Travels for Fun

Along with traveling for work this fall, Rachel and I were able to make it to several UT football games. The California game is well-documented in earlier blogs, as was my ranting following the Florida game. We also made it to several games in Knoxville, including the home opener against Southern Miss, Arkansas St. (me only), the woodshedding of Georgia, and the South Carolina cliff-hanger.
At each of these games, we were able to catch up with friends and enjoy the atmosphere of Knoxville on game-day (Steve and Erin Rodgers win "most loyal tailgaters" this year, as Steve made all Kennedy tailgates, and Erin missed only one. Mark Clark was also present at each tailgate. Prior to the Southern Miss game, we bumped into Rachel's Uncle Tommy at Gus's. We also saw Pace and Marin at Gus's (pictured in "Reflections"). Lindsey and Shaggy also snuck into town for this game.

The Big Orange BANDitos, shown as the Main picture of this blog were present at the tailgates for the Georgia game. If you read this blog and are not a UT fan, or if you are somehow a UT fan who is not familiar with the work of the BANDitos, please ask me about them sometime. They are well worth the explanation. Larry and Kerry Wray, Larry's brother Steve and friend, Cooney (just like a Brazilian soccer star, she needs only one name), and my college roomates - Tharp, Bean, and Timey and their MUCH better halfs were all present for this tailgate.

The weather turned cold for the South Carolina game. Johnson's wife, Erin, is pictured here "freezing". It was nice to reunite with Johnson for a win, following the debacle that we last attended together at Cal. The Johnson's have settled into TX with Shell Oil.



REFLECTIONS - Follow-up to the "Liquor Pack Mule"

As I had hoped, my recount of the lady that used her 4 year old boy at the Georgia game to smuggle liquor into the stadium, generated quite a bit of debate and banter amongst my blog readers. I wanted to follow-up on this particular topic, as many of you have provided some nice additional insight. Pace, pictured with Rachel and I at Gus's is the daughter of one proud Reed Stephenson - fellow blogger. Reed will be glad to know that his best friend, Bill Langston, volunteered Pace as a pack mule. Pace is WAY too classy for that task, at least until she enters college herself.

Others offered up the question, "Exactly how much alcohol could you smuggle in on a kid?" That is a very good question. One could likely turn this into a successful entrepreneurial venture by using a Cub Scout Den to smuggle the goods through security and then sell and distribute to others once in the stadium.

Perhaps the most astute observation was made by Mark Jones, Esq., who commented that he was, "pretty sure I could get at least a fifth in if I was carrying an infant."