This past Saturday we decided to go to the O&B game and normally I would want to arrive on Friday evening and return home on Sunday. Because we did not want to spend money on a 2nd motel night and more meals out we got up at 5 am on Saturday and headed out by 6 am hoping to arrive by 10 am. Our first clue that this trip wasn't going to go well occurred when we stopped at a turnpike rest area for a breakfast snack and found the only thing open was Dunkin Donuts with 70-100 people in line. We bought something out of a vending machine and headed back out. Our next big surprise came with having to dig quarters out of console to pay the $8 toll. We had not been on the turnpike for 20 yrs and I foolishly thought that in 2011 they would take Visa and MC. Now of course this last bit was self inflicted as I should have stopped for cash or researched and bought one of those sunpass things.
The next big surprise was the huge traffic jam where the turnpike joins I-75 north. The backup was several miles long and though not completely stopped it creeped along at under 10mph. They had this same problem back in the early 90's and apparently have done nothing to alleviate the situation. I can only imagine what it would be like on a regular gameday. I decided to get off at hwy 301 and take it and 441 the rest of the way which again was probably a bad decision on my part because of the regular Saturday traffic through Ocala etc. We arrived in Gainesville at 10 minutes before 12 and again to my surprise I found people and businesses wanted $20-30 to park near the stadium. I was prepared to pay $10 but I guess I'm out of touch with the times. We found free onstreet parking down on SW 8th ave and had a long walk to the stadium. We arrived about half way through the 1st quarter and unsuccessfully looked for something in the shade as my wife can't take the bright sun because of medications and it turned out I wasn't very good with it either. There were of course plenty of seats but the sitting and standing areas in the shade were packed like sardines. We did enjoy some of the game but the highlight to us was the halftime ceremony honoring the Heisman winners. The biggest cheer in the stadium by far was when Tebow was introduced but Danny also received a large ovation. Hope Danny didn't stay out in the sun too long with his bald head. I thought it was very nice that the Spurriers daughter stood in for him. We left the game a few minutes early and headed over to University ave as I always like to see what's going on there where businesses come and go like the tides. We saw David Nelson and Riley Cooper getting ready for an autograph session at the Gatorshop. They had about a hundred people lined up so I guess it was a success. We had a surprisingly good BBQ meal at Kay Bros BBQ in the same center as Gators Plus. I say surprisingly only because I didn't expect BBQ that good in a place that mainly caters to students. Being sort of a BBQ fanatic I have to put Kay Bro's in the definitely return category. As we were making the long walk back to our parking place a guy driving a rickshaw type device offered us a ride and I almost took him up on it. After getting back to the car we drove around town a bit looking at what was still there (not much) and what was new. We drove through the duckpond area and around downtown. Our original plans were to go to the Spring Arts Festival but we were both too tired from the walking and the heat and decided to skip it . We then headed down to our motel in Ocala. Because we didn't properly plan ahead I couldn't find a room at a decent price in Gainesville. We headed home on Sunday morning and I decided to avoid the turnpike and head out hwy 40 through the Ocala National Forest and make a side trip to Deland. We stopped in Deland and walked around their nicely restored downtown area. Nice place and Stetson has some beautiful buildings. Arrived home about 4pm and wondered where the weekend had gone. Didn't mean for this tale to be such a downer but honestly I wish we had stayed home and watched it on TV. Charlie -- GATORS: ONE VOICE ON SATURDAY - NO VOICE ON SUNDAY! 1996 National Football Champions | 2006 National Basketball Champions 2006 National Football Champions | 2007 National Basketball Champions 2008 National Football Champions | Three Heisman Trophy winners: Steve Spurrier (1966), Danny Wuerffel (1996), Tim Tebow (2007) - Visit our website at www.gatornet.us
