Recently, I drove from Tunica Horseshoe Casino & Hotel, free Tesla L2 charging, to Vicksburg Waterview Casino & Hotel, free J1772 charging. Both gave me 'players card', free, overnight rooms. But nice as Tunica is, I favor the Vicksburg casinos: There are two EV routes, one with a lot of Superchargers along the Interstate but I like driving the flat land, Mississippi floodplain but midway, there is just one fast DC charger, Flo, at the Greenville GM dealer. Ordinarily, I avoid dealers as often their ICE inventory and any chargers and are locked up outside of business hours. Sometimes they warn of visitors with "For Out Customers" signs. But near noon, this was a nice experience. In the middle of pickup truck region, the sales critter were nice and aware a new Bolt is coming. But the Flo charger was a modest surprise. The Greenville CCS-1 charger is operated by Flo, a Canadian company based out of Montreal which suggests the hardware was selected by GM corporate. Like finding a UFO or 'black helicopter' parked in rural Mississippi. But other than seeing an oil spot on the adjacent parking spot ... good enough. Like many locally funded, fast DC chargers, a maximum charge rate of ~60-65 kW. Not great but clean restroom and friendly staff. My 2019 Tesla Model 3 is over 4 years old and 118,000 mi. Range stealing lower temperatures, the warmest was ~55F (15C) with high winds (always headwinds!) My Tesla battery range as expected has gone down from 240 mi to 210 mi in the cold, (210-240)/240 = -12.5%. Although the Supercharger growth has paralleled my battery degradation, the Superchargers are located along Interstate highways. This can add 30 mi, ~10% extra miles between chargers and makes attractive rural routes like the Mississippi flat lands impractical. On the way home, I took low traffic, no trucks, beautiful tree lined, Natchez Trace Parkway: No commercial traffic means a smooth, well maintained road Enforced 50 mph, seldom need to pass on the abundant passing areas Trees lined, it blocks wind Saw a flock of wild turkeys, avoid deer herds at night Cuts from Southcentral Mississippi to Northwest Alabama, my route home About my recreational trip, I prefer playing dice (aka., craps) and found: Horseshoe Tunica MS- free Tesla L2 charging, free 'player's card' room, and $15 table Older table crew, like 'Cheers' friends. Play is novice friendly which can be a moderate speed. Goldstrike Tunica MS - free J1772 charging (full of Teslas), $10 table, comp breakfast Playing dice, four people are running the table. Chat with them, be friendly, and free comps (a meal) are likely. Skilled staff, moderate speed more a function of the players. Fitsgerald Tunica MS - no charging and only one table, not open Their small, single stickman operation, makes for a very fast game but you really need to be a well experienced as players are part of the table crew. More fun than a barrel of monkeys if you can handle the pace. Waterview Vicksburg MS - free J1772 charging, free 'player's card' room, and $10 table Only one table often playing just one side with three man crew, the locals have a default 'craps club' who know each other and crowd out strangers. To play, best show up at 5 PM when the table opens to get a spot. Reasonably fast. Riverwalk Vicksburg MS - $5 table and $20 and free 'table play' chips Table stays open until the nice crew or players need to go home but often trainees. Look out for crew mistakes and your polite corrections are well received and instantly corrected. Left with $1,500 and deposited $2,750 when I got home (called 'gambling' not 'winning') A day or so before leaving, I practice with a home computer dice game. Most of them are poor (by my standards) but you can practice playing and they cover the basics. FYI, I write my own craps simulators and analyze the results with spreadsheets. Bob Wilson
