M-I-Z! ... Z-O-U!

We arrived at Finger Lakes State Park, about 10 miles north of Columbia, MO, and settled into the same site we occupied last year.  Russ’ alma mater, the University of Missouri (Mizzou), is in Columbia, and this campground was the perfect jumping off point to enjoy campus activities for the next couple of weeks.
FOOTBALL
First up was the Missouri Tigers vs. the Florida Gators football game, and we met Jim and Judy who came in from St. Louis at a nearby parking lot to carpool.  Excitement was in the air as well as some apprehension because our star quarterback had been injured the
      week before, and there was concern whether our red-shirt freshman was up to the challenge.  And the answer…yes he was!  Before a sold-out standing room only crowd of 67,124 he led the Tigers to a decisive 36 - 17 win!! 
   The standard cheer at every Tigers game erupted as the game was ending…one side of the stadium yelling MIZ! with the other responding ZOU! and back and forth it went.

One of the funniest things towards the end of the game was when “We Will Rock You” blared over the loud speakers and nearly all of Tiger nation began mocking the “Gator Chomp” in rhythm to the song.  What’s the Gator Chomp?  A gesture made by Gators fans and
    players performed with fully extended arms, palms facing each other, and opening and closing the arms to imitate an alligator mouth.  OK, probably not good sportsmanship, but sure as heck

Jim & Judy

      funny!  The photos don’t do it justice, but I know you can find a video online to get the full effect.  After- wards the four of us hung out in the parking lot doing a little bit of tailgating while the crowd emptied out.

VOLLEYBALL

The next day was women’s volleyball with the #18 ranked Tigers playing the #2 ranked Florida Gators.  It was being held in the Hearnes Center, and admission was free with our ticket from the football game.  Not having ever attended one of these games, we figured we’re in the area, why not check it out.  If we
got bored, we could always leave.  Well, we have to tell you that this match was one of the most exciting we’ve ever experienced!  We found seats about 10 rows from the floor, and before a crowd of 4,202 (5^th largest in school history for volleyball), the Tigers chomped the Gators 3 sets to 1, keeping their undefeated season alive at 23-0.

As with any college sporting event, it was complete with cheerleaders, mascot (Truman the Tiger), pep band, and student cheering section including the requisite shirtless guys who have letters painted on their chests.  Usually at Mizzou, they spell out something like GO TIGERS, but this crew’s spelled out EAT MOR GATOR!

However, about halfway through the first set, we spotted another 8 guys in the student section with no shirts and couldn’t figure out how we had missed them before.  Concentrating back on the action, it wasn’t till the end of that set when Russ nudged me, and there were the guys wearing only their
    speedos! As it turns out, between each set these members of the men’s swim team put on layers of clothing and then remove one item each time Mizzou scores a point until at point 24 they are down to just their speedos.  What a hoot! 
     Game only goes to 25 and the team has to win by 2 so I’m not sure what they do if it has to go beyond 25!!  At the end of the match, the entire team and student section joined together singing the school song.

Between the 2^nd and 3^rd sets, we were entertained by the Missouri Highsteppers (www.mohighsteppers.org) who range in age from very young through high school age.  The group was founded in 1979, and according to their website “ is a
    contemporary precision dance and drill troupe – performing dance steps, military drill maneuvers, marching steps and choreographed street dance to percussion accompaniment.”  High energy and excellent but about wore me out just watching them!

BASKETBALL

The following Friday was a pre-season exhibition basketball game at Hearnes Center with free admission.  The men’s team was playing the Oklahoma City Stars and won convincingly 73-48 in front of a crowd of 9,222.

     However, before the game the 1993-94 undefeated Missouri Big Eight Conference Championship team was honored.  Pre-game activities included an autograph signing session with the team as
      well as legendary coach, Norm Stewart.  While Russ waited at our seats, I went over to where the signings were taking place to snap some photos.  Several hundred people were lined up and many had
      brought team memorabilia with them to be signed.  Forgot to bring something to be signed?  No problem, 8x11 sheets of Mizzou paper were provided just in case.

Also before the game was a ceremonial jersey presentation to the 1993-94 players and coaches with Coach Stewart receiving his framed. The ceremony began with Truman repelling from the ceiling as he did before every basketball game held in the Hearnes Center
     (now games are held in the much larger Mizzou Arena).  The current team made a double line in front of the “bench” of former players, and as each was announced, they walked through this welcoming
       committee “tunnel” to the cheers of the crowd.  Each player received their jersey from Coach Haith, Mizzou’s current coach, shook hands with Coach Stewart, and then joined each other on the other side of the floor.  During timeouts in the
game, highlights from the 32-year history of basketball at Hearne’s Center were shown on the jumbotron and Coach Stewart addressed the fans at halftime.  This tribute to such a great team was truly wonderful and well done.


   One of the student cheering sections is “The Antlers”, and we noticed that there were quite a few “older” guys in the mix. Being homecoming weekend, obviously they were former Antlers.  This group formed in 1976 and is well known for their constant and obnoxious taunting of opponents. 

HOMECOMING

Did you know that Mizzou is credited with holding the very first homecoming in 1911?  As mentioned above, this was homecoming weekend, and the next morning was the parade.  Since this was going to be a very long day, we took Abby with us. 
     We found a great spot to set up our chairs, and Abby made a quick friend in Jonah, who spent most of the parade hanging with her and missing much of it.  Initially we had an unobstructed view but gradually little kids went in front of us to get
    the candy being thrown, which was fine because they’re short, but then the adults decided they needed to be there, too.  Pretty soon our terrific view was completely obstructed unless we stood up and even then at times.  The Tigers would be playing the Gamecocks, and a few floats had fun with that idea.

We had decided not to attend the football game but arranged to bring our TV and satellite dish to Doug’s tailgate party and watch it outside with him.  Doug is a friend of Jim and Judy’s whom we met last year when he hosted a tailgate before a game we attended.  Since this was going to be an evening game, it
    gave us plenty of time to make sure the TV setup would work correctly using our portable inverter and Doug’s car battery.  Evidently we misjudged how long it would run without being recharged, and suddenly the TV went dead and then his car wouldn’t start so we had to use Jim’s car for a


Our host, Doug

jump.  The rest of the day was spent partying and watching football games with good friends and making new ones.  Jim’s son, a graduate of Missouri, even showed up in a rented tiger outfit!  Abby was worn out from the morning’s activities and spent most of the day resting when she wasn’t getting attention from all the passersby.

At game time it was just the 3 of us while the others went inside to watch #5 ranked Missouri Tigers take on the #21 ranked South Carolina Gamecocks in front of another sold out standing room only crowd.  Though it had been a beautiful day, the temperature dropped once the sun went down, and we bundled up accordingly.  At the end of the 3^rd quarter the Tigers were up 17 - 0 but let the Gamecocks score an unanswered 17 points in the 4^th taking the game into overtime.  Not one, but two.  But our field goal kicker’s 24-yard shot bounced off the uprights, and the game was over….Gamecocks 27, Tigers 24.  Quite a devastating loss.  The Tigers season was nowhere near over, but it was still a setback.  As those 67,124 fans left the stadium, the silence was deafening.  The only sound in the parking lot was the Cardinals/Red Sox World Series game emanating from our TV.  It was a somber after party waiting for the crowds to leave, but at least we had a little to smile about as our team at least won that game.

Ramblin' On

The day finally came to leave Yellowstone and head towards Florida with a couple of planned stops in between.  It was quite cool out, and as we drove along the Gardiner River, we could see the steam rising high from the section called Boiling River (a spot where the thermal hot spring flows into
   the icy cold river…great for soaking normally but not during the shutdown).  Fall was definitely in the air, and you could see the changing colors not only in the park but also in the distant hills.  Odd thing was that we didn’t see any elk or any other critters for that matter as we made our way
north and out of the park.  However, we had one last reminder of the shutdown as we approached the entrance/exit, and we simply took the road to the right to leave because going through the Arch with the RV is not an easy thing anyway.  Goodbye Yellowstone until next year.

 

We continued our travels along Route 89 heading towards Interstate 90 and about half an hour later, we found the elk!  This huge herd of at least a couple hundred was just hanging out probably waiting to give us a fond farewell.  J

 

As we travel the highways and back roads, we see some interesting things and that afternoon was no different.  Just take a look at this house with the cool old farm equipment lined up out front like artistic sculptures and antlers wrapped around the front porch posts.

 

We spent our first night in Laurel, MT, with plans to spend the next night in the Cabela’s parking lot in Rapid City, SD.  As we approached the town, evidence of the recent snow storm that was accompanied by high winds was everywhere.  It had slammed into town after days
   of temperatures in the 70s and caught many off guard, dumping 3 ft. of snow in some areas.   It was windy when we arrived but not too bad, however, the winds increased during the night.  The next morning we started out but only
       got as far as the next exit before turning back to Cabela’s.  Winds were averaging 40-60 mph, with gusts even higher, and the RV was rockin’!  Abby was petrified as she hates loud noises of any kind, and the wind was creating a lot of noise.

 

We ended up staying 3 nights at Cabela’s before moving on.  The freak storm had been especially bad for ranchers as they lost tens of thousands of cattle who had not yet grown their winter coats and were subjected to rain, high winds, and then heavy snow.  As we drove along the highway, we could actually see the bodies of dead cattle in the snow, one of which is pictured above left.

The rest of our drive was fairly uneventful as we made our way to Columbia, MO, where we planned to stay for the next couple of weeks.  However, we did pass this overturned truck but couldn't really tell what happened.  In Iowa we saw thousands of small birds suddenly take off in flight (below left) from various spots along the highway...we're guessing in migration.  And not long after crossing into Missouri, another flock took off from trees on the other side of the highway (below right).  Unfortunately, there was no way I could tell what kind they were, but what a sight!



 

Autumn is my favorite times of year, and the leaves on the trees were changing into the many shades of red, orange, and gold with a little green thrown in here and there.  The wind was still strong in spots as you can see by the flags flying in the photo below left, but Russ had no trouble driving.  Halloween was a couple of weeks away, but we saw evidence that several folks were already getting into the spirit!