Great Day in East Lansing

Deb & Joe at Spartan Stadium

Friday, Aug. 31, 2018 [Note: I am missing a couple of photos]

Friday was just a great day for us! We started out with showers in the excellent shower house at the campground, and then drove about 90 minutes to East Lansing-- or to be precise, to Okemos, the town adjacent to E.L.Our reasoning was that we knew that the game-day parking lot would not open before 3:30 (and they DO stick to that!), but we wanted to get into town early for a particular reason--we needed white MSU shirts to wear to the game. They had decided to "stripe the stadium", meaning that depending what section you are in, you are supposed to wear either green or white. We only owned green shirts, which is what we had with us, but we were in a white section. So of course, we headed to Walmart. We knew we'd be able to park, and also that they would have a healthy selection of Spartan swag, including t-shirts.

We went inside, and the store did not disappoint us, having their entire "sports" section set up behind a Spartan sun tent. They didn't have as much fun "stuff" as I remembered from last time, but we did both find white MSU t-shirts that we liked. Then, resisting the impulse to buy new folding chairs in green and white, we went back to the RV and had lunch.

Walmart's Spartan Section

It was only about 1:30 by that time, however, and I was hoping to see just a little of downtown EL and maybe figure out how to get into the Student Book Store, where I just KNEW that I'd be able to furnish and entire house, if desired, with the MSU-themed items they would have. So we drove slowly into town, noticing all the new buildings, and the absolute mobs of people (not a big surprise on game day). We even caught a glimpse of our first apartment building, although we didn't drive past it for logistical reasons. Joe drove, and with me directing, we were lucky enough to find a large space on the curb a few blocks away from Grand River Avenue (the main drag through town) where we could slide the RV in and just fit!

At that point, Joe made the wise decision to stay in the RV and relax. I had a little over an hour to go shopping. I headed down the street, noticing all the students on their porches (so many of the houses are obviously rentals--I wonder why Joe and I ended up in a single apartment instead of a fun house?)  They were just starting to set up for their pre-game parties.

The town was simply MOBBED, and I noticed an awful lot of people closer to my age than to college age! There was hardly a soul who was not wearing and MSU t-shirt, if not a complete green and white outfit. DEFINITELY game day in the Big Ten! I went to the Student Book Store, and as expected, there were about three rooms devoted to Spartan swag-- I have no idea where the BOOKS might have been, because I did not see ANY! But I spent well over 30 minutes browsing through EVERYTHING (I WANTED everything, too, but I knew I truly did not need a deck of MSU playing cards, or any more MSU coffee mugs, or a Vera Bradly MSU-pattern tote bag, or ANYTHING else... and Cassie did not need a new MSU leash, and the car did not need another MSU magnet. The RV, however, DID need an MSU license plate frame , and Joe did need to replace his horribly faded Block-S green hat with a new one (identical). And I needed just one (ok, two) new magnets for my refrigerator. I *almost* needed an MSU garden stake, but then I decided against that too.

By the time I left the store, it was time to start heading back to the RV so we could continue with the main event of the day. We carefully drove back through the residential streets, dodging large groups of students who were gathering on porches everywhere, and found our way to the RV parking lot at the very fringes of the campus. I didn't mind driving down there, because the route took us past Holmes Hall and Akers Hall, our freshman year residences. The trees seem a lot taller on the East Campus than they were 40 years ago!!

At 3:36, we were already the 6th RV into the lot, meaning we didn't get a place along the curb (and grass) at the edge of the lot. But that was okay, because we wanted to be as near as possible to where the shuttle would pick us up. All in all, there were about 15-16 RVs in the lot by 6:00pm. Most of them had tailgate parties going on, or at least dinner-- but at MY RV, my husband decided to put on the new license plate holder. Of course, it turned out not to be the 10 minute job he expected (something about "locking bolts" holding the license in place, which had to be removed and replaced with something more manageable.) I, otoh, was not stupid-- I sat in a lounge chair in the shade cast by the RV, eating chips and dip and drinking a vodka and tonic.

In the end, we did NOT make any dinner-- at 6pm, Joe had finished the license frame renovation, and it was time to start heading for the station. We had to walk a short distance to catch the shuttle bus. On the ride, we chatted with other passengers, one of whom happened to come from..... Metuchen, NJ!  I mean, how CRAZY is that?

So we got to the stadium, and wending our way through the huge crowds of tailgaters at the foot of the Sacred Building (and past a couple of idiots waving placards and begging us to come to Jesus), we found our way inside, trudged up the zig-zag ramp to the very highest reaches of the stadium, treated ourselves to some stadium food in lieu of a healthier dinner, and finally looked down on the Kingdom of the Spartans from a very fine birds-eye view (our favorite vantage point.) We were in time to see the Spartan Marching Band's pre-game show, enjoy the gentle breeze cooling the warm eveing, and just drink in the atmosphere.

The game was much closer than we expected (or hoped!), which made it exciting, since in the end the Spartans narrowly avoided being upset by a supposedly much inferior team (which was, in truth, quite a good team!) All in all, it was a marvelous evening, and we totally loved it. Joe was so pleased that physically he was in good shape, despite all the walking the event entailed. The game ended sometime around 10:30, and we went DOWN the endless ramp, found our way back to our shuttle point, and rode back to the RV lot again. We waited for a little while, so that some of the massive traffic could clear out of the campus, had a snack, and finally just before midnight, we pulled out of the parking lot and returned to the Walmart. According to our "parking app", it was legal to spend the night there, and we have done it before... but just in case, we waited until the store closed at midnight so there was nobody to ask permission from, in case they would have refused it!

And finally we went to sleep-- it was very quiet, the temperature was low enough to be quite comfortable, and we felt completely happy with the way our day had gone. YAY! V-4-MSU!