Longhorns and Corn Fields...

Last weekend Brad and I made a trip to The Heartland! This is something we had been planning for some time because his Grandparents live there. Both of Brad's parents are native Iowans and they happened to be planning a trip up there this fall as well, So, we coordinated our schedules and went the same weekend! Unfortunately for me, this happened to be a particularly long quarter-end at work so I worked late the night before our early flight. After getting out of work at midnight, getting home and packing, I got ONE hour of sleep. UGH. Oh well... the rest of the trip was great!

This would be my first time to this area of the US and it lived up to what I had always heard.... lots of farm land, lots of cows and LOTS of corn fields! It was beautiful though and that beauty was visible as we made our initial decent into the Omaha airport. It looked like a huge patchwork quilt of farm land.

Small town

After we had booked our flights for this trip, I realized that not only was that the same weekend of the UT vs. Iowa State football game, the game was IN Iowa! We got online and managed to get tickets for us and Brad's parents. We would be sitting on the Iowa side but it was still exciting to go... this was the first conference game of the season for both teams and it was expected to be a sold out game. So, after we got our rental car, we drove 3 hours to Ames, Iowa, home of Iowa State. The drive was very pretty and I quickly learned of another strong industry in Iowa, other than corn... "wind farms".

Brad's parents were just outside of Ames in their travel trailer (which would serve as our hotel that night). After we gathered them up, we headed to Larry's alma mater - Iowa State. And yes, I was the ONLY burnt-orange-shirt-wearing fan in the group!! I was also only one of about 4 orange shirts on the Iowa side. He, he, he... Brad wore a Texas Tech shirt but it was red so he blended in with the Cyclone red and yellow.

Pre-game, tailgating madness!

YAY!!!

For the first couple of hours we were there, we sat facing the sun which wasn't too much fun. However, all of the pre-game fanfare sure was!!! And although I still think the introduction of the Horns at a home game is better, the ISU Cyclones had a pretty cool one. There is the sound of a tornado siren and an announcer voice that sounds like an emergency broadcasting station with a severe weather advisory... it warned all Longhorn fan to seek immediate shelter because the CYCLONES WERE COMING!! 

Pre-Game show

Horns making their entrance.

Taking a quick break for dinner. Yes- I am eating roasted corn - a must!!

Going into the half, Iowa hadn't scored - at all. So, I was a happy girl watching the half time show. And as a former high school band geek, I love half-time anyway!!

 

The small traveling UT Band and section of orange shirts.

 

At one point Iowa began a drive to score and an excited Sorority Chick behind me stood up to cheer... apparently losing control of the 100 oz beverage she was holding. Where did it go? All down my back... in my hair, on my jacket and all down the back of my jeans. It was a quite a shock - especially since it was now near 50 degrees outside! A nice gentleman dried off my seat so I could sit. I thanked him and commented about I wasn't excited about smelling like beer for the rest of the night (and it was the only pair of jeans I packed for the trip!) He smiled and said, "Well, that is interesting since they don't even sell beer inside the stadium." Hmmmmm....

The UT flag... a sight seen MANY times that night!

The Cyclones finally showed up during the fourth quarter so it wasn't a total blowout but the Horns still prevailed! We left tired and cold but having had a GREAT time!!! We headed back to the travel traveler and called it a night. There would be more family, new foods and lots more driving ahead. And LOTS more cornfields...