Nice show in Tunica ... small, but nice.... once we got there.

Started out early morning last Wednesday in Newark NJ on American Airlines to Chicago... then all downhill from there. Two cancelled flights and six gate changes at Chicago ..... eventually re-routed through Minneapolis to Memphis via Northwest Airlines because of bad hail storm. Arrived in Minneapolis five minutes too late for connecting flight to Memphis ... next flight two hours later.

Arrived in Memphis at 10:30 pm ... no baggage. Picked up rental car at Alamo.... should have been there at noon... got to hotel (half-hours drive away) around midnight. Reserved room was given away .... but we were put in a very nice upgraded two-room suite at no extra charge at Fitzgeralds. Baggage didn't catch up with us until a day later.

Southern hospitality was found in large abundance all over Mississippi and Tennesee. Hotel front desk; restaurant and buffet waiters; greeters; dealers could not have been more pleasant and friendly. Not only in the casinos, but from strangers on the streets; at yard sales; in Memphis; ... and downtown Tunica 15 miles away from the casinos (which are actually in Robbinsonville) where Brenda and I visited Tunica's annual homespun "Harvest Festival".

Graceland tour of Elvis Presley's mansion and estate in Memphis on Thursday afternoon was awesome and well worth the admission charge for the tours. I would recommend it to anyone who is visiting the area in the future.

Traded close to 100 slot cards and hotel keys at the Thursday evening trade session. Ate like a pig on two-for-one and even free buffets during the weekend with the O'Neals when signing up for slot cards as new members.... and harvesting duplicate cards. Found slot machines to be much looser than Vegas or A.C. on small payouts (under 50 coins). Brenda liked the Betty Boops ... I stayed with the more traditional RWB's...

Moved from our nice suite at Fitzgerald's to a newly decorated very nice spacious hotel room at Harrah's on Friday morning. Went to see Lou Rawles on Saturday night at Horseshoe who put on an outstanding standing-ovation blues show.

Met lots of new folks for the first time at the show and signed up a couple of new chapter members at the slab-free table. Jim and Debbie Kruse did an excellent job with the room set-up ... after an initial scare from Gaming who had threatened not to allow the show to go on. After giving assurances from Jim that no live Harrahs chips or tokens were to be traded or sold by any of the dealers .... and signs posted at each table to that effect ... a sigh of relief was exhaled.

Lots of email and bb post catching up to do today .... and sleeping.

Good night all..... zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.