I'm kinda "dredging up" this old adventure due to "popular" demand. Sometimes it's the oldies that are the best. I kinda doubt that will be the case here but I will give it a try. Was that too negative? I'm sorry, I'll try to do better. :)
A couple of years ago, while planning a trip to Disney World in Florida, and while talking with my friend Jim, he mentioned that he would be at Disney before we left from Ohio, and during his stay in Florida, he was planning to drive to Blacksburg Va. for a Virginia Tech/Florida State football game. Further, Jim actually had an extra ticket. One thing led to another and we (Jim and I) ended up planning to meet in Blacksburg to attend the game. This was an interesting situation for several reasons and very complex arrangements went into the event. In addition, the way it played out, there was and interesting and humorous twist along the way.
Here is a little bit of the planning: Jim and his family traveled down to Disney in their motorhome, or actually Jim traveled and the family flew down to meet him when he arrived. Jim also towed his Jeep Liberty behind his motorhome. Meanwhile, Linda and her sister Rene' drove down to Florida in our Jeep, to visit with their Mom and Dad for a week. So, we have Jim, Donna, and Maddie at Disney world and Linda and Rene in Sarasota.
The day before the football game, I left Youngstown in the motorhome and drove to Blacksburg and Jim left Orlando in his Liberty to drive north to Blacksburg to meet me at the "Interstate Overnight RV Park" in Christiansburg Va. Planning ahead, Jim also brought his towbar with him in the Liberty so that we could tow it back to Orlando after the game. Jim and I met at the RV park Friday evening to spend the night, and then planned to attend the game on Saturday morning.
For those of you who don't know Jim, NO adventure with Jim is calm or normal. I'm sure I'll leave things out, but there was the issue with the tow bar in the parking lot where we had to literally hammer the tow bar into the hitch to get it properly attached. I was attending to this (in the dark) while Jim attended to Punky's needs. This, for Jim, took a GREAT deal of discipline as Jim is NOT a dog lover at all, preferring the feline over the canine. Of course that is a whole 'nuther story which we will leave for another time.
Then there was the thing with the shower room. Mind you, we are staying in my motorhome which has all the conveniences of home including a hot shower. For whatever reason, Jim chose to use the mostly inadequate campground shower room. Unfortunately for Jim he did not remember to take his shampoo with him and ended up washing his hair with bath soap. I won't even get into the "where I used it last and where he used it first" thing. Suffice to say that I have used bath soap on my hair and the results are less than wonderful.
Somehow we made it through the night and woke up on Saturday morning full of expectation for a great game. One minor problem, yes, it is Virginia, but it is also November and it is also COLD! Keeping in mind that we are on the way to a week in Florida and you can only imagine how poorly prepared we were for a cold football game. So, off to the RVers friend, Wally World, known to civilians as Wal*Mart, to acquire suitable attire for the frozen tundra. Remember that think about this being Virginia? Well apparently the local WM didn't realize it was November and had failed, for the most part, to anticipate the temperature, and their stock of winter garments showed that. Being desperate, we bought up two sets of insulated long johns, ear muffs and gloves, and hoped for the best. Personally I thought a down insulated parka was in order, but there wasn't a single one on the rack.
After this, Jim and I went to breakfast at the local Cracker Barrel, over Jim's protestations. I'm still not sure why Jim is averse to eating at CB, but I like it and that was that! We met up with my nephew Matt, who is my brother-in-law's wife's second son, and had a pleasant time getting caught up on things. Jim of course, was his usual effusive self, offending Matt withing 5 minutes after meeting him. But that is Jim and we love him despite his failings.
Well, time was fleeting and there was a game on the horizon so we made our way back to the campground to walk Punky and then don our newly acquired garments. Then we jumped into the Jeep and started down the road.
To understand what happened next, you almost have to know Jim a little better. I am fond of describing Jim this way, "he never lets the truth get in the way of a good story!" Meaning Jim is at his best, and seems most comfortable weaving a tall tale which he presents, with a straight face and sincere look, as being close to gospel truth. Most of the time it is harmless fun, but it is always a good idea to be on your toes when around Jim. Word to the wise, "be prepared!" Well, we jump into the car and head out to the game, and suddenly Jim shouts an expletive and announces, "I forgot the tickets!!!" I refer you to the above explanation to understand my response which was less than excited. Unfortunately, this was one of the few times I have known Jim to actually tell the truth. He had left the tickets back at the motorhome. So, we turned around and backtracked to Interstate Overnight RV park to fetch the necessary documents.
This we did and then drove to Pine Grove Elementary School where we picked up a shuttle bus to the game. Jim had done this before and assured me it was the best way to go. Unfortunately most of the folks on the shuttle were Hokie fans and our Florida State hats were a dead giveaway as to our leanings. Did I just use the word "dead"??? Yikes. Fortunately, most of the folks on the bus had not yet had a chance to become inebriated so the trip to the stadium was uneventful.
After arriving safely at the stadium we made our way passed the numerous turkey leg vendors and to our seats which were about 2 miles up in the stadium. The view was spectacular and a fresh breeze was blowing. Fortunately we were dressed in our newly acquired duds. Unfortunately, the wind took that as a challenge and even more unfortunately, the wind appeared to be winning the battle. Standing around corners or next to a wall didn't help and I gradually lost the feeling in my fingers and toes. Luckily the game started and there was a distraction from our pain.
On a more positive note, the spectacle of the game and all it's trapping was well worth the suffering. Unfortunately for Jim, FSU lost big time and the Hokies went on to win for old alma mater. We managed to stiffly limp down the steps to the bus and returned to the school where we climbed into our car and drove to the campground. We disconnected the camper umbilicals, connected the car and headed south to Florida.
There was more, but I will leave that for another time. Till then, thanks Jim for a good time.
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