Big 10 Football Tour

Let me start off this installment by apologizing to all of our avid readers for the delay in getting this post up.  Receiving all of your emails that inquired why I had not posted in the last two weeks was difficult, but here is my explanation.

Several forces were occuring that caused me a delay in getting this post live:

A) After several weeks that were disappointments as a result of poor planning, trying to get home too early, etc - I wanted to make sure that our final two weeks were as fulfilling as possible.
B) Blake threw in the towel on the tour and would not join us on the final 3 stops
C) Wes once again decided that he had better things to do, stopped responding to my emails and basically ended all help to the cause.
D) Jeff's pursuit of picking up women and going out as often as possible wasn't helping the goals of the tour at all.

So basically upon my return from Madison, I hit a wall.  After 3 months of working on this tour in all of my free time, while trying to get my teammates to agree with me and help out, and trying to be productive in my full-time job, I realized that I needed to slow down.

So in the next week, I will try to update the sight with our final stops and then begin to outline what I think will be a very very interesting trip to the Rose Bowl as I plan on making many other stops beyond just Pasadena!

All of my irritation aside, Dan Lawrence came through for me this weekend and booked us a reasonable hotel.  I must say however that once I saw the sign, I was a little leery of the spot.

The hotel was just fine, but there were some interesting callouts to make.  Firstly, the size of the bar of soap. I have really small hands and this bar of soap looks small in my hand.  It was about 1.25" long and less than 1" wide.

Every section of the hotel also had a themed room such as the "Animal Room."  The door would be decorated in some odd way.

Lastly, it has been awhile since I ate Captain Krunch but last I remember...it didn't look exactly like Frosted Mini-Wheats?

Thanks to some other avid Big 10 Football travelers, we were invited to tailgate near the stadium and receive free parking!  A cold cold day couldn't prevent us from having a great time before the 11:00 AM start time.  Read about our experience tailgating HERE!

It had the makings of a very good game at Camp Randall Stadium.  The Badgers had lost two in a row and the Boilermakers had just won two in a row.  Both teams had a lot to play for.  How did the experience go, read about it HERE!

As I've mentioned time and time again, I've made a lot of great new friends on this tour.  Travis, from the Purdue blog Hammer & Rails did a great write-up on his day in Madison that you can read here.  I was reminded of my visit to Purdue when I walked out of Camp Randall and saw the Boilermaker Special.  This was one thing that I really wanted to see but missed while in West Lafayette - so check out some of my photos of it HERE!

Wisconsin has more than a few places to have a drink.  On Halloween night, it seems as if everyone is interested in having a drink.   Free of Police interaction, check out some of the drinks we had and places we stopped in Madison HERE.

More than just bratwursts and beer, Wisconsin has a lot of great foods to try during your visit.  There is one particularly interesting place that you need to read about HERE.  So many good foods here that you often heard the jokes about Wisconsin being the home of the "pregnant men."

While most of the great sights are confined to the area around the capital building, there are many great things to stop and see while you're in Madison.  Clearly, the activity picks up in the summer months when the lake lends itself to more water activities.  Even during the winter however, the lakes are a popular spot as they become second homes to those who love ice-fishing.  Check out some of the places I stopped while in Madison HERE.

Madison is home to Freakfest every October 31st.   For the second time in this 11 week tour, the costumes made their way out (see Breakfast Club for the other).  Check out our photos of Halloween night right HERE!

Our tailgate location was so great that we met all kinds of great Wisconsin fans.  However, one young fan simultaneously fought the cold and supported his team with great headwear.  I'm sure that this young man was sporting all sorts of Badger gear underneath that heavy jacket.  Tell Mom and Dad to add "Badger Winter Coat" to the Christmas list this year.

While I saw all kinds of great candidates for this trip, I was rarely able to pull out my camera and snap a photo in a timely manner.  I was extremely thankful when I found this one parked near the shores of Lake Mendota.  It appeared to be a Toyota Scion (odd choice) sponsored by the Alumni Association of Wisconsin. Great paintjob!

Here's a new one this week.  I always see all types of signs that I wish I could post on the blog, but it's often challenging to pull the camera from the holster, turn it on, and snap a clear photo while you're on the move.  This week, it's either a farewell to a friend named Richard or the company showing some sarcasm and insulting someone that they are not too fond of.

Ultimately this proved to be one of the more disappointing weekends of the tour.  The cold weather, the non-competitive game, and the "Big 10 Tour team" falling apart all attributed to a rather average weekend.

Nevertheless, an experience at Camp Randall is clearly in the upper eschelon of the Big 10 with the 4th largest stadium, one of the loudest and some of the most fun traditions in the conference.  There is a clear home-field advantage at a Badger home game - all you need to do is look at their home record over the past few years as they clearly get the job done at home.

With lakes on both sides of the city, Madison is without a doubt, one of the most beautiful cities in "Big 10 Country." If you've looking for the best bar scene in the Big 10, you may look no further than here.

Being our "home game," I was really hoping for much more.  While I was offered some assistance from the Badger staff, it wasn't the resounding hometown welcome similar to what the Milwaukee Bucks offered 18 months before, but maybe I just went through the wrong means.  Anyways, I look forward to attending the outdoor hockey game against Michigan in early February at Camp Randall and many visits to Badger games in the future.

Martin, Tom - inviting us to join his group at a great tailgate location