I had planned this trip for last February, but a bad cold with a bronchial infection ko'ed me that weekend and the I kept trying to fit the three day trip into other weekends. But I just kept putting it off. Finally, I realized one of the reasons I wanted to spend these days on the road was to get lots of midwest traders for the convention in Las Vegas, and the time is getting short. So I set up the trip for the first weekend in June. Leaving work on Friday, I was set to hit Ho-Chunk (Baraboo, WI), Majestic Pines (Black River Falls, WI) and Treasure Island (Red Wing, MN) the first day. Saturday was to include Mystic Lake (Prior Lake, MN), Grand Casino (Mille Lacs, MN), Grand Casino (Hinkley, MN), Hole In The Wall (Danbury, WI), St. Croix (Turtle Lake, WI), Lac Courte Orielles (Hayward, WI), and Bad River Casino & Lodge (Odahnah, WI). The last day I wanted to hit Lake of the Torches (Lac Du Flambeau, WI), Lac Vieux Desert (Watersmeet, MI), Northern Lights (Carter, WI), Menominee Casino (Keshena, WI) and Oneida Casino (Green Bay, WI). That Sunday I had to save a little time by cutting off the Lac Vieux Desert stop and by going to North Star (Bowler, WI) instead of Oneida for my last stop. With all those places I made 1200 miles in two and a half days. I made a similar trip last year on the first weekend in May, but made a counter-clockwise circle instead of the clockwise sweep that this trip was. This year I added Grand Casino Mille Lacs to this trip as I had not been there in a long time and just wanted to get a Grand Mille Lacs card with my name on it. For some reason, the only other time I got to Mille Lacs in '95 I did not get a card when I was there. Can't recall a reason why, no matter how I think about it. The idea was great -- I had one Mille Lacs card in my collection, and I found others of that type and four other types there! Also I found new types at Hinkley, Lac Courte Orielles and Mystic Lake. Check out these entries for more info and card scans.