Sunday, September 2, 2018, Move to Twin Arrows Casino

We hopped from the Dancing Eagle Casino to the Twin Arrows Casino today - 248.7 miles (90,782.3 total). It was a straight shot west on I-40 that was more downhill than up. I found myself hitting nearly 80 mph a couple of times. The pavement was so smooth and it was just effortless. I really have to pay attention - if nothing else, I cannot be getting very good mileage at that speed. It has been getting easier to drive about four hours non-stop in a day but I still prefer the 150 miles trips.

Twin Arrows had a great parking arrangement - easy in/easy out. Joani planned on two nights here so I could visit the Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff again. On our last trip, I missed the opportunity to observe through the 24-inch refractor. I was hoping to get the chance this time.

I believe Twin Arrows had the most liberal free play money offer we have encountered. After signing up for their player's card, we had the chance to spin for up to $500 in free play money. Of course, I landed on $20 (the minimum amount) but Joani hit $25.

The skies were so cloudy near sunset that I thought there was no hope of seeing anything at the observatory so I did not even try. Around 10:30 or so, I looked outside and found the skies to be beautifully clear (the observatory closed at 10:00). I stood outside and identified a few old favorite summer constellations before turning in for the night - that was more astronomy than I have been able to enjoy in a long time.

On Monday we spent a few hours driving around Flagstaff. Sadly, the Lowell Observatory was not pet-friendly so we skipped hiking around their campus.

Our second day saw even more clouds and distant rain. I was able to capture some beautiful cloud scenes that I now use as background on my laptops.

While I was walking Sam around the Casino grounds, we spied a little robot sentry wheeling its way through the parking area. It was rocking out to some Pink Floyd as it slowly made its rounds. It tended to run right down the center of the parking aisles and I wanted to see it confront some traffic but it was too cool and windy to wait. I'm sure real security guards would quickly respond to anyone messing with their little R2D2.