I'm home for a weekend in Plainfield, Indiana. It's great to be back in the midwest with friends and family. I arrived at 5:30 pm on saturday and enjoyed dinner with the family. I then loaded up my explorer with my old DJ equipment (for those who didn't know, I used to run a DJ business) and headed up to my buddy Ross's place in Brownsburg to prepare for the next day's activities.
I woke up to my alarm at 5am with Ross's dog Sable right next to me. She likes to snuggle... and yes she has 3 legs.
We were on the road by 5:30 am, met the rest of our tailgate caravan at 6:30, and were at the tailgate fields at 6:40 waiting to be let in. On our way to the tailgate fields, we drove by the Purdue bars where students patiently waited in their Breakfast Club costumes for the bars to open at 7am. For those who are not familiar with the concept of breakfast club, allow me to quote the Purdue Graduate Student Board's description on this re-occurring event:
"Purdue has a tradition known as Breakfast Club. This means that students hit the campus bars at Chauncey Hill around 7 AM. This happens on football game day Saturdays during the Fall, and once during the Spring, Purdue Grand Prix. If you plan to go (and you should go at least once while you are at Purdue), wear a costume. If you do not, you will be one of the very few who did not, and will be heckled."
In this picture, you can see the pope next to two dogs and most of the original Mario Brother's cast.... oh breakfast club.
The tailgate field gates opened at 7 and we were on our way. As you can see, the sun was not up at this point. Luckily, the fields we tailgate in have lights because they also serve as Purdue's Intramural Fields.
We then set up the sound system and 3000watt generator,
And the Oktoberfest themed food... My buddies have a tailgate for every game. Each tailgate has a different theme. This one was Oktoberfest. There was a German meat and cheese platter, bratwurst, potato pancakes, and German Beer!!!
The sun rose, the music was turned up, and friends a family dropped by. We even had a visit from the man himself... Purdue Pete!
The tailgate was AWESOME, and it turns out the game was even better!!! Not going to the game was one of my worst decisions of the year. I was fully expecting the usual OSU blowout and decided I would rather hang out with my friends than sit in a crowded stadium and watch bad play after bad play. Well, it turns out, had I been at the game, I would have been able to rush the field when the clock expired and Purdue had won! Oh well! I can't have it all.
I returned home (to my parents house) that evening and joined the weenie roast that was roaring at our next door neighbor's house. Several kids look bored and so I busted out a flashlight and taught them how to play flashlight tag. They were astonished by the game that I had played almost every summer night as a child. They were even more surprised to see me scale a tree for my first hiding spot. Apparently kids don't climb trees anymore. I must say it was fun to relive my childhood... maybe a little embarrassing when everyone answered the "how old are you" question (8, 9, 11, 12, 14.... and me at 25 years old), but I quickly got over that as I sprinted off for my next hiding place under the patio deck.
The only thing that could make this weekend better would be tickets to a home Colts Game (unfortunately, they have a bye this week).
