The Horseshoe Casino and the Dan Ryan Expressway



I don't keep a diary but if I did this would be the entry for this past memorial day.
       I spent the day before memorial day in Indianapolis soaking up the sights and sounds of the Indianapolis 500. I left Indy early in the afternoon headed for Chicago driving up I-65 about 180 miles. As I approached Chicago I passed a number of strategically placed billboards designed to entice motorists to stop at the casinos on the Indiana waterfront that serve the Chicago area. Everyone has a little bit of the sucker in them so I stopped at the Horseshoe Casino near the Indiana-Illinois border. I quickly lost 200 dollars of my limited bankroll at the Roulette table. Cursing silently at myself I got up and vowed never to bet another dime at any casino for the rest of my life. So of course I put $10 on the pass line at the first crap table in my path to the exit. Some 30 minutes later I was up 200 at the dice table. Being the smart guy I am I left the casino feeling blessed to have broken even. Yeah, right. Like the greedy fuck that I am I continued playing craps and lost the 200 in short order and then summoning up all of my formidable willpower I left the casino. Not that anyone gave a shit. While I am putting down my crummy 10 or 15 dollars on the pass line and maybe another 20, 30, or 40 on the point the guy next to me is playing hundreds on the pass line, hundreds more on the point, a hundred on each number 4 through 10 ( often pressing it when it hit ) and throwing a hundred dollar chip here and there for the horn, the hard way, etc. etc.
       After this misadventure I traveled several miles to I-90 which becomes the Dan Ryan Expressway, ( see also Chicago timeline and danryanexpressway.com ) the main artery through Chicago. At the Horseshoe you gamble your money but on the Dan Ryan on the busiest automobile day of the year you are gambling with your life. I lived in New Jersey right on the Hudson River within sight of the World Trade Center for two years so I have done time on the harrowing haven of traffic horrors called the Garden State Parkway. I spent a month in Southern California so I have experienced more than one rush hour on the 405 in Los Angeles where the traffic is bumper to bumper at 60 mph. I would not say that the Dan Ryan Expressway on Memorial Day is any worse than these hellish roads ( if you have never driven on these roads I gaurantee that if you ever do drive here you will quickly discover that there is not one shred of hyperbole in these descriptions) but it is definitely their equal in terms of driving hell. I am not a reckless driver but neither am I a timid driver. On a 65 mph speed limit road I will usually be going 70. I don't know what the speed limit is on the Dan Ryan but I was probably doing at least 65 or 70 and I was being passed right and left like I was standing still. It was very unnerving. The web site says that the 14 lane Dan Ryan Expressway is the widest road in the world. I don't know if that is true but it is certainly the widest road I have ever traveled which was doubly unnerving. Because my destination was in the northwest suburbs of Chicago I drove almost the entire length of the Dan Ryan. Since this was my first time on this road I was having a terrible time trying to figure out where to get off especially since every few miles there is an exit with three, four, or even five different ramps. By the time I reached where I was going my already frayed nerves were just about shot. All in all not one of my more pleasant Memorial Days.