Over the years the wife and I have developed certain tailgating areas that we like to explore prior to settling into our seats at Kroger Field. Occasionally, we will have a large enough group to set up our gear in our Orange Lot spot but on other occasions, like last Saturday, it will just be the two of us and we find ourselves to have a more nomadic pregame. There are a few areas that have developed over the past couple seasons that we try to incorporate into our gameday adventures. We were able to check out a couple of those areas this past Saturday to see if there have been changes made….or if they even still exist at all.
Bluegrass RV Tailgate
We arrived and were parked in the Orange Lot with about two and a half hours remaining until kickoff. There were plenty of spots still available towards the rear of the lot, but I was still surprised at the number of folks already there given the hard rains that had just passed through the area. After a drink and a quick bite in our spot, we took the short walk to the back of the Orange Lot to see if the Bluegrass RV folks still had their tailgate area setup. This spot had a decent amount of passers by in the past when the guys from KSR would do their pregame broadcast, but it still seems to be a relatively unkown area considering they have a complimentary food setup with ice cold drinks in the cooler. This spot has provided us a place to either cool down or warm up inside the RV's that are on display. On some of the more inclimate days we had a hard time leaving a comfy chair inside an RV especfially if there was an entertaining game on one of the large tv's. We were glad to see that spot, though slightly scaled down, was still an option for the 2018 season.
Kroger Tailgate Tent
After a brief stop back at our parking spot we ventured out through the Red Lot and Green Lot to take a look and see what this year's version of the Kroger Tailgate tent had to offer. This was more of a quest just to see exactly what qualified for entrance into the area. Last year you needed a Kroger reciept of $100 or more and that would be good for admission for up to four people. This year it was changed to $35 but we weren't sure what other qualifications need to met so we just brought a weeks worth of Kroger receipts just in case. Turns out, they didn't even check our receipts so we proceeded into the food line for some free grub and a couple of beers. Unfortunately we were so hot and miserable from our trek, that we didn't have much of an appetite once we arrived. Despite not finding out the exact qualifications for entrance, it's good to know that this option is still available if you didn't pack your grill.
Game Time and Post Game
Once in our familiar seats of the last few years we stayed locked in to the game and didn't wander off until halftime. It wasn't until the 3rd quarter that I realized there hadn't been any of the acknowldegents during timeouts where some person or group trots out on the field, waves for a minute, and then they walk off while the UK band would get to play a few measures of some song. They did make acknowledgement announcements on Saturday, but without the walkout and wave. The only on field intro was saved for Stephen Johnson to go out and hype the crowd up for the fourth quarter. I am certain there are changes inside Kroger Field, like concessions, that we didn't experience. The only thing that seemed appealing in the heat was the tray of snowcones that would occasionally pass by our section.
Walking back to the car I took a glance at the area(last year's Club 1865) where you can purchase your own tailgate experience. There were two dudes sitting in chairs there with thier heads tilted back toward the skies, eyes closed, mouths open. Final score, Tailgate 1..two dudes in chairs 0. Given the wave of people walking at the same time, I fully expected to be sitting in the Orange Lot for a long time but was pleasantly surprised at how fast we were able to slide into traffic at the rear of the lot and make our way onto Nicholasville Road. There have been times where it took us 90 minutes to get from the Orange Lot to the intersate.
There are certainly games where we enjoy a four hour or more tailgate, but last Saturday's heat was a good time to scale it down, shorten our day, and go check out the places where the others do the setting up and serving. We will hope to have a more sedentary and longer tailgate session once we get into some night time kickoffs. I am certainly looking forward to the cooler fall nights for football. Until then, thanks for reading. Go Cats!
