Renewed Passion

Before the tour started, we were pretty excited to spend time with friends and family and visit the nation. Unfortunately, some RV troubles have limited the time we could do these things. Don’t get me wrong, we have had a blast and been moving at a fast pace, but we want to slow the good times down a few notches and enjoy life. Last Saturday was pretty frustrating, embarrassing, and depressing, seeing all the white smoke from the exhaust cake San Francisco and Los Angeles in smog and having the RV’s transmission not catch. But, after seeing a man, blue in the face, being carted from Oakland Coliseum, and realizing how lucky I am do be in this situation, I am putting the frustrations behind me. It is time to stop and enjoy what we are doing to the fullest.

A lot of people have been very interested in what is going on with the RV and our trip. First, let me say thanks for all the support and help in getting this situation fixed. The RV’s engine and transmission need replacements and my father is in contact with a few mechanics / salvage yards to do this at a reasonable price. We just hope that, once fixed, it will finish the trip. So, in the meantime, Nolan, Aaron, and I stole my parent’s suburban, and are continuing the great adventure for a few weeks. We hope that the RV will be finished by the Colorado weekend (Nov. 7 – 9) and we will trade vehicles at that point and finish with the RV. So our tailgates will be lacking the visibility and some amenities of the RV and the wrap, but we will still be set up around the suburban.

Nolan and I were able to get to the Fresno State game just after kickoff thanks to my father bringing out the Batmobile. We picked up Sue Lusk and she joined us as well. We were able to spend about 12 hours in that area, but had to leave early for the Oakland game. So with all the troubles, Nolan and I still made the California weekend games and kept the tour goal alive.

Oakland was very interesting and we saw one of the coolest RVs we’ve seen. (We parked in the RV parking lot, amidst getting a supervisor involved, with the Batmobile). The RV was the Eagle One, custom painted with McNabb and Eagles colors, and it was following the Eagles. Ballsy for someone to roll into Oakland with such a rig, but even the Raiders fans had to respect this Eagle fan. The RV had about a 47″ flat screen TV weatherproofed and located in one of the slide-outs and outdoor speakers on either side. Very sick and intended for the fans that don’t go to the game without the RV owner needing to be there to protect it!

San Diego was beautiful as always, and we had a great crowd with Nolan’s friends all still from there. The only problem we encountered was trying to find our parking space. It took an extra 30 minutes to get to it because there were no signs around the parking areas and I took a wrong turn. All in all, great time. We took advantage of the weather on Tuesday and visited Shamu and Sea World. We enjoyed some cold beverages, water rides, and watching Shamu splash little kids.

Currently driving through Oklahoma and Kansas and enjoying the only three CDs we brought. Forgot that the suburban doesn’t have an IPod hookup. We are definitely going to have to get an adapter soon after listening to each CD several times. Exciting weekend with the K-State / Colorado Big 12 matchup and Chiefs / Chargers on Sunday. Looking forward to the tailgates and getting back to Manhattan to see some good friends. We will be on the East side of Bill Snyder Stadium in the grass-gravel lot (general parking) on Saturday and the red-reserved parking lot on Sunday. Check out twitter or facebook on gameday for an exact location.