One of the tough parts of planning logistics for a neutral site game is lack of familiarity with the host city or town. Where should we stay? Where should we eat? What’s parking like? Where will we tailgate?
We’ve got some experience planning road game pilgrimages: Knoxville, Nashville, South Bend, Columbia, Tuscaloosa, Pasadena, and on and on. Every different host town presents its own challenges.
We made the decision early that we wanted our headquarters for the weekend to be in an RV at a lot within reasonable walking distance to Bank of America Stadium. That takes all of the main variables – lodging, parking, food, and tailgating – and consolidates them in to one package.
We used to always Airbnb for road games, but as the price on those has eclipsed hotels over the years, we started looking for different lodging solutions. One trip, we decided to try out RV Share, and we’ve been RV disciples ever since.
The times we’ve used them, the RV owners have come to our designated parking lot, set up the RV, and have everything up, running, and functional by the time we pulled in the parking lot. When the weekend was over, we’d pack and clean up and the owner comes and picks it up. No muss, no fuss.
We didn’t end up using RV Share on this trip. A family friend had a Class A RV and offered to let us use it for the weekend. Yes, please!
We set up parking through the NASCAR Hall of Fame. They have a lot for oversized vehicles right across from the HOF and they rent it out to RVs and tailgaters during football weekends.
The price was really reasonable, and it was about a 15-minute walk to Bank of America Stadium. That also meant we were a 15-minute walk from the location of College Gameday, since Romare Bearden Park was only a couple of blocks from BOA.
The lot opened on Friday night at 6 pm. We rolled in with the RV, got set up, popped tops on some cold beverages, and laid out our plans for Saturday. Before we hit the hay, we set an alarm to rise with the roosters – College Gameday could not be missed.