As things go the Hadassah trip from the east coast of Florida to the west coast city of Naples was a good thing. The Seminole Indians’ Casino there underwrote our trip so that it cost $89.00 each for the bus trip, a lunch aboard a motor launch that went out into the Bay of Mexico and a Best Western motel room (very, very nice but the beds were uncomfortable). The evening of our first day was scheduled for the Casino where we were to have a paid up dinner.  We elected not to go because of the smoking that was sure to dominate everything in that building.

Instead of going off for a two hour (back and forth) bus trip and five more hours to dine and gamble, we elected to eat at the next door Waffle House and rest and read.  That was fine with us and our choice proved to be a good one.

The next morning we visited the Caribbean Tropical Gardens which was also a zoo and the experience was extremely worth while.  While there a feature was to visit by boat a series of islands where a primate population was quite visible and active.  We were entertained particularly by the two gibbons, black with extremely long arms who cavorted and hooted their territorial and mating calls that resounded over the whole zoo and botanical garden trails.  We were extremely pleased with this part of the trip and it certainly was worth while.  The Seminoles paid for most of it just to get us to come to their gambling den.

The dénouement came next when we debarked for the last trip to the Casino where we were expected to buy our lunches and…..gamble some more.  We elected to eat but not to gamble.  We must have disappointed the Seminoles but they appreciated our choosing to eat with them.  You see, they were way out in the west of Naples past farming and cattle country and there were no other choices in eating establishments.  The bus driver explained that if someone was a big winner at the tables or the electronic no arm bandits the pay out would be the next day.  You were expected to take a room in the motel that the Indians kept to scalp the victims some more.

There are no sure things in this life.  But if there was a sure thing it is that the people who run the Casinos and rig the machines where you bet on pictures lining up in computer screens are the winners.  The “players” just feed the machines and a certain small percentage of what the managers, scalpers or just plain exploiters of suckers, allow to be returned is put into the machines again until it is all gone. We had a good time and saved our money and took advantage of the Seminoles betting on us betting. The very worst thing we had to endure was the haze of tobacco smoke that seems to go along with betting against the house. No one won with the smokers doing their thing.