Leaving Texas....Heading North

On a very warm November Saturday we watched the Tigers squeak out a win against the Baylor Bears in Waco, TX. We arrived a couple hours before game time and stopped by the Mizzou Alumni Pep Rally (no tailgate event held here). With the Floyd Casey Stadium in the background, part of the Mizzou Spirit Squad (formerly known as cheerleaders) and team mascot, Truman, got everyone in the mood with a couple rounds of the Missouri fight song followed by speeches from the Alumni’s International President Elect and Mike Alden, the Director of Athletics. According to Mike, nearly 1,500 tickets had been sold through the Missouri Alumni Assn., and he encouraged everyone to be loud and let the team know we were there! Shortly afterwards we made our way across the parking lot to the stadium, and since we were in no hurry, took our time walking around the stadium.

One of the great things about visiting the different college campuses are each school’s traditions. This was homecoming week for Baylor, and there appeared to be several class reunions with many holding tailgate parties on the grounds. From inside under the stadium seats we watched as the Baylor band prepared to march out onto the field followed by alumni baton twirlers and band members playing right along with the marching band. What a cool homecoming tradition! Following behind them was another tradition known as the Baylor Line, a spirit organization composed of only freshmen. The Line wears gold jerseys (group leaders have green shirts over their gold), with each member sporting a unique nickname on the back of the jersey. Before each home football game, the Line gathers on the ramp of the south end zone on the student side of the stadium where the students begin the cheers and help energize the game-day crowd. Led by specially selected students carrying flags leading the freshmen, the Line runs around the field prior to kickoff, and then forms an extension to the players' tunnel as the Baylor football team explodes onto the field. We watched them walk down the tunnel into the stadium but didn’t watch them run around the field because we had discovered where the Tigers would be exiting to the field from under the stadium. As we walked back towards the visiting lockers, we discovered that metal gates had been dropped on either side of the door so the team could run out from the locker room through the tunnel and onto the field without any interference. And for some reason they wheeled out a chalkboard to somewhat block the view. Why I don’t know, but even so we were still close enough, and it was kind of cool to see them emerge from the locker room led by quarterback, Chase Daniel, as their faithful fans cheered them on.

We finally made our way to our seats amid over a thousand other Mizzou fans. I think it’s always so much more fun when you’re surrounded by those who are rooting for the same team as you! This is the smallest venue we’ve attended a game at so far (only holding about 50,000) so our seats at about 2/3 up on the 20-yard line weren’t too bad. The only unfortunate thing was that they were not on the shady side of the field! At most football games in Nov. you’d be happy to be on the sunny side, but it was 83 degrees and the sun was on us the whole game. We didn’t think to bring sunscreen so both of us got a little sunburned. Things looked great for the Tigers at halftime as they were winning 21-7. Then things got a little ugly. A different Bears team came out for the 2nd half and suddenly it was tied! The Tigers weren’t playing their best ball, and back and forth it went. We weren’t sure they would win, but after the Tigers scored a field goal to go up 31-28, the Baylor quarterback threw an interception with a minute and a half to go, and that’s all we needed to win! At the end of the game, the players from both teams came together in the middle of the field, and knelt in prayer. Then our Tiger team came to the base of our section and led their fans in the Mizzou fight song before heading back to the locker room….now there’s a fun tradition! Throughout the game, the stadium never did fill up even with it being homecoming and the Bears facing the 14th ranked team in the nation. But those in attendance were quite enthusiastic…especially during the 2nd half.














I guess we shouldn’t really complain about the heat since I’m sure winter will find us soon enough. In fact the first couple mornings after we arrived in Whitney, TX, were downright chilly at 38 degrees. Each day it warmed to the 70s and as the week progressed, even the mornings were in the 50s. This campground, located near Lake Whitney, has its own golf course and several activities for the members, residents, and transients like us. I had put up a few Halloween decorations on our coach, and Fri. night was their first annual Halloween party complete with a hay ride. Initially none of us (Russ, Scott, or I) planned to join in the hay ride but at the last minute I decided to hop on while the guys awaited our return at the clubhouse. What a fun group of people! The group was all older adults with one lady starting a sing-a-long, and we covered all genre of music….starting with a Christmas song! Of course we had to include Deep in the Heart of Texas, but it didn’t seem that anyone knew all the words, which sent everyone into spasms of laughter (guess you had to be there). Back at the clubhouse we saw a beautiful sunset and enjoyed apple cider and donuts as we sat around getting acquainted. They had hoped for an attendance of at least 10 people for their first effort and were pleasantly surprised with about 25.

Yesterday we arrived for a week at the Pine Island RV Resort in Jay, OK. The next Missouri game for which we have tickets isn’t until Nov. 29 in Kansas City, so we’re biding our time with a few stops here and there until then including a couple weeks in the Branson area. So until next time, be well and be happy.