This is a fairly long trip report covering a visit to the Arkell art museum with some photographs, an overnight at Turning Stone casino and a quickstop at Rivers Casino Schenectady. Sections have a label, so skim to your interests.
Arkell was having a free day and a book sale. It is just an hour from Turning Stone, so I made an overnight road trip of it.
I got the opening time wrong and arrived with an hour to wait, so I went into town, stopped at a diner and sat at the counter.
In small NY towns diners are generally friendly places. I just had cherry pie and coffee. Both were good. The coffee was very good.
He leaned over and showed me his new bass lure as a way of starting a conversation. The lure was a little artificial Duck.
“It's almost too pretty to put in the water,” he remarked.
So, it was a perfect conversation for me.
He told me how he caught bass in the river and took them to some Amish who for some of the fish would skin and fillet them.
He said others caught carp in the Mohawk river and got as much as $25 a fish from Hasidic Jews in a community nearby.
He'd had a boat, sold it, wanted to buy it back, but was rebuffed by the new owner. So, he just fished from shore.
We talked about catching nightcrawlers as kids and selling them for a penny a piece.
We both had fished flounder off Long Island and were very happy with the taste of that fish.
When Don left he picked up the $3.75, my bill for coffee and pie. Nice guy. Already I'm getting comped and I'm not even gambling yet.
ARKELL ART MUSEUM
At noon I went to the art museum. It was free and had a book sale. For $7 I bought five large art books. I rarely buy books anymore because I have so much in my library I'll never read. However, art books are full of art and reading can be just a short bit on pieces that delight me.
Already I've read about and seen a photo of a bull headed harp from Ur.
Here were my finds:
The Visual Arts: A History (must be a textbook) ( had bull headed harp information)
Michelangelo
Albany Institute of History and Art (ironic to get this one in Canajoharie)
Winslow Homer
The Graphic Work of M.C. Escher.
I also got a six CD set of interviews by Alan Chartok of Pete Seegar. I listened to one and it was just great. 50 cents for all six in the set. And a 2 CD set of The Carpenters.
a free bag of free cheez-its and a free water to go, and I took off for the hotel.
PHOTOS OF ART AT THE ARKELL
I wanted to revisit the Winslow Homer. It is rare that all seven are displayed at the same time. They often lend them to Homer exhibits.
I enjoyed them. My favorites were:
I also liked:
I like that it was discovered after being forgotten.
Peter will like this one:
TURNING STONE GAMBLING
I switched two years ago from limit to no limit. The limit games were drying up. Turning Stone dropped its 2=4 where the rake made it impossible to make and money, but on weekends had a 3-6. This game was ideal, and I'll go again just to catch it.
Half the table were regulars; a third the table were very bad players. There was a lot of action.
After a few hours, the game broke and I left down $27.
My best hand was A-K of spades with two spades on the flop. I checked and a woman bet. I called and caught the spade on the turn. I checked, she bet, I raised. I bet out on the river. She called.
I did not see her hand. She was unhappy.
One fellow took lots of people's money by catching full houses on the river. I wanted his cards.
He did not get any money for a high hand, however. They give $250 every half hour for the highest hand in the room. To qualify the hand must be a full house or better and two cards have to play. I never got on the board.
It used to be that they rarely had a 3-6 game and then it was old man regulars who were as tight as they come. The 2-4 attracted the inexperienced, but the rake overcame the ability to leave with profit. Now the inexperienced add action to the 3-6 and build pots. It really is entirely different.
They do not comp alcohol, but they have a long list of comped drinks. I chose orange and it was huge. Very nice.
The casino itself has some places where we can fill up coffee or soda ourselves. But no cups the size of this organge juice.
The next day I played 1-2 NL and I played it very, very badly. I knew I was not right to play, but I wanted at least to get a sense of the game there. It was tight. Actually, there were often more chips in the 3-6 limit the day before than in this game. So, I'll go back perhaps to stay on a Friday night and play both days.
The 3-6 limit was a happier crowd. The NL old guys on Monday were only friendly to the folks they knew. They seemed to have little sense of humor. I was slow to say I would chop and the guy to my left was surly and did not warm up.
"I was lost for a bit, sorry" I said.
"Did you find yourself?"
"Yes...... under the couch"
He was not amused.
Later he bet out of turn ahead of me.
"I guess sometimes we all get a little lost," I remarked.
Again he was arrogantly not amused.
He was often absent from the table. Perhaps he thought he was building up poker comps, but the dealers take us out of the system when we leave and put us back in when we come back. $1 an hour, but they ain't paying for bathroom breaks.
I like that. Keeps a full table.
In the old days a guy would, come and play one hand every half hour, and in doing that for a day, collect lots of comps.
The video poker paytables were a good bit lower than Rivers. I played 8-5 JOB in quarters and then found this nickel three play with multipliers that I just loved. It was good fun, but I did not pay close enough attention and could not find it again. I hit a royal in spades on one line, but with no multipliers working. Still nice.
The second day I was tired and could not find that nickel game. I played a bit and then decided to go home, but the drive refreshed me, and I took a break at Rivers casino on the way home.
I left Turning Stone down $92 for the overnight, and I hit Aces without a decent kicker and quad 3's with kicker. I played with it for a while, but when I got a good streak, I left for home up $200.
So, for this road trip I came home up $102.
I figured out that if I had the exact same hands on DDB at Turning Stone, I would have been paid $7 less. Differences in pay tables add up.
THE DRIVING
Until I got my new GPS that is not connected to the phone or the car, I did not drive much because I needed to have the directions spoken to me and the system with phone was erratic.
Having two is just great. It talks to me, and some of the information on one is not on the other. The phone connected one reminded me of speed traps ahead. The other one does not do that.
I do have to type in the addresses, but over time I'll save my favorites. Now I just bring the destination up on my phone and then use the information to set the destination on the other GPS. One cool thing is that it eliminates letters as I type if there are no roads with those particular letters so the keyboard is easier.
I love the voice I picked. Only one thing is odd. She will say to turn "on to" and then the road.
So going home she says, "Turn on to Second Dyke road." I always say that there is but one; however, she doesn't listen.
So, for the first time in a few years I am capable of driving a safe road trip. And I'm thrilled.
The Cross Trek is grand. Great lights for blind spots. Automatic slowdown if the Cruise is set faster than the car ahead. So I can set the cruise for 70 and generally drive that speed. But if some slower fellow gets in front of me, it will slow down if I stay behind him. Saves a good deal of breaking.
The police were everywhere on the Thruway going home. And they were on the route after exit 24 where the limit drops to 55. I got a ticket there once. In 1982.
HOTEL TURNING STONE INN
I arrived at the Inn at 2PM, but the room was not ready. They had sold out the night before and were behind. I left my bags and checked in. I did not get back until about 10 PM when I found they had brought my bags to the room.
I did not have supper, so munched on some potato chips.
The room 522 was nicer than the Micro Hotel near Mohegan. But I don't think they renovated it while it was closed for covid. It had a refrigerator, but it was too loud to sleep with. The people next door could be heard through the thin walls. There was a fine table for my computer and the bed was good, but I'm rarely fussy.
Ice was nearby. It was on the first floor, amusingly called room 522, and at the end of the hall.
I did not sleep well.
The folks next door talked and sometimes loudly until well after midnight. I used the ear mufflers while I was on computer, but don't like to sleep with them. I was awake for no reason at 4:30.
Breakfast was fine. I had oatmeal and made a waffle in one of those flip machines.
It was reasonable at $85 total and I did not have the obligation of playing poker for 4 hours. I used to sleep for $25 in the back of my van at The Landing Campground, but it was a 20 minute drive and I'm hesitant doing that in the dark.
EMERALD CAFE AT TURNING STONE
I wanted to use up any comps or points, and I was hungry for lunch. I had $8 to use so it only cost me $6 for a chicken wrap with French fries and a huge dill pickle.
I generally don't eat dill pickles because of the salt, so that was a real treat, very good, like the pickles of my childhood.
The sandwich was delightful. They brought me extra blue cheese in a good-sized cup. It was all small bits of tasty things. l had one for lunch and the other for supper later when I went home. I asked for crispy fries, but rarely does anyone know what that means, or care. At home I put them in the deep frier with peanut oil and had them my way.
I've seen this one in art books, but did not remember seeing it in person.
NOTES ON MELATONIN
I use melatonin to help get asleep. Recently, I read it might cause daytime drowsiness the next day. I skipped it this trip. I think I may need to abandon it.
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