South Bend Road Trip Journal: Day 1

It's finally here! The day that we thought would never come has finally arrived! While waiting for the last of our friends to get out of class, we killed time by painting up the car in green and gold window paint. We were just about ready to go before I realized I left my ticket at home. Thank God I live across the street from the school or else that would have been a horrible way to start the trip. I grabbed my ticket and my computer case and hopped into the back seat of my friend's SUV, armed with 17 "This is USF Bulls Country" stickers, ready to slap them on all the state border signs. Our tailgate equipment is all on board, complete with our charcoal grill built from an old Yuengling keg and mounted on welded metal, all painted green and gold. But, I understand that most fans are unable to make the exodus north to the game. Travel isn't cheap. Not to mention, neither is South Bend. Therefore, I want to share my trip with all of you, in hopes that you'll all appreciate all the things I'll be experiencing on this epic journey to one of the biggest games in USF's short history. In addition to reading my daily trip posts, you may want to follow me on twitter (@nascyUSF) to see some photos and experiences that didn't get to find its way into the posts.

9:45 P.M., Thursday - We got on the road at about 9:25 and immediately hit a thick wave of stopped traffic that held us up for about 4 miles. After a bit of a delay, we got rolling again. Turns out someone just got pulled over and the [excellent] Tampa drivers all stopped to see what happened.

10:30 P.M., Thursday - Among conversations of how the football team looks this year, we all just put in our predictions for the USF-Notre Dame game for a $1 each pool. Let it be known now that I'm calling for a 34-21 USF victory.

11:30 P.M., Thursday - We rolled right past Gainesville when a car passed us on the left holding their Bulls horns out the window. We've been updating on the Syracuse-Wake Forest game for the past few hours, and we just saw the final drive of overtime on our feeds, and celebrated a great come-from-behind victory over a BCS team by our Big East brethren. The Rutgers game wasn't worth celebrating, though.

11:45 P.M., Thursday - Whoa. Just hit a possum. Looks like we'll be having breakfast in the morning after all (just kidding).

12:45 A.M., Friday - Just got into Georgia; stopped at the Georgia state line and stuck a "Bulls Country" sticker on the "Welcome to Georgia" sign. Stretched the legs out for a bit and threw the football around to get the blood moving. Not too bad so far.

1:45 A.M., Friday - We're starting to look like the Oregon Trail here, losing passengers by the minute (to sleep, though, not dysentary). Also, we've reached the point in Georgia where all the radio stations exclusively play Country music.

2:30 A.M., Friday - Damn. I seriously hate Rihanna.

2:35 A.M., Friday - Damn. I think I hate Nicki Minaj more.

3:40 P.M., Friday - Just filled up gas somewhere near MacDonough, GA. Stretched out the legs again, ate a couple chips and cookies, then back on the road. About 175 miles south of the state border. We're nearing Atlanta and a few of those Country radio stations are turning into Hip-Hop stations.

6:10 A.M., Friday - Just entered Tennessee. I'm just glad we got past Atlanta before rush hour. Now all we have to do is get past Chattanooga before 7:00 amd we should miss a good amount of the traffic. Slapped a "Bulls Country"" sticker on the Tennessee wolcone sign, all is well. Had to dodge the overnight cops to do it, though, and they totally knew we were up to something.

8:00 A.M. EST - I just finally wrapped my head around the fact that we're in the Central Time Zone. Sorry for any confusion, but all these times I've been posting have been in EST, and they'll continue to be.

10:00 A.M., EST Just picked up a friend of the driver in Kentucky. On a good day I, and several other passengers in the car, can barely stand to spend an entire 24 hour period with him. Now we're all sleep deprived and hungry, so the only question is which of us will be the first to offer him a ride on the roof for the rest of the way. Luckily, we're stopping to eat soon, so that should ease the tension a bit.

That's probably a good place to stop and post this. After we eat we'll be back on the road, making the last 7-hour part of our trip. The next entry will include that last leg of the drive and our first night at our campground in South Bend.