Texas Grabbed Our Tigers By the Tail

On our way to Thackerville, OK, (known as the Quarter Horse capital of the world) we stopped at a KFC buffet offering a $1 discount for “seniors” over age 55, so Russ got to take advantage of his first senior discount! Then when we arrived at the campground we learned that the nearby Winstar casino offered a FREE breakfast on Wed. mornings to those 55 & older! What a deal! Of course I had to pay $10 for mine, but the food was good and after gambling a little bit, Russ actually made money covering the cost of my meal. Woohoo!

As we left Thackerville on Fri., crossing the Red River into Texas, we cranked up our CD of the Mizzou fight song believing that had brought us good luck when we entered Nebraska. Though we didn’t attend the previous week’s game in person, maybe not playing it when we entered Oklahoma had caused the Tigers’ loss at Oklahoma State last week! We weren’t taking any chances this time!

Driving down the highway, we were reminded of the interesting things one sees traveling from place to place. Take for instance this giant eagle outside a car dealership in Waco, TX, or this longhorn steer grazing on the grass between the highway and the Teco Westinghouse corporate offices in Round Rock, TX!

We discovered while in St. Louis that a couple of friends would also be attending the game in Austin. Shortly after we arrived in Austin, Bob called and told us everyone was meeting at Chuy’s Mexican Restaurant for dinner and margaritas then heading over to a hangout on campus called Posse for some after dinner drinkin’. (That's Bob in the black t-shirt) Our group was a mixture of Tiger and Longhorn fans ready for some fun and a good game! Bob's sister, Kathy, and her husband, Larry (whom we had met at our tailgate in St. Louis) had come down for the trip, too. At Chuy’s Russ and I both got the nightly special, “Hatch Chicken Enchiladas”. Having lived in New Mexico for a few years, we were both very familiar with the Hatch, NM, green chile and were excited to try the dish since it’s not something you find in most places. Chicken & green chile enchiladas topped with a creamy white cheese sauce…and it did not disappoint! Oh, yeah, and the margaritas were pretty tasty, too.

One downside to Austin seems to be the traffic. To say the least it’s a nightmare and quite dysfunctional. Russ says whoever was responsible for designing the street layout should be shot! Getting anywhere takes forever and this being a big football weekend didn’t help matters any.

Game time wasn’t until 7PM, so we hung out at the RV watching ESPN College Game Day, which was taking place on the campus in Austin that morning, and relaxing until late afternoon when we were going to meet up with Jim and his two sons. We had decided to attend the Mizzou Alumni Tailgate again like we did in Nebraska and were to meet there. An added bonus for me this weekend was that Glenda, a friend whom I worked with in Houston, was in town visiting her kids who go to the University of Texas. Her daughter’s place is only about 5 min. from the Rec Center where we were to meet Jim and the Alumni bash was happening so she walked over and we had a great albeit brief visit.

As it turns out the tailgate was a combined Tigers and Longhorns affair with cheerleaders and mascots from both schools but only the UT band. A member of the Mizzou band was sitting at our table and told us that UT would not allot them any seats at the game whether they paid for them or not! At Nebraska they were allotted 40 seats and had to pay $40 for each one so they sent a pep band out of their 250 members. Even though it would have been a much farther trip, this wasn’t even an option at UT. Anyway, the UT band did play a modified version of the Mizzou fight song twice for all of us Tiger faithful. This tailgate included a hosted bar of beer and wine, and even though Russ and Jim had started partying outside beforehand with the Jack Daniels that Jim brought along, that didn’t stop them from enjoying the free beer! We had a great time with Jim and his sons, Jimmy and Joey, but Russ and I felt the bash in Lincoln was much better.

Finally it was time to head over to the stadium. The campus is quite large and I had forgotten about the famous clock tower that rises 307 feet. It was from the observation deck of this clock tower in 1966 that Charles Whitman had randomly killed and wounded several people with a deer rifle. This was significant to me because in high school I had written a report on mass murderers for history class, and this was one of the subjects of that report. Odd to be seeing it in person after all these years.

With over 98,000 in attendance, the stadium was packed…mostly in orange and white of course. I’d like to say it was a good game, but only if you were a UT fan. With a final score of 56-31, you might think it had been a fairly tight game, but it’s only that the Tigers played a better second half but not well enough to come back and win. Plans had been to meet up with Jim and the boys afterward for a couple more drinks, but when we caught up with them, it was decided a better plan was to head back to their hotel. Jim was pretty well plastered! He had snuck some of that Jack Daniels into the stadium! It’s so funny how well respected, conservative businessmen can become college boys again! LOL

Though the Tigers have now lost two in a row, we still hold high hopes for them to finish the season as Big 12 North champions and perhaps meet up with Texas again in the Big 12 Championship. Hopefully we’ll be better prepared for them next time!