Christmas is always fun. The kids are jumping up and down, totally excited about the next couple of days. For Andrew and me, the big present came a couple of days early. We had the chance to drive from Richmond to Charlotte to watch our Dallas Cowboys play the Carolina Panthers on Saturday night. Here's a journal of our trip, and there are some photos to match here on
Facebook, including this one:
10am Saturday: A pre-departure present from mom. She instructed both Andrew and me to open a present, and both of us found brand-new Cowboys hoodie sweatshirts. Awesome gift, and as it turns out, quite necessary too, given the weather we would face.
11am: We're in the car, and on the way. Quick poll -- how many unplanned bathroom stops would we have to make for the round-trip? My personal "over-under" mark is 6. (I've travelled with Andrew before!)
12noon: We're almost to Petersburg, and about to leave I-95 for I-85, which will take us the rest of the way.
1:30pm: Moments after a lunchtime stop in South Hill VA (KFC if you're scoring at home), we cross the stateline into NC. The roads immediately get worse -- very old pavement and quite bumpy. We pull into the North Carolina Welcome Center, where the cheerful lady manning the desk offers us a full packet of state propoganda, and then asks me to complete a survey. Sure. 5 minutes later, and I'm still filling out the survey, but I don't want to disappoint the cheerful lady.
2:15pm: Just outside Durham, no time to check out the Bulls stadium or Duke University, we're making great time along I-85 when Andrew says he's really got to go. The first exit we find has nothing advertised, but we take it anyway. Four miles later, we find a somewhat-icky convenience store. I get gas; Andrew gets relief.
3:45pm: The North Carolina Piedmont landscape is rather non-descript. There's nowhere near the trees we have in Central Virginia's Piedmont.
4:00pm: Only 30 miles away from our destination in downtown Charlotte. We're in the northern suburb of Kannapolis, and all of a sudden, traffic comes to a halt. We spend the next 30 minutes in stop and go traffic. We get about 10 miles down the road, and finally the congestion breaks free. No apparent reason for the backup. It's in this mess that we see of our batch of Panthers flags flying out of the nearby vehicles. Oh yeah, and a couple of Cowboys fans honked at the flag flying outside my car.
4:45pm: About 30 minutes behind our target time (not because of unscheduled bathroom stops - we had only the one in Durham), we arrive downtown Charlotte, which is actually Uptown Charlotte in the local vernacular. Charlotte has a very modern skyline, and we can see the lights of the football stadium a few blocks away. We check into The Blake Hotel, courtesy of a $55 bid on Priceline. Worth every penny, because I know other people were paying $120 or more for the same room I was getting. (You can read my review of The Blake on my favorite travel site:
TripAdvisor6:00pm: Tickets, check. Camera, check. Wallet, cell phone, room key. I'm wearing two shirts beneath my Cowboys jersey, and I'm wearing the hoodie around my waist. Andrew says he'll be fine with a t-shirt, his Romo jersey and his new hoodie. We'll see. Off we go.
6:05pm: It's a mile from the hotel to the stadium. The shuttle bus has a line. Don't want to take a cab, because I can see the traffic already backing up. What's the point? We decided to hoof it. It's 45-degrees with a very gentle breeze. Downtown looks gorgeous. We pass by a dozen or more guys all trying to buy or sell tickets. Thought to self: Why don't the ticket-seller-hustlers simply sell their tickets to the ticket-buyer-hustlers? I considered pointing that out to the hustlers, but decided to keep my mouth shut.
6:15pm: At the stadium, a good-sized crowd is already there. Half or more of them are Cowboys fans -- a very good sight. We check out the "Catwalk" -- a small fair outside the stadium. The TopCat cheerleaders are cheering "Go Panthers". To my son's horror, I'm the loudest guy in the crowd. No worry, there are some very big Cowboys fans standing around me, so I feel safe.
6:30pm: We go inside the stadium. It's cold and breezy in our seats. We're the first one in our sections, and my son is wondering why we're here 90 minutes before kickoff. "It's football, son. You gotta show up early."
7:45pm: After sharing a Baconator burger at the Wendy's concession stand, we met our game neighbor, Gary. We're sitting in very-good seats that can only be bought with a personal-seat-license (PSL). Gary bought a PSL when the team was born in 1995, and he's held season tickets ever since. He's missed only three Panther games in those 13 seasons. Gary knows everything about the Panthers. He turns out to be a great neighbor for the evening -- a hardcore Panther fan with a great spirit.
8:15pm: Kickoff is finally here! About five minutes to the game, the security guards are escorting a Cowboy fan out of his seat about three rows in front of us. I didn't see him do anything, so I'm wondering why he got yanked. Is this part of the Panthers' strategy to pick off the Cowboy fans one-by-one. We're about 20,000 strong in the stadium, so good luck with that. (The fan was allowed to return to his seat about 30 minutes later.)
9:00pm: The Cowboys score two quick touchdowns, and already I'm mouthing off. That didn't last for long, because I lost my yelling voice in the 2nd quarter.
9:15pm: It comes to my realization that I've been standing for the past 30 minutes, even while the neighbors sit down. Panther fans do a lot of sitting. It's a football game -- you're supposed to stand.
10:30pm: In the second half, two drunk guys behind me were getting noticeably irritated with the referees' calls and with the Cowboys in general -- perhaps they're mad at having to stand the whole game, because of me.
11:30pm: The Cowboys line up in the "victory" formation to run out the clock. Panther fans, including the drunks, are still upset over the blown refs' calls. Some of us in the stands are calling for "We want Green Bay!", except I'm having to mouth that cheer because I have no voice.
Midnight: We spill out of the stadium, and Andrew and I decide we want pizza. We head into Uptown with a map in hand, and 8 long blocks later, we're at Brixx, a wood-fired pizza place. I'm surprised there aren't more people out late partying. Perhaps if the Panthers had won. On our walk, we hear lots of Cowboys cheering, and Panthers fussing. It was a great scene outside the stadium.
1:30am: Back in the hotel, it's finally lights out. Andrew's had the time of his life, and so have I.
More to come. Day 2 is next.
Labels: Andrew, Charlotte, Cowboys, football, North Carolina, travel