NCAA Football – Wandering Dawgs

We’re not traveling as much in our fifth wheel anymore so I thought it would be fun to relive some of our most memorable days from previous RV trips.

On this day eleven years ago, October 31, 2008, our RV was parked in RV City in Jacksonville, Florida. We were there to attend the college football game between rivals Georgia Bulldogs and Florida Gators. The two schools have been playing each other annually since the early 1900’s and, except for two years while the stadium was undergoing renovations, has been played in Jacksonville every year since 1933.

Unofficially named “The World’s Largest Outdoor Cocktail Party”, fans of both teams start arriving in Jacksonville and surrounding areas as early as a week before the game. Hotels are booked a year in advance and finding a last minute place to stay anywhere near Jacksonville is almost impossible.

We attended our first Georgia/Florida game in 1974 and it was an annual tradition for us for many years. Most of those years we stayed in a Jacksonville area hotel for the weekend. In 2008, we decided to take our fifth wheel to RV City for the event.

RV City is a large parking lot near the stadium that is reserved for RV’s. There is a limited number of parking for RV’s and at the time, in order to get a spot in the lot RV’s start lining up early in the week before Saturday’s game.

We met friends in Jacksonville early on Tuesday morning to follow them to get in line for our sites in RV City. We spent that night in line and were in our space in RV City early Wednesday morning. From Wednesday until Friday we enjoyed the festivities and entertainment leading up to the game on Saturday.

20081031RV-City-Friday-(4) — Awning to awning in RV City

20081031RV-City-Friday-(1) — Packed in like sardines in RV City in Jacksonville, Florida

20081031RV-City-Friday-(11) — We had a great view of the stadium from our site.

20081030RV-City-(20) — There were a few waterfront sites in RV City

Yes, we were dry camping in a parking lot. Yes, the RV’s were close together. Yes, there were crowds and lots of noise. Did we enjoy it? Yes! It was a great experience and great fun!

We have friends in RV City right now. Kickoff is Saturday at 3:30. We’re there with them in spirit.

Go Dawgs!

College football season is finally here! For the next three months, the Wandering Dawgs will be making the drive to Athens, Georgia to watch our University of Georgia Bulldogs play on Saturdays in Sanford Stadium.

Along with thousands of other UGA football fans and students, our favorite route to Athens is along Georgia Highway 15. One of the familiar sights of the trip is an old barn beside the highway in Tennile.

About eighteen years ago a message about Georgia Football had been painted on the sign for the first time. Ever since then, the message changes a few times during the year. Now whenever we travel that way we look forward to seeing what new message will be there.