MSU

Friday

I met Chad in Grove City amongst the Black Friday shoppers @ 4:30. It wasn’t easy to find a parking spot or get the RV in and out.

The rest of the trip to State College was uneventful and we dropped stuff off at Maddy’s at 6:30.

Official Stats

Guests:	20
RVs:	1

We parked in RV lot in row 5 with no issues and we got a comment card from the RV shed to sign up for a mailing list for the RV lot.

In spite of the holiday weekend, the Blue Loop was still running, so we headed downtown. We enjoyed a window-side dinner at the corner room and walked to the saloon for Velveeta and Monkey Boys. The 3 rd set was just requests from us. We got Canyon pizza. Next time, we should just get the pepperoni rolls. We took a cab back to the RV lot

Saturday

The morning started out at a balmy 37 degrees. Maddy and Suz setup around 8 am. It was a cool day with a slight wind and very rare sprinkles.

We enjoyed bagel sandwiches for breakfast.

Chad and I (mainly Chad) spent a good deal of time in the morning trying to fix the 2 nd propane heater that I had brought. It wasn’t really necessary as the 1 st heater made it about 50ºF in the tent.

Everyone was on their phones following the Ohio State vs. Michigan game.

For lunch, we had wings and cheesy noodle and ham.

We did our own mannequin challenge and took the group photo.

The tailgate was buttons up and we headed into the stadium for a 3:30 kickoff. We found out in the first quarter that Ohio State beat Michigan. Since we had beaten Ohio State, all we needed to do was win to head to the Big 10 championship.

MSU scored first and looks to be upset minded with a 12-10 lead at half time. Unfortunately for them, they scored no points in the 2 nd half. PSU exploded with 35 more points. We won the Big 10 east and were headed to the Championship game!

Penn State	MSU
45	12

Post-game, we had potato soup, jerk shrimp and more ham and cheese pinwheels. Jason visited and I stopped over at Smitty’s for a bit. Chad headed off to see the Volleyball game in Rec Hall. Nick and Cari booked tickets for the Championship game in Indianapolis.

We played pass the pigs and finally packed up at midnight.

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Iowa

Saturday

Due to our late night, Chalupa and I walked over to the tailgate around 11 and finished the setup on the canopy sides and the tie downs. We enjoyed sausage gravy and biscuits for breakfast. We also tried a Bacon sausage combo meat. It was pretty good.

We had hot cider and enjoyed playing a day version of "pass the pigs" where half the people playing were drinking water. The group was acting like the seagulls from finding Nemo (Mom, Mom, Mom) any time someone needed to get more drinks, as Carol was sitting closest to the cooler.

For lunch we enjoyed Red and green chilies with corn waffle or Fritos. We also feasted on Buffalo chicken bites.

At one point during the afternoon I noticed that everyone in the tent was asleep. It was another long day of tailgating. Chad and Suz were sitting watching the street next to our tailgate. Chad was looking for girls in yoga pants as highlighted by the setting sun. The Weaver family also visited.

For dinner, we had fresh mini burgers with homemade buns and BBQ chicken. We took the group photo and I walked the dog back to the RV before game time

Penn State	Iowa
41	10

On the most memorable scenes for this game was the Mannequin challenge in the student section. Tt was our 2nd white out and we absolutely blew out Iowa 41 to 10. It was much warmer in the stadium due to the wind break.

Post-game, everyone congregated back at the car. No one was moving at all due to gridlock on the roads. We took a straggler photo and then headed back to the RV.

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

At Purdue

Wednesday

Thursday

Next, we stopped at Columbus zoo. It was almost empty like Wally world in national Lampoon's family vacation. Due to the cooler weather, the Animals were out and active. It was a huge zoo and we able to cover the entire zoo, which was roughly 3 times the size of Pittsburgh by closing time.

We left at 5 to head for Dayton and camped out at the Walmart nearest the Air Force museum. We had dinner at Max and Erma's, rather than cooking.

Friday

Some key highlights, the space shuttle, several air force one's, The Apollo 15 capsule, The 2nd plane to drop an atomic bomb and many other aircraft, space craft and missiles. Especially in the new hanger, we were able to walk inside most of aircraft. We took a break for lunch back out at the RV and went back in to complete hangers 3, 2 and 1. Around 5 PM, we were finished and left to head towards West Lafayette. I totally missed the transition into Indiana.

We arrived at Purdue's RV lot 4 just after 8 PM and met up with Andy and Linda. There were about 30 total RVs in the lot. We made a late dinner and made some friends in the RV lot.

Saturday

The stadium was maybe ¾ full by the time of kick off, which was about 10 minutes late. It was warm and sunny. I even got a little bit of a tan. The Nittany Lions and the Boilermakers traded blows in the first half. We were a little worried at halftime with the teams tied at 17 each. It wasn't until the second half that our boys capitalized on some key Purdue mistakes and really put the game away. By the game's end, the stadium was totally empty, except for Lion's fans. Chad spotted Nena, an old friend from Penn State Beaver days and we chatted with her for a bit. Final Score 62-24.

Penn State	Purdue
62	24

We made our way across campus and back to our RV for some post game celebrating. We enjoyed burgers, pie, meatball casserole and tater tot casserole. Linda also brought her cat out for some fresh air as we sat beside the RV and enjoyed the wonderful fall day. We packed up and around 7, we left bid West Lafayette goodbye to put a dent in the 8 hour return trip. In Ohio, the car in front of us hit a deer on the highway. We stopped for the evening in Dayton.

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

OSU Tailgate

Maybe because of all the extra clamor and pending bad weather, RV lot passes were sold out, before we could get one. But in the usual fashion, leaving the RV at home wasn’t an option for this 8 PM game.

Official Stats

Guests:	35
Anniversary celebrated:	50th
RVs:	1

Friday

A few hours later, we dropped stuff off at Maddy’s. We met up with Jessi and got the yellow parking passes for tomorrow because the RV lot was sold out. From there, we headed to Jeremy’s place and ended up parking in the front yard instead of the street because of the parking signs. Rick (pig guy) and Maria stopped by and Bill visited us on the street. We were finally parked by 11:30 and went to sleep.

Saturday

The morning started with Jessi and I driving to the law building parking lot. We grabbed a few things and started the walk over to the pressbox lot. We arrived at the lot to watch Mad and Suz pull in at 9:30. The Greene’s arrived to set up. It’s dry and sunny but super windy. I tethered the canopies down like crazy to hold against the wind.

This tailgate would mark Larry and Carol’s 50th wedding anniversary. The tailgate was decorated with gold silverware, a fancy tablecloth and plenty of gold decorations.

We had breakfast croissants with egg and hollandaise sauce. Lunch was Steak croissants, shrimp and scallops. We enjoyed hot apple cider and a box of fireball.

In addition to pushing the canopies and decorations around, the wind had some other weird side effects. The wind made the grease dripping off of the griddle miss the grease trap, causing an “icy” spot on the pavement in front of the grill.

Jason and Smitty both came over to pay us a visit. Jessi and I walked over to visit the hashers in the afternoon.

For costumes, I was sporting a phantom of the Opera mask and Marianne wore a panda suit that was a birthday gift.

We fully pack up before the game.

The game can best be summed up with this clip: See not the ohio state sports network.

The crowd goes nuts and storms the field after the win. Everyone meets back at the car after the game. “I can’t believe that it really happened”

As traffic died down, it was actually warmer than when we started the day. We walked back to law building and then drove home to Jeremy’s place and the RV.

Penn State	Opponent
24 (OT)	21

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Homecoming Fiesta

Thursday

We said our hellos in in the parking lot and headed East on the Turnpike. This is where the trouble started. A few miles before the Pittsburgh Exit, there was the remnants of a tractor trailer tire in the middle of the slow lane. I spotted it and had enough space to quickly change lanes to avoid it. There was a car attempted to pass Dave at that moment, so he had no choice but to run over the tire. When we were able to pull over safely, the tire had caused the trailer harness to come unplugged and drag on the road. It damaged the plug a little bit but nothing to stop the trip.

Night had fallen by the time we reached the top of Laurel Ridge Summit. Dave’s RV was now where to be seen in my rear view mirror. For the next few miles, I slowed down to let them catch up. When we got to Ebensburg, Alaina got a call from Maggie that they had broken down on Laurel Ridge. They thought that it may have overheated.

We offered to stop and help, but Maggie told us to keep going. They called for a tow truck.

We were on pins and needles for the rest of our trip, but arrived in State College around 9 without further incident. We picked up the new car and headed to Walmart for the evening. Alaina, Dad and I walked over Champs for dinner and to hang out until Chad arrived. Then it was time for sleep.

Friday

Dave and Maggie had got their truck towed to a local dealer near Johnstown and the camper to a nearby motel. The dealer would look at their truck sometime during the day.

Back in State college, we went to the meat lab and visited the remodeled creamery. They took out the center island around the ice cream freezers to make more space.

Official Stats

Guests:	30
RVs:	3

We met Rich and Nell on Orchard Rd at 11:30 to get into the RV lot. We parked at the end of row 8 near the center of the lot. The group enjoyed drinks and snack in the shade between the RVs. We caught the Family Clothesline shuttle downtown and visited SBS (Toby), Lion & Cub, McLanahans.

We popped in for drinks at Liberty Tap house. This place was a little too hipster for Chad and Allen. I tried a chocolate lobster beer that sadly didn’t have enough lobster.

We took separate ways back to the RVs for dinner and drinks. We didn’t make the parade this time. We sent up the tents and played cards against humanity. People were crazy asking about the polish horseshoes during the evening.

Saturday

It was a hell of a game as the Nittany Lion whipped the Terrapins 38-14. Barkley hurdled one of the Maryland players in what would become an iconic play for the season.

Penn State	Maryland
38	14

Postgame, we had a taco bar with several different kinds of meats and toppings. Several folks brought potatoes without consulting the equipment list, so we improvised and added a baked potato bar. Chad set grill on fire while cooking a steak. We took the group photo over the taco and potato bar.

Many people sat in “play house corner” under the nose of my RV to stay out of the rain. Later in the day, we got word from Dave and Maggi that their truck had a melted wiring harness and parts wouldn’t be available for a few days. One of their son’s friends came up to Johnstown to take them and their camper home.

We got some killer photos of a fiery sunset as the rain dried up. We snapped a stragglers photos and called it a night around 10.

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Minnesota

Saturday

The big drink for today was a cherry lemonade, which prompted many rounds of,
“Is that Iced Tea?“
“It’s lemonade, delicious”.

For our annual Oktoberfest tailgate, we enjoyed homemade pretzels, pierogies (dill cheddar, cheddar chive, spinach and onions), burnt kielbasa, cheese burger egg rolls, southwest egg rolls, ginger bread, apple straddle, cupcakes, fruit and veggies, and bacon wrapped pretzels.

Today was also the 76th birthday for the PA Turnpike (I-76).

We put up extra sidewalls and moved the grill under cover due to the rain. We were joined by Dena, Mark and the boys, Todd, Jerrod, Stephanie, Holly, Wendy, Adam, and Nick.

As the 3:30 kick arrived, the rain reduced to only a mist. As would become a theme this season, the Lions were a second half team. Minnesota’s Waters was thrown out of the game for a cheap hit on Julius. Tyler kicked a field goal to tie it at 23-23 in regulation. Minnesota’s drive stalled and they kicked a field goal to make it 26-23. On Penn State’s first overtime snap, Barkley runs the ball in for a touchdown. Penn State wins 29-26. The place went crazy.

Penn State	Minnesota
26 (OT)	23

The Candyman stopped by our tailgate was we enjoyed sandwiches of either black forest ham or porky kraut with PSU pork. It was warmer after the game than before.

Oz gave me a lift back to Jeremy’s place, so I missed the Stragglers photo. We were home at 9:30.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Temple

It was a cooler morning as we set up a new round tailgating table and one canopy for this noon game. We had breakfast biscuit sandwiches to start off the day. The tailgate crew was Maddy, Suz, Larry, Carol and me with a visit from Jeremy before game time.

Official Stats

Guests:	20
RVs:	0

This game was our “Strip out” for the season. In spite of a huge amount of hype about doing something before the game to honor the 50th anniversary of Joe Paterno’s coaching career, nothing happened pre-game. They did play 3 video segments during breaks in the game starting in the 2nd quarter. I was joined by Oz, Oz Sr and Galen in the stadium.

Temple managed to hang around, but they were finally bested 34-27.

Penn State	Temple
34	27

Post-game, we took our group picture and enjoyed some tea sandwiches and a big cherry drink. Jason stopped over to visit. We enjoyed some wonderful bone-in lamb chops with mint. We played pigs on the new table.

When it was finally time to pack up at 9:30, it was warmer than when we started the day.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

At Pitt

During 2015, we even took a trial run to see how a trip to Pittsburgh would work. It took us ~ 4 hours to get to Pittsburgh and 4 hours to get back home. During the winter, I spent a lot of time on the phone with other marinas and working through several different plans that would allow me to keep the boat in Pittsburgh and not require me to stay awake for more than 24 hours. It all paid off. One of the best reviews of the weekend was from Jessi,

“It was so easy to tailgate. We just got on the boat and went.”

Official Stats

Guests:	20
Boats:	1
River miles covered:	68
Lockages:	4
Items lost overboard:	1
People lost overboard:	0

Thursday

Maddy and Suz arrived at our house in Pittsburgh in the afternoon. I made a spinach and artichoke dip and dinner at our house while we talked about all of the exciting things that would be happening during the next 3 days. We got some heavy rains before we went to bed.

Friday

After a final check of people, coolers, covers and gear, I gave the boat safety message and left our float plan on the dock. Just as were about to cast off, we watched a large house boat, the Pamela Ann, clip and break the upper several feet of its antenna on the Veteran’s Bridge. I started the engine on “By George!” and we cast off for the Port of Pittsburgh. Alaina headed home to welcome our remaining guests as they arrived.

The Beaver River was muddy and dirty due to the deluge of rain during the past few days. As we exited the mouth of the Beaver River, I turned the “By George!” upstream into the Ohio River and opened the throttle to reach a cruising speed of about 10 knots. During the first 12 mile section of the river, I had to tilt the motor up several times for debris stuck on the propeller.

The first exciting part of the trip came when we arrived at Dashields Lock and Dam. I contacted the lockmaster on the marine radio. After a brief wait, we followed the Pamela Ann into Dashields Lock chamber. Despite having a rookie crew of deckhands, I was able to explain the lock through process and we successfully passed through the lock with Suzanne tending to the forward line.

We exited the lock and very slowly overtook the Pamela Ann in the Sewickley Pool on the way to Emsworth Lock and Dam. I radioed the lockmaster and we had no wait getting into the lock. As we were tying up to the lock wall, there were a few sprinkles of rain, but it didn’t last. The guys at the lock were asking us about the game, since I had a Penn State flag hanging from the rear roof strut.

Now in the Pittsburgh pool, we ate some ham and turkey sandwiches. We stopped at Peggy’s Harbor and attempted to get some fuel. Peggy wasn’t open and rather than just open and sell us some fuel, she came out to tell us that she was closed and that dogs aren’t allowed. Mad and Suz were walking the dog and were told to “leave the way we came in.” I didn’t see any signs that said no dogs. Peggy is a jerk and I won’t stop there again.

That was our last stop before rounding the bend and seeing the Point at Pittsburgh. I pointed out to our Philly friends where we would be tailgating tomorrow. By this point in the trip, Suzanne really liked the boating life and may be thinking about getting a boat of her own.

We stopped at Washington Landing for fuel and they were much better. A dockhand helped us to tie up and showed me what I needed to do to fuel up. From there, it was a short trip to tie up at Millvale Marina. We did get a heavy rain for a few minutes while we were buttoning up the boat for tomorrow.

I drove Chad back to our home marina and Maddy, Suz and I went home to meet Shawn, Shari, Cari and Jessi had arrived during our aquatic travels. I had to drop off Chalupa with my mom since we wouldn’t be home to let him out tomorrow and he couldn’t stay on the boat while we were in the game.

The sailors got cleaned up and we all headed to the Alumni mixer at Hardrock Café. Cari had purchased tickets for this private event weeks before. There was food everywhere when we arrived. We got a picture with Franco and got to listen to Velveeta before it was time to head home due to our early start.

Saturday

I pointed the bow downriver on the Allegheny and we headed 3 miles downriver to Heinz Field. At a few minutes after 0800, we tied up on the river wall between the Fort Duquesne Bridge and water steps. Our boating neighbor gave us some metal to fashion a makeshift cleat that allowed us to tie up, since all of the normal cleats were in use. This was a truly amazing spot, because we were right next to most of the foot traffic going into the stadium. Everyone just seemed to find us without having to call. However, it didn’t take long before Pitt fans walking by started heckling us. I set up the award winning grill on the river wall and made grilled stickies for breakfast. It was already pretty warm, so I put out the front Bimini cover on the boat to give us some shade. As a tailgate first, I got out 2 fishing poles and cast some lines into the water.

For lunch, we had ham and turkey pretzel sandwiches, potato stromboli, and pierogi casserole. Mandy and Chad joined. Jason, Christie and Julie from State College visited us. Matt, Kori, Nick, Jen and John from work also stopped by before we took our group photo with the boat.

With a noon kick off, it was very quickly time for the game. I battened down the hatches and closed up the boat. Some of us headed into the stadium, while others headed to bars on the North Shore.

During our trek to our seats, we missed the flyover just as we got to the upper concourse.

The game got quickly out of hand with annoying Pitt fans. They were never happy for their team and only cheered against us. Mad and Suz left the game early and I almost got into a fight with an unruly Pitt fan who was throwing stuff. Penn State had a chance to come back but we fell 39-42. On our way back to the boat, we saw Mayor Peduto.

Penn State	Pitt
39	42

Our only casualty of the weekend was Shari’s sunglasses that fell overboard. Alaina found a replacement set of sunglasses but Shari wouldn’t wear them.

For a post-game meal, we had beer brats and cupcakes. We enjoyed a few more hours of tailgating on the river in the heat before the threat of rain made us cast off at 6 PM. We tied up at Millvalle as the sun went down, making this a full sun-up to sun-down tailgate.

Back in Sewickley, we made more snacks and pizza while playing Cards against Humanity. Several of our tailgaters still noticed that they were rocking back and forth as if still on the boat.

Our cat, Zoe hung out with the group prompting someone to say “you have such a nice cat.” This is a phrase we’ve never heard before. We finally got the big rain around 9 PM and everyone finally had enough around midnight.

Sunday

It was a beautiful sunny day with clouds, just a bit cooler than Saturday. The weather was just like 9/11, 15 years earlier.

I thanked Len (Millvale Marina owner) for our dockage space over the weekend. We gathered up all of our gear, secured the Bimini cover and set sail for Bridgewater.

We stopped at the river wall again to pick up our zip ties that we had left on the wall yesterday as a makeshift cleat. As we headed downriver and passed Neville Island, Emsworth lock opened like I had a garage door opener. We passed a barge into Dashields lock and made some sandwiches during the last river section to home. We arrived back at our home marina like a champion after our 68 mile roundtrip.

Unfortunately for me, my car decided that it was in a safe place and didn’t want to start again. I had it towed to my mechanic and later found out that it had snapped a timing belt. Luckily for me, I had a cooler full of beer so I waited peacefully and got a ride home from my mom. We picked up the dog and headed home for good.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

BWW

Friday

In a form of cosmic karma, I had some problems on I-99 and the truck stalled on Shiloh Rd at the light for about 5 minutes. I was able to get it re-started and we met up with Rich, Janelle and Nathan.

Official Stats

Guests:	30
RVs:	2

With Rich’s help, I changed a fuel filter in the parking lot behind Sam’s and had no problems after that.

We drove to the RV lot and were greeted by Chalupa’s favorite attendant. Her dog had to be put down since last season. There were no parking attendants. We just parked whenever we wanted. You can’t beat that. We got the RVs set up and had drinks and a very late dinner in the RV lot. The backs of our RVs were posted on the GoPSUsports twitter.

No fan base beats the blue & white faithful! Over 200 RVs out so far ahead of #PSUbluewhite. #PSUnrivaled pic.twitter.com/Pn64jNLprr

— Penn State Football (@PennStateFball) April 16, 2016

Saturday

It was a gorgeous day. Rich, who had driven his truck in with the convey, headed back to RV lot to get his family and crossed paths with me as I was walking over to the tailgate.

During the morning, we played polish horseshoes and enjoyed a breakfast of bacon and tater cups.

As a surprise for me, Maddy had gotten some SnackEez cups. They were lids for a plastic cup that had a small compartment for snacks. The cup was filled with the “Big drink” and snack section was filled with white chocolate covered pretzels. I was well on my way for a great day.

The rest of the tailgating crew filtered over as the morning continued.

We spotted a younger Redneck Chad at a tailgate in the next row. We also found a missing kid, who had wandered away from his family at the all sports museum. He was successfully returned to his family.

We took our group photo and then enjoyed lunch cheesesteaks before game time.

After the game, we enjoyed some tasty snacks like Pizza pinwheels, Beef wellington pockets, Spinach and artichoke bites and Chicken pot pie cups.

We had quite a few nap takers during the warm day. Suz took the family nap, since Larry wasn’t here today and both Rich and Nathan were simultaneously sleeping in a chair.

Blue	White
30	3

As the afternoon progressed, we witnessed some shenanigans across the barrier in the handicapped area. A bunch of fully-able college kids with a handicapped pass parked in a handicapped spot and got really drunks. At several points during the afternoon, they were even on top of the truck. Eventually, the cops showed up and stayed for over an hour. Slowly, most of the most disappeared one-by-one and eventually, the cops left without any one getting arrested. Weird.

Before it got dark, we started to play pigs and enjoyed some burnt kielbasa. We packed up and headed home at 9:30.

Sunday

Alaina and I picked up the new car in Altoona and made it home with no issues.

Turns out that my truck had Injector control pressure sensor that went bad. I replaced it a few weeks later.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Diesel Tailgate: Get Big! ^TM