With my "betting money" stashed safely in my pocket we took off for A.C. (Atlantic City). The Belt Parkway was the first obstacle. One hour and 15 minutes to get to the Verazzano Bridge from Jericho. That's a killer. All that pent-up anticipation and moving forward one-car length at a time.

The Garden State Parkway was much better, especially now that it accepted Easy-Pass. Exit 38 came soon enough, but they demanded 50 cents for the A.C. Expressway. That 50 cents could have been put to a better use in the slot machines, but that is the cost of business when you are trying to win a fortune. (Sadly enough, they collected 50 cents on the way out also.)

The first trip into the casino proved fruitful. I made $25 on the roulette wheel and left with the profit still in my pocket. I had placed my $5 chip at the confluence of four numbers and I was paid at 8 to 1. It was a propitious beginning.

I spied my non-gambler brother-in-law at the poker machines and I joined him. At least it was a game requiring thought. Which cards to hold and which to discard is the decision of the player. In this game the wins or losses go much slower and so it is a good game to while away time without losing too much. I exited the tables after returning my winnings ($25) to the casino management. It was now time for supper.

Restaurants at gambling hotels are always first rate!

Gamblers desire the best quality food and service and usually do not care for the costs. A steakhouse with dark oak beams and red flocked carpeted walls was the restaurant of choice. The food and ambience were wonderful, but $120 for two was now on the debit side.

Day 2 - Back to the tables. The slot machines - they giveth and they soon taketh back. The rate of play is increased with spin buttons and cash inserted directly into the machine ($5 minimum). In the "old days" you had to pull the lever (exercise) and get change from a roving cash attendent. No more! The slots become mesmerizing and you hate to leave a machine before it has paid off in large jackpots. The gambler's nightmare is leaving a slot machine and the next person sitting down puts in that one coin and hits the jackpot.

I wandered back to the roulette wheel and put down the $15 required minimum bet. On the first spin of the wheel my number 8 came in. I collected $175 and placed two more bets at $15 each (so as not to appear greedy) and left the table $130 to the positive.

Honestly, I do not know where my winnings disappeared to as I wandered about the casino playing $20 here and $30 there. When it came time for our 10 p.m. dinner, I was back to being even.

Another great restaurant before New Year's Eve. This time Italian. The room looked like it was done by Michelangelo himself. Wall and ceiling paintings were the motif. However, no religious themes were visible.

New Years on the casino floor. Hasty kisses and New Year's wishes and then back to the gambling. At 2:30 a.m. we left the tables. We all were a bit poorer. No great losers, but no great winners either. All that hope and dreams of wealth were gone. Reality, sad reality!

We packed our bags in the morning of the New Year, ate a hearty breakfast and retraced the trip back to the safety of Jericho, NY.

It poured all the way home. It matched our mood!