Game 67: Auburn Tigers @ Kentucky Wildcats

Travel
It’s a Thursday departure for Lexington, Kentucky for me while Al is leaving on Friday with us meeting up in Lexington. But before I go any further, I should mention that we have a few guests joining us on this trip. First is Al’s wife Debra and second is my neighbor in Florida, Sergio. Now when I say neighbor, I mean that when I look out my back door, I see his house. My wife has coffee sitting in our living room and monitors the comings and goings in his house. Yes, the word stalker does come to mind. But we are all okay with that. Which is why I will explain that for our departure on Thursday, Sergio and I drove to Palm Beach International airport separately as Beth brokered this agreement considering I like to get to the airport early and Sergio likes to arrive right after they have begun boarding. So to keep the peace, we drove separately.

I should also mention that I originally booked this trip on Spirit Airlines. This was going to be my first (and maybe only) flight on Spirit. I did not want to do it, but they had the only direct flight to Louisville, albeit from Fort Lauderdale. But when Spirit changed the flight time to be less convenient and Sergio decided to join, I canceled the Spirit flight and we did the Delta connection via Atlanta to Louisville. Crisis averted.

But before I even got to the airport, I should mention my fight with the parking lot attendant, because I like to mention when other people do stupid things. I pulled into the lot and went to pull a ticket. The lot attendant told me there was a problem with the gate so she took my ticket and had me back up. She could not get the gate to work so I had to go to the other lane which was an electronic toll reader lane (Sunpass). The toll reader read my Sunpass and the gate opened. But I told the attendant that I wanted the ticket because half the time when I exit the lot, Sunpass does not work, so I wanted the ticket as a backup so they did not need to call the Sunpass office, which happens all the time, especially at Fort Lauderdale. She refused to give me the ticket. I told her I did not want to deal with this when I got home, so I wanted a ticket. Pretend I did not have Sunpass and give me a ticket. Or give me the ticket you have in your hand. I do not care. I just want a ticket. She had to call her supervisor, creating a backup to get into the lot because the other lane was still broken. Long story short (I know, too late), I got a ticket, because it was obvious to just give me a ticket from the machine. Idiot. Yes it was a fight probably not worth having, but I can not tell you how many times I have been in a line to exit where they have to call the Sunpass office to find out when you arrived to get the right amount for the parking. It would be a lot easier if the Sunpass just worked, but I guess that is too much to ask.

Anyway, we boarded the flight. Sergio was in first class, I flipped him off, and went to my seat. For the record, I flipped him off not because he was in first class and I wasn’t, but because of the text chain that took place prior to boarding in which my luggage and packing habits were ridiculed, by Sergio and Beth. Sergio graciously offered to have me board with him and to take my bag (which I declined on this leg). But if my overpacking is my worst trait (which it certainly is not) then so be it.

We spent some time in Atlanta and then connected to Louisville.  We arrived in Louisville without any further incident where we successfully picked up the rental car, a Nissan Quest.  After fighting with the GPS screen for 10 minutes and unsuccessfully being able to get the Apple Carplay to work, we headed off for Lexington, using the phone screen to guide us.  Nissan Quest sucks! 

Upon arrival at the area with our hotel, we decided upon Taco Bell for dinner/late night.  The dining room is closed.  After checking out the McDonald’s which had the same situation, we went through the Taco Bell drive through and pulled into the hotel, a Hyatt Place.  We checked in and ate our Taco Bell in the lobby.  

Have I mentioned that Thursday evening travel is much better than Friday morning travel?  The downside…it generally costs more.

University of Kentucky
Sergio and I woke up on Friday and headed over to the UK campus to do some walking around. Al & Debra are flying in later in the day and will be meeting us later for some afternoon activities.

Rupp Arena
We hopped in the car and headed over to Rupp Arena. Did I mention that CarPlay in the Nissan Quest started working today? Not yesterday on the entire drive from Louisville to Lexington, but today when I plugged in the phone, it started working. Strange. Rupp Arena is just classic basketball. If there was a Mount Rushmore of basketball programs, Kentucky would be on it. I was struck that this year we visited two schools that would have been on that Mount Rushmore of basketball in Indiana and Kentucky.

Kroger Field
After Rupp, we hop in the car and head to Kroger Field to see if we can get into the stadium and/or to get tickets for the game. The parking lot at Kroger Field is packed. The stadium is not on campus or at least it did not seem that way. It was not too far away but did not seem too close. Maybe this was a park and ride lot? Had to be something because there were a lot of cars. Way too many for offices or people working at the stadium the day before a game. Odd.

We drove around the stadium and it was locked up tight. Also, there were no ticket windows or anything like that open. Even the window that said tickets was closed. This was also odd. We headed to our good friend Google and learned that the ticket office was located in a building called the Joe Craft Center which was a ways away. So we went there.

Tolly-Ho
Debra gave advance warning that the afternoon activity (you will just have to keep reading to see what it is) said we should arrive hungry, but we were hungry so we needed to eat something. So Sergio and I headed to lunch at Tolly-Ho, a spot that my pre-trip research indicated was known for its cheddar tots. There was a veggie philly on the menu so that seemed intriguing. I opted for that and the cheddar tots and Sergio got a loaded hotdog. It took a bit to reconstruct this as I wrote this a week after the trip and I needed some input from Al and Sergio so I have to get better at keeping notes in real time. The Quest should take someone from the head office along on the trips to record everything in real time. I think I will put Al on that task. Anyway, I think I digressed. The philly was very good and so were the cheddar tots. Tolly-Ho is open late (I think 3am) and I can see why. This is the ideal late night spot for a burger, fries, or whatever.

Anyway, Al messaged and he and Debra were in town, so we headed off to the hotel to pick them up for our very important date.

Distillery District
We picked up Al and Debra and after the proper introductions were made all around, we headed out to the distillery district. Debra has been telling me for awhile now that she booked us on a bourbon tour. We have been looking forward to this as a highlight of the trip and Debra’s initiative is normally very well founded. So this should be a most excellent adventure.

We arrive at our destination and check in for the tour which is a 3 hour walking tour of the distillery district. However, upon checking in, the tour host, Haylee, proceeds to call it a Food & History tour. Along the way we will taste various drinks, enjoy some food and get some history of the area. Our bourbon tour is not that. Debra has pulled the classic bait and switch. It all sounds great, but not what I was sold. Actually, I wasn’t sold anything, Debra paid for the whole thing, so what the fuck am I complaining about.

The tour started with the get to know you section…name, rank, serial number, me saying Go Gators in front of a bunch of Wildcat fans, you know, the usual. It was here that Sergio blew away our host, who we think was Haylee, with his whiskey collection. Sergio is a connoisseur of whiskey and has quite the collection at home. Apparently this impressed our host enough that she wanted a pic of his collection to brag to the other tour guides. High school is fun.

Post Tour Festivities

After the tour we decided to stay in the Distillery District prior to dinner.  So we headed to The Burl bar for a drink, more cider for me, although this one was not as good as the one earlier.

After a drink we headed over to Burl Arcade and the 1980’s.  Pac-Man, Donkey Kong, pinball, etc., it is all here.  It was a blast from the past and a flood of memories from mid-island mall arcade and high school.  And some of the games at Burl still cost $0.25.  The only problem is who has cash.

Friday Notes
Two further notes from Friday.

One, Sergio was violently ill Friday night and completely blames the meatloaf. Al awoke Saturday and informed all that he was not feeling well. Debra was also not feeling great. My theory is it was the meatloaf. That explains why Al and Sergio were not feeling well and I was fine. I also suspect that Debra was sneaking bites of Al’s meatloaf which is why she was only mildly not feeling well.

Second, Al and Debra had quite the Uber driver experiences in one day. On the drive from the airport, they got a driver who could not stay awake. They did everything possible to talk and keep the driver awake even resorting to inventing phone calls to keep conversations going. The Ubers later in the evening were much better with one driver (in a very nice car) waiting for us while we indulged in our ice cream before heading back to the hotel and an Indian guy who was loads of fun and allowed us to chat him up the entire ride even though he didn’t speak English well but played along.

Saturday Morning
On Friday, we had grand discussions about going to Keeneland Racetrack on Saturday. This was something that pre-trip research indicated would be a good stop to check out if races were running as they only run races at this track twice a year. Our timing was good in that October was the time for the fall meet before the horses head to Churchill Downs. Al was actually headed to Churchill for opening day on Sunday. Unfortunately, we were slow in our planning as all tickets for Saturday were sold out as this is a very popular activity on game days, especially when there are night games. So we improvised and decided to head to one of the distilleries outside of town for a tour. Haylee from the previous day had suggested Castle & Key as she thought that it had the prettiest grounds.

Castle & Key Part 2
We arrived back at Castle & Key with plenty of time before our tour. So we headed over to the food trucks. First stop was the taco truck. The second stop was the pizza truck which had a 30 minute wait for pizzas because only one guy was working both the register and the pizza oven. That is not a recipe for success so we were unable to try the pizza, which was unfortunate because it actually looked really good.

Eventually we went to the meeting area for our tour and were greeted by our tour guide. The tour starts at the entrance to the castle which is a retrofitted distillery. We wind our way through looking at all the various storage tanks, fermentation tanks, and all the other various items that you need to distill alcohol. It should be noted that this is a pre-OSHA building, which means that they were able to retrofit an old building (as opposed to it being considered a new building), which means that they didn’t need to bring it up to current OSHA standards or something like that. I don’t really know, it’s not my business, but they do, so I guess they’re able to do what they need to do. What was concerning for me is that the floor was wire grates so when you’re walking on them you’re looking straight down. I didn’t care for that too much, but it wasn’t too bad. While winding our way through the inside of the castle, looking at the various stages of fermentation that was going on, we got a tutorial on the various types of alcohol that they made there, including bourbon, but they also made gin, vodka and maybe something else as well. We were informed of how they made the different types of alcohol and the different stages of fermentation that they use in order to make the different kinds of alcohol. There will be no exam on this so I didn’t pay that close attention.

This was a very interesting tour and definitely a side trip worth doing. Highly recommended, which seems to be a theme on this trip.

After our lap around, we headed inside Kroger Field and the Longship Club which is where our seats were located. After a lap around the club and a few bites to eat, we did a lap around the stadium. Eventually we settled into our seats for the game.

The Game
First, I am not sure if it was because I dressed in even more layers, but this game did not feel as cold as the MTSU game a week earlier. Or was it because we had the fall back position of being able to go inside. Not sure, but I was definitely not as cold during this game. Maybe we are learning. That can’t be it, can it?

Now onto the game. Kentucky looked good early. The Wildcats took the opening kickoff and after opening with 15 yard and 21 yard completions, the drive stalled leading to a field goal. The UK defense forced a 3 and out. The UK offense took over with a few explosive plays. A 12 yard run, followed by a 34 yard pass, followed by a 23 yard run. UK then punched it in on a short yardage run for a 10-0 lead. UK would not score again, despite intercepting AU and taking over on the AU 40 yard line on the very next drive. This failure to extend the lead here would prove a pivotal point in the game.

As a final commentary, Auburn deserved this win. They were the better team on the field on this night. But it was not because of a superior defensive effort by their defense, it was because of poor offensive play by Kentucky. The Wildcats have some serious offensive issues that go beyond just a struggling offense.

Sunday Morning Travel
Sergio and I awoke on Sunday and headed to the Louisville airport leaving Al and Debra behind. As I mentioned, Al and Debra were heading off to Churchill Downs on Sunday before Al headed off to Las Vegas and Debra back to NY.

It was an uneventful trip back to Palm Beach.  But I will note that the pizza that we had at the Atlanta airport was the best pizza we had all trip.  It is unfortunate we were unable to get a pizza at Castle & Key because that looked very good, but the pizza at the Atlanta airport was excellent.  I think the place was called Varasano’s.  

Other Random Notes 

A few other notes that came up during the trip

• Al agreed to write the trip report for the Arizona State trip. He will occasionally volunteer to do this.  Subsequent to this trip, we have had to cancel the Arizona State trip so he has gotten lucky on that.  But maybe he will volunteer again soon.
• We are going to add a special section to the bottom of the rankings page where Al and I will rank our kids.  It will then be a contest to see which of the kids notices this first.  Debra is allowed to play.  But Beth is not allowed since she proofs these trip reports and will know it is there.  

Postscript
Auburn closed the season 5-7, 2-6 in the SEC which put them in a tie for 13th place. Winning this game snapped a 4 game losing streak for the Tigers. There was no bowl game for the Tigers in 2024.

Kentucky finished the season 4-8, 1-7 in the SEC which was good for 15th place. There was no bowl game for the Wildcats.

Photo Gallery

For our Kentucky photo album, Please click here. You can view as a collage or run as a slideshow. There are comments to explain what is in the photo but most are self explanatory. Thanks to Google, I can no longer embed the slide show with comments.