We did not sign up for this first game of the year, as the kickoff was at 6PM, and the Junkin family was getting together on this day, but our scout parents have not been volunteering on the list like last year, so we had no one to cover one gate. So late in the week, I told the other leader that Davis and I would take one for the team, as we both thought it would be fun to see Sam, and catch the first game of the DeBoar (sp?) era. And he quickly grabbed us up as volunteers, and placed us as the very quiet Shelby Macmillan lot, which was sweet, as we knew it would not be too busy.
But it was very hot! We were in Tuscaloosa by 6:30AM and met Sam at the Parking Deck where we delivered to him some fresh Peach Park peaches, some leftover chicken and dumplings from cracker barrel, and some paperwork left at home. He was borderline delirious, and both Davis and I told him "You need to go home now". Haha...he looked like he had been up all night in a car. We knew also that Noel was coming that day, so he needed to get some rest. But it was great getting to see him for a bit.
Over at Shelby Mac, we set up the canopy, had the grill for lunch, had cornhole ready. And sat back to a pretty easy morning. Since it was the first game of the year, many of the students were not on the list, so we had a speech for them to get their name on the list or next week they might not get to park here. Besides that group, it was the ones just needing directions. So Davis would pull me over for any direction duty. I feel like I know about the whole north side of campus pretty well by now, even how to get people to go the wrong way down a one way street when the roads are closed, as that is the only way to get to Gordon Palmer.
When we found out that we would be working the gate, I figured we would just pack our normal sandwiches, but Davis was like nope...we are grilling, which means, he was grilling. So he went to walmart and picked up some conecuh sausage and hamburger meat. I made the famous Dales Sauce burgers in a ziplock bag. And Davis made some awesome burgers and sausage. He knows the exact moment to pull them off the grill, and they are amazing. We both ate a couple of burgers and a sausage dog. And had plenty of conecuh to share with some neighboring scout groups working other gates. We played a little cornhole, but in the heat, with all that food, I had some stomach troubles, so I don't think we ever finished our game.
Shortly after lunch, we started hearing the sirens for thunderstorms in the area. And then the rain came. We quickly moved everything underneath the canopy. Then the wind came, and as Davis was finally getting a little shut eye, I hopped up to let a person into our area, and the wind almost pulled the canopy away from us. Davis leapt up to grab the canopy, and I went out to help the visitor. Then we found the stakes and got everything staked down. The next big gusts of wind blew our barriers across the parking lot. Davis and I were cracking up laughing, and said..."If anyone comes now, they can park whereever they want"
Sam and Noel came to our lot towards the end of the rain, as they were heading to the game. I don't know why, but Sam parked way away, and they walked up to our canopy. He had his rain jacket and Noel had nothing. So little brother told him to give the rain jacket to Noel, while he dug in the van for a black garbage bag for sam to use as a poncho. They chatted with us for a little bit, and because at this point, me and Davis had decided we had had enough of Tuscaloosa, we gave Sam and Noel our tickets so they would know for sure that they could be in the same part of the stadium (we did not know at the time if his student ticket was in a different area).
We had plenty of fun Richard Richard radio moments, one where he chastised Troop 354 for not letting him know that the campus deck was full. Then our Troop 354 leader told him that it was not full, and some other guy on the radio was giving him false information. Anyway, it was a hilarious exchange, especially when the radio is your sole source of entertainment underneath a canopy during the pouring rain. By the time of kickoff, they had some extra tickets available, but both Davis and I had wet feet, and no real desire to spend another 2 hours at least getting to the game and watching some of it. So at kickoff time, we took our barriers over to the campus deck to our other leaders, and then got on the road home. We were sitting at the house by halftime, and happy for our decision to come on home. I told Sam since he took our tickets, the price was a couple of pictures of him and Noel in the ball game. And that price was paid. Then the next day...as we were unloading after church I found some items that would have been helpful should we have just looked during this gameday...2 umbrellas and a poncho were sitting in my van the whole time.
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