Rutgers

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Michigan

Friday

Saturday

• Pierogies
• Beef Brisket
• Wings
• French onion soup

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Indiana

Friday

Chad drove up to my house and we took my RV, after the mishap on the way to Chicago.

It started to rain and we drove through it until Ebensburg. It’s the time of year, when it’s dark super early, and the ride sucked until the rain stopped.

Official Stats

Guests:	20
RVs:	1

We got to Suz’s around 8 and dropped off the cooler, chairs and some food leftover from Chicago. We got to the RV lot and pulled into row 3 east with no issues. We quickly set up the RV and headed downtown to DP dough for dinner. Halloween costumes were out everywhere.

We went to a not-crowded Cafe 210 to see Velveeta and got there for the 2nd and 3rd sets. Afterwards, we went to Bill Pickles for another drink and Chad was talking to a cute Dunkin’ Donuts girl. Afterwards, we headed to Canyon Pizza and ended up with 3 slices each because they were out of breadsticks. After a very long walk, we ended up back at the RV at 4:09 AM.

Saturday

This was an Italian theme and a noon kick off for Military appreciation week.

There was a Dual EC-130 flyover.

The weather was odd. It was raining lightly. Enough that it was raining, but not enough that you needed any rain gear, like it did in Wisconsin in 2021. Nothing happened at all in the game until 5 minutes left in the 4th when we finally pulled ahead. Indiana always seems to linger with us until the end.

We saw Scott and Elizabeth on the way back to the tailgate.

This was the first game for the new aluminum cups.

Penn State	Indiana
33	24

We were joined by Dennis and Lisa. Carter also made an appearance and brought his parents too.

We had mini chicken parmesan sandwiches on homemade rolls and sausage scallopini.

The group packed up around 7 and we headed back to the RV lot.

We watched Waiting and Supertroopers and called it an early night.

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

@ Northwestern

Thursday

I met Chad at his house and we left at 1:30 PM, just as the rain started. We stopped for a late lunch at the Waffle house in Niles. We were in rain most of the way across the Ohio turnpike. I didn't miss the Indiana border crossing unlike the last trip across Ohio on the way to Wisconsin.

Official Stats

Guests:	15
RVs:	1
former QB sightings:	1

We had a group text going where I messaged as we crossed state lines and as everyone else’s flights arrived at O’hare.

We arrived in Chicago and took the RV along Lake Shore Drive for the view.

When we arrived in Evanston, we ended up parked on the street next to Ryan Field after asking a police officer. We ate some pepperoni rolls in the camper and went to bed

Friday

We ubered back to Evanston and got stuck in traffic.

Northwestern’s RV lot was supposed to open at 4 PM, but it was still full of cars. We tailgated with the 9 other Penn State RVs that arrived until we were able to get parked around 6 pm in a lot that was still largely still filled with cars.

We had some beers in the parking lot and unfortunately noticed a very bent spring shackle on Chad’s RV. We attempted to find someone to look at it before the weekend really started, but didn’t have any luck. We got a Chicago deep dish at Lou Malanati’s and came back and partied with the neighbors before calling it a night.

Saturday

Ryan field was even more underwhelming on the inside. With a capacity of only 47K, it was maybe half full and a very large percentage of those were Penn Stater’s. Eric and I attempted to buy beer in the stadium, which I was told was a thing. Apparently it’s only in 1 specific area that was on the other side of the stadium. It wasn’t worth the walk.

We enjoyed sitting together, and very much looked forward to when our seats came into the shade around half time. The Lions didn’t fair well in the first half either. They fumbled on the opening kick off and lead to an initial 3 point lead for the wildcats. At the half, it was tied 10-10.

We saw Nena, her husband Ryan and son, Payton. In the second half, the Lions finally poured on the gas and left the wildcats behind. The stadium was disappointingly empty.

Eric thought that he saw Sean Clifford in the stands and he was right.

Post game, we caught the shuttle back to the RV lot and enjoyed the very meaty Rueben dip, ribs and brats that were leftover from our oktoberfest tailgate.

We learned about the Football bowling game with the neighbors. You take turns trying to knock down 10 bowling pins on a platform by throwing a football at them. It’s really hard.

Around 8, the downtown crew headed back home and we spent some time watching the Duke Notre Dame game with Eric, Dan and the neighbors next door. We were one of the 4 Rv’s that spent the night.

Chad found a nearby welding shop that could make the repairs for us to get home but not until Monday, so now we’ve got at least an extra day in Chicago.

Sunday

We were able to park in their back lot for the night and unhitch. It was right next to the train tracks. This will come to haunt me later.

Determined to make the best of it, we unhitched and drove to the end of the Metro green line to downtown. We walked around downtown and grabbed lunch at the Original Billy Goat Tavern (on the lower level). We took a Wendella river and lake cruise to see the sights of Chicago and what should have been a 1.5 hour tour was almost 3 hours with lock delays.

We walked out to Navy pier and then dinner at Harry Carey’s and then back to the Green line. Our train was delayed due to police activity and we had to get off. They said that they were sending a bus, but we were forgotten for about 45 minutes. We got back on the train and were home at 10 PM.

I was awakened about once an hour by the trains passing behind us. It was really terrifying and the whole camper shook when they passed.

Penn State	Northwestern
41	13

Monday

We had breakfast at Lulu Bella’s pancake house.

We went into Oak Park and walked past many of the Frank Llyod Wright homes before touring his house and first studio. We headed back to the weld shop around 12:30, but they were not finished yet.

We set up some chairs in their back parking lot and waited for the RV to be fixed.

They were done around 3 and we took off for home right into Chicago rush hour.

It’s an 8 hour day drive and we lost an hour for the time change.

We got back to Chad’s around 12:30 AM and I finally made it home around 1:35 AM.

It was a long trip, but we made it back safely.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Iowa

Thursday

Links:
EXPLORE 2023 3550BH SANDPIPER FIFTH WHEELS
3D walkthrough

We met at 8 at home depot. Alaina and I arrived with Tucker at 8:20 PM.

The RV lot attendants were super helpful and accommodating to allow us to park awning to awning in RV Row 1. We skipped westward a few spaces to get a more level part of the lot. They asked the neighbors across the road to move his truck so that Rich could park his super long rig.

We spent the evening in their fancy new RV. We got a tour and I got to hang out in the loft in Nate’s room. Tucker and Leia had fun playing together.

Nate popped out of his room to tell us all to be quiet before we called it a night.

Friday

After we got back and stored our purchases, Rich let me drive his new truck downtown and we got lunch at Federal Taphouse. No stoned waiter this time, but the grill was down. We walked all over a very busy downtown looking for a new collar for Tucker and saw Toby at work. We stopped to get Gas and ice and I fell out of the truck when I stepped into a pothole.

We set up canopies and I made a run over to Suz’s to pick up some chairs and beer for tomorrow.

Rich and I set up the satellite dish on my roof since his camper doesn’t have a ladder yet.

We grilled out our meat lab purchases for dinner.

We attempted to play “kids against maturity” before going to bed.

Official Stats

Guests:	25
RVs:	1
Puppies:	2

Saturday

Matt, Kori and the boys joined us around 9 and the boys made us breakfast sandwiches on the grill.

The Jimmy Koehler memorial tent was set up with others and the sides in an L shape to keep the wind out. I added gutters between the canopies and then was able to be outside in just a t-shirt.

Everyone joined us after 10:30 and we turned the heat on for a bit.

We made burger sliders, mexican corn dip, beer cheese dip, buffalo chicken dip and wings

We also had ribs and reuben dip in the cooler, but those got saved for next week.

We made fries, mozzarella sticks in the air fryer and will use the air fryers again at a tailgate.

Jeremy and Heather visited with Skylar and they brought Tucker a new dog blanket.

Tucker wanted to stay outside even though it was cold. Toby finally got to meet him.

Penn State	Iowa
31	0

Chad arrived and Galen stopped over, then we took the group photo.

I got a new PSU necklace from a vendor walking through the lot. My mom said that I looked like a white Flavor Flav.

Chad, Galen and I headed into the game around 6:30 and it was still raining.

It rained through the whole game. In spite of the weather, the Lions really stuck it to the hawkeyes the whole game.

It was the first time of the season that Chad and I were able to find any stadium mugs after the game

The blue band didn’t play a post game show.

Sunday

I sent Chad home with chairs and a cooler for next week.

It took until Tuesday to get everything dried out from the weekend.

When it was time to go home, the motorhome in front of us had already left, so it was easy to hitch up.

My awning looked pretty rough and was holding water between the separate layers. It's time to order a replacement.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Delaware

Friday

Saturday

• French toast bake in the morning.
• fresh fruit
• Chicken skewers
• cheesy potatoes
• cheeseburger dip
• A baked feta that we didn't eat
• snacks after the game.

Post game, Storms were threatening from the north and we had a crazy fast pack up around 4:30 to stay out of the rain. I headed back to the RV and stayed there until the rain passed.

I drove over to Suz’s house later. I dropped Nick off at the Penn Stater and took the crazy shortcut from there back to the RV lot that included a gravel road and a one-way tunnel under 322.

Penn State	Delaware
63	7

Sunday

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

WVU

Friday

I parked in Rv lot row 4 west. I set up solo then spent time walking Tucker around the RV lot and we hung out in the RV for a while.

Tucker and I caught an Uber to Suz’s. It was his first Uber ride and he did well riding with a stranger. We had pepperoni pizza without pepperoni (Thanks Weis) for dinner.

Tucker was a little bitey with Suzanne. “Suzanne is friend not food”

We caught an Uber back to the RV lot.

Saturday

Setup and breakfast started around 9 AM. Suz slipped on the wet grass, but she was OK. We surprised her with special decorations for her recent Graduation. For our opponents, we had plenty of different varieties of pepperoni rolls. The following folks joined us during this hot summer day:

• Chad and Dad (last time 2010)
• Galen
• Bri and Eric

During pack up, Jess’s phone goes missing. It was inadvertently packed up with a bag chair.

The game was a big win for PSU.

WVU band brought their band.

This was the first game with 2 new announcers since Dean was let go. They are going to take some getting used to.

There was no post game concert since it was a night game. We walked back to the RV.

Penn State	WVU
38	15

Sunday

We made breakfast in the RV.

We packed up and Suz was kind enough to let me leave the RV at her house until the next weekend.

I drove to Allentown with Tucker and Chad and Arland headed home.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Blue White Game 23

The first game of the 2023 season started with some changes. Alaina and I welcomed a new Chihuahua puppy named Tucker into our home in March. This would be his first game.

A winter storm in January knocked down the power and cable lines at the end of our dead end street. They were repaired enough for passenger vehicles to pass underneath, but not high enough for my RV to pass below without hitting the roof AC and scratching the roof coating. I’d been calling Comcast since the week after the storm and warned them about what would happen in April.

Official Stats

Guests:	30
Puppies:	1
RVs:	3

The first week of April came around and it still wasn’t fixed, so I made a very long wooden pole to hold up the line while the RV passed safely underneath and this would be the first time that I needed to use it.

Friday

We dropped Zoe off at Alaia’s parents house for the weekend.

This was Tucker’s first tailgate and first long road trip. He got sick in the truck from eating too many veggie straws, but luckily, that was his only incident.

We met the Fetcho’s and Kori got done with Jury Duty and the Mcardle’s joined us to park at 3 PM.

We were parked in RV row 3 and had so much room for activities. Since we didn’t have to set up a tailgate.

The boys had popsicles and played with Tucker outside. He didn’t like his dog pen.

We made dinner on the grill in the RV lot.

Tucker did not want to sleep in his crate in the living room, so we ended up putting his crate at the foot of the bed.

Saturday

We were parked in spot 1544. It started to rain just as we pulled in. We set up the 10x10 and 10x20 quickly and moved them out of the aisle.

Breakfast was sausage gravy and biscuit casserole. “This is something Chad would eat” remarked many. Alaina and Nell brought Tucker and Nate over after we were set up.

This week’s theme was Italian food and pepperoni roses for Franco Harris, who passed away in December.

There was also a special performance of Robby-hana when I made Shrimp fried rice on the griddle. This was something that I started making from scratch over the winter.

Blue	White
10	0

The weather got a bit better in the afternoon, but Tucker spent most of his first tailgate being held by Alaina or I.

Sunday

Some asked me, so I wanted to post some info here. I made the custom buttons for Chalupa’s memorial tailgate from Imprint: 50 of 2 1/2 Inch Round Custom Buttons.

For the Glory,
-Rob, Tailgating Coordinator

Planning Info

Planning

Diesel Tailgate: Get Big! ^TM