid to turn it off. So do we go to the Ameristar, or back to the campground? I said we have road service, so I say continue. He's worried. And for anyone who knows Craig, he's a worrier. So I say, if your going to worry about the car not starting and want to go back to the campground, we might as well cancel the rest of the trip, load up the car, and head home. And I knew what his answer would be. No, he didn't want to cancel the rest of the trip. But he decided, no more parking ramps, only lots where he can back in, in case we need a tow truck. I said fine, let's continue on then. So it was off to the Ameristar Casino. We parked outside in a lot near the ramp. Now this was a fun casino! the smallest of them all, but we were doing good on the machines. We stopped an hour in to eat at one of the restaurants, then back to the machines. After about 2 hours of fun, we actually left with about a $20 profit! Cool! But would the car start? No.....
Actually, it didn't start right away, but eventually it did start, so then back to the campground.
It was actually nice enough out, to take a walk, and see how busy the campground was.
Sunday morning was mild, and we made our coffee, and did our morning walk. Many more motor homes than usual. Probably people on their way south for the season.
Then, it was the off to the Four Winds Casino. But would the car start? Yes! It started right up! Go figure! Now unlike the other casino's we've been to, this is an Indian Casino, and it is really nice. Not posh like the Horseshoe, but very well decorated. And this was also a fun casino. We managed to spend a few hours, and left down only about $40. So we decided to finish back were we started, the Blue Chip. And this time we did a little better. All and all, we ended the weekend with more money to take back home than we planned, so not a winner, but certainly not losing as much as budgeted. And we cooked pork steaks on the grill, and Craig made a tasty pasta salad. We walked some more and had a nice campfire that evening. It rained all night, but quit before morning, so an easy time breaking down our site and loading up the car, which started right up again. And has since then, so I don't know what happened, but it seems to be fine now. And I know, if I take it in to get checked, because it is currently working, they'll probably not be able to tell me what happened. So I guess we'll just take our chances with it.
So we arrived back home safe, and now the process of emptying out the mo-ho, and getting it ready for another long Michigan winter.
If the key won't turn in the ignition, it sounds like an ignition switch problem OR the steering wheel was "locked". It's REAL HARD to turn but if you get it just right, it will unlock as you try the key. Again, turn the key and turn the steering wheel at the SAME time. It's a pain. Being in the automotive business, it's a popular problem. I've had to talk customers through this dozens of times.
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