We drove to Starkville, Mississippi to watch the Tennessee – Mississippi State game on Saturday. The ride over wasn’t bad at all. We noticed more TN fans along the way than we did MSU fans and traffic was much lighter than it would have been in the game was in Knoxville. We passed an older couple with MSU magnets on their car as we were leaving Birmingham. They passed us later on down the road – it was a back and forth type thing. We didn’t think anything of it. We came up on the toll bridge over the Black Warrior River on the west side of Tuscaloosa with money in hand. When we got to the toll booth the lady told us the car in front of us had paid our toll and said to tell us we were flying the wrong colors. Then next time we saw them we all waved and smiled.
We found our way to the campus and attempted to follow the crowd to the designated parking area. It was bumper to bumper and actually worse than some of the parking we have encountered in Knoxville. When we first turned left onto the campus I noticed a couple walking from an area on the other side of the highway. So I suggested we get out of the backup and head back that way to see what was over there. Turns out it was FREE parking with free shuttle service. We were dropped off a short distance from the stadium. We wandered around for a few minutes and then headed to the stadium – we both were in need of food and a restroom. We found our way to our seats – they always seem to put the visitors in the nosebleed seats. At least there was a nice standing room/walk way at the very top. It was a beautiful sunny day. The stadium was probably the smallest Jeff had ever been to – seating about 53,000 (Neyland Stadium can seat 106,000) it wasn’t a sellout which made it a little more comfortable. We were at least surrounded by orange. Keep in mind MSU has that infamous cowbell and they LOVE to ring it despite the SEC band on artificial noise makers. Hey, its tradition and I like tradition. At least they were on the other side of the stadium.
Since we didn’t know where to catch the shuttle back to where we parked, we opted to walk. The distance was a touch further than the walk from where we park at to walk to Neyland Stadium. I noticed a couple of things; the campus was beautiful and clean and the people were friendly.
The drive home was a little different – it was bumper to bumper to the first exit past Starkville – it was the first major food and motel exit, so that was understandable. Once we got past there, things started rolling until we hit Columbus, MS where Alabama State troopers escorting the buses (and equipment trucks) carrying the University of Alabama Million Dollar Band blocked the road to let them on. Then of course, we had to deal with cars that were afraid to pass the troopers – they were going less than the posted speed limit and they were out of their jurisdiction.
We made it back to Pelham and decided to eat out. Jeff thought I might like a nice dinner before I had to start my clear liquid diet. Unfortunately, that was the second time we had poor service at that restaurant.
We made it home, tired from the trip and didn’t realize we had left our garage door open until one of our neighbor’s rang our doorbell at 12:45AM to let us know. It’s nice to know we live somewhere that neighbors still look out for you.
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