ADVERTISEMENT

Wayde and Paul's Excellent Adventure

86PSUPaul

Well-Known Member
Aug 17, 2017
4,943
7,812
1
The masses have asked for our thoughts, well, at least one or two did.....

Travel- it was fun but not as easy as it should have been. Our flight from AVP to ORD went off without a hitch. On landing I found out or flight to CID was delayed, then almost immediately cancelled. I was able to rebook my flight for later in the afternoon but no room for Wayde, so after a quick call to Avis we headed on the shuttle, with a few different Iowa fans, top grab a rental and start our three hour drive.
The time went pretty fast because Wayde is excellent company. The weather and traffic around Chicago sucked but once we got about ten miles away the weather cleared and traffic thinned, until we crossed the Mighty Mississippi into Iowa. There traffic picked up along with numerous police officers. Other than one stop for some Chinese food at a roadside Oasis, we made good time getting to our hotel in Iowa City. One note, I now know how people that don't like Blue and White must feel in State College, there was Black and Gold EVERYWHERE!!!

Pre-Match- After wasting a few hours we headed to The Vine around 4:30 in search of food, drink, and a supposed Podcast party. Upon getting there we asked the cute bartender about the podcast, she told us they went to the wrong location and never showed up at the right one. So Wrestling Changed my Life and Stallmates, Boo to you!!!
We still have great drinks and wings and tots! Plus talked to some fans, but ironically never approached by an actual Iowa fan, other than to say excuse me while they ordered at the bar. We talked to two guys near us that were supposed PSU fans from Cranberry (near the Burgh) but they were dressed incognito!
We also had a nice conversation with an old ISU wrestler that has cell phone info for Cael and Cody. Supposedly he got his tickets direct from Cael! Wayde, how did we not get that guys contact info for future ticket possibilities?!? Major fail on our part. BTW, he hates Iowa wrestling, and lives right around Iowa City!

Carver- After a pretty quick mile long Uber ride we got to the arena a little after 7 for the 8 pm (local time) meet. No waiting to get in, first impression is it is a cool arena. Easy to get around, better layout in my opinion than the BJC, but not as intimate as Rec Hall. If we could build something like Carver but in the 6-8,000 seat range I would be all in! Bathrooms pretty large and easy to get in, but the fans (and Wayde) form lines at the exit also, which to me is cheating!
Ice cream was good and had a longer line than the beer line, but it was just a regular soft serve in chocolate, vanilla, or twist. The guy behind me admitted as much as he waited to buy some for his young son. With regards to the beer line, it was easier to serve the beer, hence the shorter line. They had to refill the ice cream machine at least twice while I was in line. The highlight was seeing and chatting with Gabe Dean while in line. Such a nice and down to earth guy. Pics attached.
Fans were generally very nice, there was one guy that went up and down our section few times saying derogatory things about PSU but he was the exception. Things got a little testy during and after the RBY match, a guy in front of me took great pains to point out the tap out was not last year but the year before, he was right but strange to get so fired up about it. The guy behind me was incensed that DeSanto took so many more shots, of course has had no answer when I asked if shots taken were a scoring mechanism. Also a bout or two after the guy in front yelled two when his guy was facing our guy on his knees. I said they were still facing each other and he, a bit sheepishly, said he was only kidding. All fans admitted that the Young match was boring on both sides.
All in all they were very nice. Two guys in front were talking about tie breakers after the Marinelli major, after I pointed out that we each had a major they said well next is TD's, ooh wait, we don't look good there.... Many did start leaving after the 197 bout, not staying to see Cass beat Kerk (a result I have full faith will be different next time they meet!)
Before/During the meet we say very little blue and white. Saw a bit more while leaving and waiting for an Uber in the pick up section.

The Meet- This has been hashed out in many threads and posts. I will admit to confusion thanks to the clock person during CStar, at the end the in arena clock said 42.5 seconds left, after a 30 second period. Also, it was very hot in the arena, no wonder both CStar and Kem were sweating profusely after their bouts. I did not see the beer can/water bottle throw, but Wayde did! Disgusting behavior and I though I heard that security did nothing. Come on Iowa fans, give the guy up for disgusting behavior like that!!! I did get some laughs from the people around me when Brands threw the brick and I said Grampa needed a rest.

Postmeet- We went to a cool bar at the top of the Hilton Garden Inn next to our hotel, Did not see @d-1980, as far as we know but that was his hotel. At the end of the bar were two PSU fans but we sat at another part and had a good conversation with some Iowa fans. And a really good drink from another cute bartender!

Travel home- was uneventful, but fun. Wayde is a great guy to spend time with, and he will talk to ANYONE!!! I was a bit tired Saturday afternoon, we probably should have stayed another day and come home Sunday




let me know if the pictures are viewable...
 
Last edited:
Love to hear about peoples experiences traveling to away matches. Thank you for sharing.
 
Few things more impt than cute bartenders.
The first one had to wear a mask the entire time, company policy for the place she worked, that was a shame. The bar in the Hilton Garden had no such policy, but she was much nicer to use when we were about to pay the bill and tip her, hmmm, could there be a correlation there?
 
Glad you guys had fun overall. Airline travel right now is no fun, so glad plan B worked for ya.
Ironically our original flights out went through Charlotte, but were much earlier in the morning. I changed to ORD thinking the storm was coming up the coast and ORD was safe, plus we could sleep a bit later instead of getting up at 3 am. Just to annoy myself I checked the Charlotte flights and they operated on time, but we made it and had fun!
 
Last edited:
Perfect write up Paul.

My new motto is..
"If a pro traveler invites you on a trip, say yes"

As Paul mentioned we hit a couple of snafus while traveling, but he had the solution quick. Speaking of quick, Paul drove and beat the ETA by 15 minutes.

Paul also forgot to mention that the first bartender gave me her #😎
 
Perfect write up Paul.

My new motto is..
"If a pro traveler invites you on a trip, say yes"

As Paul mentioned we hit a couple of snafus while traveling, but he had the solution quick. Speaking of quick, Paul drove and beat the ETA by 15 minutes.

Paul also forgot to mention that the first bartender gave me her #😎
And no tickets! Numbers on the other hand are your department! I think I was outside checking on the Uber then...
 
Thee masses have asked for our thoughts, well, at least one or two did.....

Travel- it was fun but not as easy as it should have been. Our flight from AVP to ORD went off without a hitch. On landing I found out or flight to CID was delayed, then almost immediately cancelled. I was able to rebook my flight for later in the afternoon but no room for Wayde, so after a quick call to Avis we headed on the shuttle, with a few different Iowa fans, top grab a rental and start our three hour drive.
The time went pretty fast because Wayde is excellent company. The weather and traffic around Chicago sucked but once we got about ten miles away the weather cleared and traffic thinned, until we crossed the Mighty Mississippi into Iowa. There traffic picked up along with numerous police officers. Other than one stop for some Chinese food at a roadside Oasis, we made good time getting to our hotel in Iowa City. One note, I now know how people that don't like Blue and White must feel in State College, there was Black and Gold EVERYWHERE!!!

Pre-Match- After wasting a few hours we headed to The Vine around 4:30 in search of food, drink, and a supposed Podcast party. Upon getting there we asked the cute bartender about the podcast, she told us they went to the wrong location and never showed up at the right one. So Wrestling Changed my Life and Stallmates, Boo to you!!!
We still have great drinks and wings and tots! Plus talked to some fans, but ironically never approached by an actual Iowa fan, other than to say excuse me while they ordered at the bar. We talked to two guys near us that were supposed PSU fans from Cranberry (near the Burgh) but they were dressed incognito!
We also had a nice conversation with an old ISU wrestler that has cell phone info for Cael and Cody. Supposedly he got his tickets direct from Cael! Wayde, how did we not get that guys contact info for future ticket possibilities?!? Major fail on our part. BTW, he hates Iowa wrestling, and lives right around Iowa City!

Carver- After a pretty quick mile long Uber ride we got to the arena a little after 7 for the 8 pm (local time) meet. No waiting to get in, first impression is it is a cool arena. Easy to get around, better layout in my opinion than the BJC, but not as intimate as Rec Hall. If we could build something like Carver but in the 6-8,000 seat range I would be all in! Bathrooms pretty large and easy to get in, but the fans (and Wayde) form lines at the exit also, which to me is cheating!
Ice cream was good and had a longer line than the beer line, but it was just a regular soft serve in chocolate, vanilla, or twist. The guy behind me admitted as much as he waited to buy some for his young son. With regards to the beer line, it was easier to serve the beer, hence the shorter line. They had to refill the ice cream machine at least twice while I was in line. The highlight was seeing and chatting with Gabe Dean while in line. Such a nice and down to earth guy. Pics attached.
Fans were generally very nice, there was one guy that went up and down our section few times saying derogatory things about PSU but he was the exception. Things got a little testy during and after the RBY match, a guy in front of me took great pains to point out the tap out was not last year but the year before, he was right but strange to get so fired up about it. The guy behind me was incensed that DeSanto took so many more shots, of course has had no answer when I asked if shots taken were a scoring mechanism. Also a bout or two after the guy in front yelled two when his guy was facing our guy on his knees. I said they were still facing each other and he, a bit sheepishly, said he was only kidding. All fans admitted that the Young match was boring on both sides.
All in all they were very nice. Two guys in front were talking about tie breakers after the Marinelli major, after I pointed out that we each had a major they said well next is TD's, ooh wait, we don't look good there.... Many did start leaving after the 197 bout, not staying to see Cass beat Kerk (a result I have full faith will be different next time they meet!)
Before/During the meet we say very little blue and white. Saw a bit more while leaving and waiting for an Uber in the pick up section.

The Meet- This has been hashed out in many threads and posts. I will admit to confusion thanks to the clock person during CStar, at the end the in arena clock said 42.5 seconds left, after a 30 second period. Also, it was very hot in the arena, no wonder both CStar and Kem were sweating profusely after their bouts. I did not see the beer can/water bottle throw, but Wayde did! Disgusting behavior and I though I heard that security did nothing. Come on Iowa fans, give the guy up for disgusting behavior like that!!! I did get some laughs from the people around me when Brands threw the brick and I said Grampa needed a rest.

Postmeet- We went to a cool bar at the top of the Hilton Garden Inn next to our hotel, Did not see @d-1980, as far as we know but that was his hotel. At the end of the bar were two PSU fans but we sat at another part and had a good conversation with some Iowa fans. And a really good drink from another cute bartender!

Travel home- was uneventful, but fun. Wayde is a great guy to spend time with, and he will talk to ANYONE!!! I was a bit tired Saturday afternoon, we probably should have stayed another day and come home Sunday




let me know if the pictures are viewable...

So the famous CHA ice cream drools out of a machine? Big disappointment there!
 
The first one had to wear a mask the entire time, company policy for the place she worked, that was a shame. The bar in the Hilton Garden had no such policy, but she was much nicer to use when we were about to pay the bill and tip her, hmmm, could there be a correlation there?
No pics of the cute bartenders?
 
She wasn't available. I was plan B.🤣🤣
Well she is always my Plan A, but I also know her well enough that she had no interest in flying to Iowa in February. Now our trip to FL in a week is a different story!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: hlstone
I like the way the way the Iowa fans in the ice cream pic all look like they are enjoying themselves. It is no wonder Iowa fans start to get pains in their chest when the words fun and/or happy are used in any discussion. LOL
 
Perfect write up Paul.

My new motto is..
"If a pro traveler invites you on a trip, say yes"

As Paul mentioned we hit a couple of snafus while traveling, but he had the solution quick. Speaking of quick, Paul drove and beat the ETA by 15 minutes.

Paul also forgot to mention that the first bartender gave me her #😎
Are you sure she didn't give you her work number printed on the receipt?
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT