| We are...Girls Gone Tailgating! |
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| Two Down, Ten to Go on the Road to NO |
So, the plan was to hitchhike across Nebraska for four days. Think about it: two blonde college football fans
from LA in the land of corn. No problem, right? Right.
It started with the Embassy Suites shuttle dude who took me around Omaha while I waited for Serena’s
flight to land. Second was Norman. Not only did he make sure to take us from Omaha to Lincoln in style but
he assured us that, should we get into any trouble, he would make a call to the Chief of Police. Now *that’s*
what I call hospitality. Only question is, what made him think we were going to get into any trouble???
So, once we were in Lincoln and realized that tour guide extraordinaire Sam Fischer (though we never
actually met him) was right and there was but a strip of bars down O Street where we would want to spend
the lion’s share of our weekend, we hit the town looking for Husker fun. In the next few hours we collected a
cadre of fans, five marriage proposals, three free pieces of pizza, two threats of arrest and one, “Are you a
movie star?” How funny – who says “movie star” these days?
Enter driver #3: thanks, Mike, for sticking around to make sure we got back to the hotel!
Friday was a new day. We started with a swing by the SC hospitality suite. That Kansas City alumni club
really knows how to organize a road game weekend. Shout out to fellow GGTer, KC Lu, for all of her hard
work! After a danish and an interview with the local ABC affiliate, we headed out to the State Capitol to
immerse ourselves in Nebraska culture. Ninety minutes later we satisfied that objective and were ready to
indulge ourselves again.
from LA in the land of corn. No problem, right? Right.
It started with the Embassy Suites shuttle dude who took me around Omaha while I waited for Serena’s
flight to land. Second was Norman. Not only did he make sure to take us from Omaha to Lincoln in style but
he assured us that, should we get into any trouble, he would make a call to the Chief of Police. Now *that’s*
what I call hospitality. Only question is, what made him think we were going to get into any trouble???
So, once we were in Lincoln and realized that tour guide extraordinaire Sam Fischer (though we never
actually met him) was right and there was but a strip of bars down O Street where we would want to spend
the lion’s share of our weekend, we hit the town looking for Husker fun. In the next few hours we collected a
cadre of fans, five marriage proposals, three free pieces of pizza, two threats of arrest and one, “Are you a
movie star?” How funny – who says “movie star” these days?
Enter driver #3: thanks, Mike, for sticking around to make sure we got back to the hotel!
Friday was a new day. We started with a swing by the SC hospitality suite. That Kansas City alumni club
really knows how to organize a road game weekend. Shout out to fellow GGTer, KC Lu, for all of her hard
work! After a danish and an interview with the local ABC affiliate, we headed out to the State Capitol to
immerse ourselves in Nebraska culture. Ninety minutes later we satisfied that objective and were ready to
indulge ourselves again.
The original plan was to meet up with
Warren Buffett while we were in town. I
mean, he is the Oracle of Omaha after
all. But when I asked for five minutes
of his time, he said he had too much on
his plate. Seriously. Still, Serena and I
would not be undeterred. So we
decided that stalking him was our only
other option. Enter driver #4.
Samore showed up to take us into
Omaha for a steak at Gorat’s…none
other than Warren’s favorite
steakhouse. Unfortunately Warren
knew better than to wade through
Trojan fans for a T-bone that night (he
is the Oracle of Omaha after all.) But,
we tried. And, in the process we met
new friends Keegan and Matt. By the
end of the night we were “that table.”
So, even though we didn’t meet
Warren, there is a good chance he will
hear about us!
When we got back into Lincoln (with
more people than we left with), we
made a beeline to the Sidetrack
Tavern. We were assured this was the
place to be. Those Nebraskans, they
Warren Buffett while we were in town. I
mean, he is the Oracle of Omaha after
all. But when I asked for five minutes
of his time, he said he had too much on
his plate. Seriously. Still, Serena and I
would not be undeterred. So we
decided that stalking him was our only
other option. Enter driver #4.
Samore showed up to take us into
Omaha for a steak at Gorat’s…none
other than Warren’s favorite
steakhouse. Unfortunately Warren
knew better than to wade through
Trojan fans for a T-bone that night (he
is the Oracle of Omaha after all.) But,
we tried. And, in the process we met
new friends Keegan and Matt. By the
end of the night we were “that table.”
So, even though we didn’t meet
Warren, there is a good chance he will
hear about us!
When we got back into Lincoln (with
more people than we left with), we
made a beeline to the Sidetrack
Tavern. We were assured this was the
place to be. Those Nebraskans, they
were quite proud of their Sidetrack Tavern. When asked, “Do you have bars like this in Cal-if-orrrrr-nia?,” I
had no choice but to respond with, “We used to. But, they went out of style in the mid-90’s.” For some
reason that comment didn’t add to our marriage proposals total.
Soon we moved on down O Street and hit up a few more bars. Serena and I noticed that the Husker boys
cooled to us when our own Trojan men were in tow. Then, as the bars closed and two of our crowd scored
entire cases of beer from bartenders after last call, we realized we were far better off. Twenty-four beers
beats five marriage proposals any day of the week. An after-party at the Cornhusker Marriott and a few
hours of shut eye later and we were staring down gameday in Lincoln, Nebraska!
had no choice but to respond with, “We used to. But, they went out of style in the mid-90’s.” For some
reason that comment didn’t add to our marriage proposals total.
Soon we moved on down O Street and hit up a few more bars. Serena and I noticed that the Husker boys
cooled to us when our own Trojan men were in tow. Then, as the bars closed and two of our crowd scored
entire cases of beer from bartenders after last call, we realized we were far better off. Twenty-four beers
beats five marriage proposals any day of the week. An after-party at the Cornhusker Marriott and a few
hours of shut eye later and we were staring down gameday in Lincoln, Nebraska!
Enter driver #5: Marriott employee #3
Ok, so it was only three blocks between our hotel and
Brothers where we were due to meet up with our new
crew. Still, we couldn’t resist the challenge. After little
coaxing, the Marriott bellman shirked his duties to drive
us down the street. Hee hee hee
We planned for Brothers to be the first of many stops
throughout the day but once we secured that second
table, we decided to stay a little longer. And then
Giovanni’s classic rock air guitar, air keyboard AND air
drums performances convinced us there was no reason
to move on. Six hours later we were still where the
bellman had left us. From there, we made the walk to
Memorial Stadium, wading through that sea of red.
By now, we’ve seen fanatic college football fans in every
part of the country. But, never have we seen so many
people who are sooo excited. We should have known
better when 18,000 of their fans showed up at 7am for
ESPN College Gameday. But, even that didn’t prepare
us. Seriously – these fans cheer on second down in the
first quarter as if the clock is counting down the final
seconds and the national championship is on the line.
One word for y’all: chill. And, one word for us: chilled. It
was 40 degrees with a 20 mph wind. And they were
serving ice cream!!!
I’ll be honest, we skipped out a little early. The next day
we overheard a Husker fan say, “Those Trojans left even
before we did.” He was right. That was us. No need to
Ok, so it was only three blocks between our hotel and
Brothers where we were due to meet up with our new
crew. Still, we couldn’t resist the challenge. After little
coaxing, the Marriott bellman shirked his duties to drive
us down the street. Hee hee hee
We planned for Brothers to be the first of many stops
throughout the day but once we secured that second
table, we decided to stay a little longer. And then
Giovanni’s classic rock air guitar, air keyboard AND air
drums performances convinced us there was no reason
to move on. Six hours later we were still where the
bellman had left us. From there, we made the walk to
Memorial Stadium, wading through that sea of red.
By now, we’ve seen fanatic college football fans in every
part of the country. But, never have we seen so many
people who are sooo excited. We should have known
better when 18,000 of their fans showed up at 7am for
ESPN College Gameday. But, even that didn’t prepare
us. Seriously – these fans cheer on second down in the
first quarter as if the clock is counting down the final
seconds and the national championship is on the line.
One word for y’all: chill. And, one word for us: chilled. It
was 40 degrees with a 20 mph wind. And they were
serving ice cream!!!
I’ll be honest, we skipped out a little early. The next day
we overheard a Husker fan say, “Those Trojans left even
before we did.” He was right. That was us. No need to
get pneumonia watching a football game, even if we did fly 2000 miles to see it.
Enter driver #6: Random Nebraska dudes on a John Deere
This was better than convincing a bellman to abandon post to drive us three blocks! On our way out of the
stadium, we hopped in the back of a John Deere driven by a couple of Husker students. The plan was to
drop us off on the edge of campus where said bellman promised to pick us up. But, it took even less
coaxing to get these guys to parade the newly crowned “Corn Queens of Lincoln” (that would be us) down O
Street for everyone to see. This was better than marriage proposals AND 24 beers!
We eventually made it back to the hotel where we watched our Trojans finish off the Huskers. Before long
icicles that remotely resembled Trojan fans filed back into the hotel bar for a little more fun before our
Sunday morning departures.
The next morning we climbed out of bed to the tune of my text messaging ring tone, with an offer of a ride
back to the Omaha airport. Two hours later Craig, aka Driver #7, was on hand to make sure we made it to
our planes on time, which proved only one thing: two blonde college football fans from LA don’t need a car
for an epic road trip across Nebraska.
Enter driver #6: Random Nebraska dudes on a John Deere
This was better than convincing a bellman to abandon post to drive us three blocks! On our way out of the
stadium, we hopped in the back of a John Deere driven by a couple of Husker students. The plan was to
drop us off on the edge of campus where said bellman promised to pick us up. But, it took even less
coaxing to get these guys to parade the newly crowned “Corn Queens of Lincoln” (that would be us) down O
Street for everyone to see. This was better than marriage proposals AND 24 beers!
We eventually made it back to the hotel where we watched our Trojans finish off the Huskers. Before long
icicles that remotely resembled Trojan fans filed back into the hotel bar for a little more fun before our
Sunday morning departures.
The next morning we climbed out of bed to the tune of my text messaging ring tone, with an offer of a ride
back to the Omaha airport. Two hours later Craig, aka Driver #7, was on hand to make sure we made it to
our planes on time, which proved only one thing: two blonde college football fans from LA don’t need a car
for an epic road trip across Nebraska.