4th Annual SEC Road Trip

 

Friday afternoon we loaded up and headed north to Arkansas.  This is our 4th year to make a road game and I'm so glad my cousin Bullet helped start this tradition.  Now Elizabeth and Amy went to almost every road game last year but we plan to make at least one together each season.  Last year was Ole Miss (here), 2010 South Carolina (here), 2009 Kentucky (here).

I'm not going to lie, I was nervous about the trip only because I'm 22 weeks pregnant and haven't traveled that far by car in a while.  I didn't want to bring the trip down. Luckily my dad has been training me to travel with men my whole life.  He's from the you only stop when you need gas.  I tried not to complain and only had to stop once or twice so I think it was okay.   I will say that it was a long trip.  We stayed in Conway, AR which was about 6.5 hours from Birmingham and 3 hours from Fayetteville.  I could not get comfortable enough to sleep.  Amy and Liz both read, I can't read in the car, so I just kinda chilled.  Clay was a great driver for the weekend!  We did have an in depth conversation about Abby & Brittany, the TV show on TLC about the conjoined twins.  I'm fascinated by them. 

 

It was after 10:00 when we got settled into our hotel and we knew we had an early morning so we called it a night.  We got up pretty early to hit up the hotel breakfast.  They had waffles and everyone was happy.

Clay's only request of the whole trip besides actually seeing the game was that we drive over to Oklahoma to at least take a picture.  We obliged since he had driven us all that way.  We snapped some photos and then stopped at McDonalds for coffee before we headed back to Arkansas.

 

This is our picture in front of the stadium.  It was not easy to get all that in one shot. 

Fayetteville has the best smelling tailgate of anywhere i've visited.  I will say this though I have a hard time trusting fans that eat their own mascot. 

We saw this sign at a tailgate.  I thought it was cute. 

Sister and me.

Huge jumbotron.  The weather was not ideal.  We kept seeing girls in boots and scarves carrying jackets and sweatshirts.  I vocalized my concern that they knew something we didn't.  We asked someone at a tailgate we were at and she confirmed my fears that we were indeed probably going to be cold.  I guess it's the terrain and the way the wind blows around the mountains. 
This was the Arkansas side after halftime.  Can't say that I blame them.
Okay these bama fans sat in front of us and I thought I'd seen it all but they proved me wrong.  They had this Alabama garden gnome with its pants down that they brought in the stadium and took pictures with. I was impressed by her ability to accessorize a poncho. All in all the game was a blow out.  52-0 It rained most of the game.  My rain jacket didn't exactly fit around my new frame so the front of my jersey was soaking wet and it got cool.  Sometime during the 3rd or 4th quarter Patrick sent me a text asking if the game was a bad in person as it was on the radio.  I just responded not if you're a Bama fan.  I'll admit it wasn't the most exciting game but I'll take it over a loss any day.

 

I really enjoyed Fayetteville.  It was a beautiful place.  I will say that when we parked and were told it was about a mile to the stadium I was not expecting it to be straight up a mountain.  It was a climb but I made it.  I was pretty proud of myself.

Luckily all the Arkansas fans left at halftime so traffic was minimal on the way out.  We headed to dinner at Cracker Barrel then back to the Super 8 to watch some football.  I wish I'd taken a picture of my swollen ankles.  They were horrible at one point I think they were compared to Big Al's ankles.

We had a pretty uneventful ride home.  I started feeling a little carsick around Memphis which is not at all surprising but made it to lunch without getting sick. 

We were gone for exacly 48 hours in the car for about 18-19 hours total.  It was all worth it! 

I'm hoping maybe next year we can do another day trip like last year so we can continue the tradition.

Roll Tide!