I just finished being my obsessive compulsive self and planned out the trip to New Orleans and back this week. This will be my 28th trip to watch the Tigers play football since the 2003 season. While I’m no Scott Forman who will be attending his 107th straight game on Friday, I feel like I’m doing alright now with this being my 32nd straight and 50th of 52. It has been a lot of miles and even more good times.

I feel I’m one of the luckiest Tigers fans alive because I’ve been able to go to all these road games. Prior to 2003 I had only seen a few road games. I simply didn’t have the time nor the means to travel prior to then. Once I had both I decided I wanted to get on the road with the Tigers.

The guy who egged me on about making all the road games in 2003 was my friend, Chris Carroll. Chris passed away in 2005 and the road simply isn’t the same without him. He and I had some serious fun along the way. I still miss him when I head out on a trip.

Music has been a big part of the trips too. If we weren’t playing a game where you name bands which can last for hours to listening to it all. Kid Rock’s Cocky was the soundtrack for 2003. Cross Canadian Ragweed is great riding music. We’ve blasted out the speakers with all kinds from Van Halen, Hank Williams Jr., Brad Paisley, Judas Priest and all points in between. And finally, Blackfoot’s Highway Song is the perfect for a long stretch of highway at 3 a.m. while everyone else is asleep in the car. Even in my advanced age I still love listening to music in my car. Thank goodness for cd’s and Sirius.

I have now seen every C-USA East school and only lack a trip to SMU to complete that side of the conference. I have experienced the total hopitality of Marshall which is second to none. I have experienced wonderful East Carolina where a 16-year-old will flip you off while his parents laugh. The people at Southern Miss are examples of what the college football experience should be. I have suffered some disheartening losses, which meant a very long ride home. And some wins that made the 12 hours on the road seem like 12 minutes.

I have traveled in excess of 30,000 miles in these five years in three different vehicles. One was a Chevy Trailblazer that didn’t quite recover from making contact with a 7 point buck on Hwy 302. My current Mazda Tribute is going to finish its fourth season and eclipsed the 100,000 mile mark recently. I rode to the Motor City Bowl with friends and I was lost not driving. But it did let me see some things I’ve never seen.

The longest trip in these 5 years was El Paso. (Yes, I drove to El Paso) The shortest has been the two trips to Oxford, MS. There has been 9 trips that exceeded 1000 miles. The most miles in a season was in 2005 where we not only struggled on the field but traveled 5,700 miles in the process. In that year, I could smell the Atlantic Ocean breeze in Greenville, NC and the fine scents coming across the border from Mexico in El Paso, TX. I have literally looked out a hotel window in our country and saw Canada and Mexico within a calendar year on these trips.

I’ve used these trips to see things I wouldn’t get to see if I flew. I love going to national landmarks such as Lincoln’s birthplace. This week we’ll be visiting the Battle of New Orleans site. I’ve seen a sign in Kentucky that said, “USED COWS FOR SALE.” I’ve met a highway patrolman. I’ve had conversations with folks that made me appreciate going home. I was going to visit my father’s hometown but when a clerk at a conveinence store compared it to the town in Deliverance I decided to pass on that until Dad could go with me. I looked across the great expanse of west Texas and was amazed at the beauty of it. I saw the Corvette Museum in Kentucky. I saw a giant Jesus in Ohio. I could go on and on because the most simple things make me remember places you might find boring.

So this Thursday morning I’ll get in the car for New Orleans. My friends will be with me and we’ll have a blast on the trip as much as the game. We’ll talk about it for years to come because it is the personal moments that make the trips worthwhile. While I started to go on these trips to support the Tigers on the road, they have become much more than that. They have become about building on personal relationships. They have become opportunities to meet new people. They have become about seeing our country from the road not from a plane at 30,000 feet. They are more than football, they are making my life more fun and educational. Oh and still the sweetest thing is we get to see the Tigers play some football. And yes, we’ll be leaving immediately after the game to be in the FedEx Forum on Saturday morning.