Anything and everything about Liberty Flames football. Your comments on games, recruiting and the direction of the program as we move into new era.

Moderators: jcmanson, Sly Fox, BuryYourDuke, Class of 20Something

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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#530935
Now that we have our first FBS schedule lined up for 2018, I thought it might be fun to look at road trips from a fan's perspective. Obviously we have more attractive destinations although we will miss the Charleston & Myrtle Beach roadies. Adios FCS away games!

So here's some initial thoughts:

September 8 - @ Army

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Michie Stadium
Built in 1924 - Seats 38.000


Not going to lie, this is the road trip game that Mrs. Sly have already circled on the calendar. I get the excitement about UVa & Auburn. But I have always wanted to go see a game at West Point. It has one of the coolest settings on the oldest continuously operated military post in North America. George Washington called this the most important location in the Revolutionary War. Jefferson established USMA in 1802 while in the White House at the same time he was designing Poplar Forest. The school's alumni include a who's who of military history: Grant, Lee, Jackson, Sherman, MacArthur, Eisenhower, Bradley, Patton. For history buffs, this is an incredible place to visit much less watch the Flames take down a brand name team.

But what has my wife jazzed is the proximity to New York City. This would make a killer weekend away with your spouse in the City. Flights to one of NYC's four major airports are generally always competitive. Then when you factor in Amtrak it adds yet another list of possibilities.





September 29 - @ New Mexico

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University Stadium
Opened in 1960 - Seats 39,224


The two universities are located well over 200 miles apart and have completely different vibes. Unquestionably this date is in the more attractive place to visit. Albuquerque is actually a very cool city with easy flight access. It would be fun for Coach McKay to share some suggestions for Liberty folks based on his UNM experience. But I can tell you that Albuquerque is definitely a completely different world from Lynchburg. The Native American component is huge and creates some awesome cultural experiences.

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But the Route 66 city has plenty of awesome stuff nearby including the Sandia Mountain Tramway/La Luz Trail, National Petroglyph Monument and even the national nuclear museum for the B&W folks. But the coolest place form tourist perspective nearby is Santa Fe. It is just an hour away and is flat out spectacular. And here is where the planning comes into play. If someone is willing to make a week out of it, New Mexico would be an incredible vacation combined with road game #3 for the Flames ....





October 6 - @ New Mexico State

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Aggie Memorial Stadium
Opened in 1978 - Seats 30,343


We will obviously be playing games here in Las Cruces (Spanish for The Crosses) in both 2018 & 2019 and likely in many years to come. So this will be a great place to consider moving forward. The key element to remember is that Las Cruces is much closer to El Paso International Airport (ELP) than Albuquerque. So if you were planning combining these back-to-back games in New Mexico into one trip, you'd probably want to fly into Albuquerque and flight out of El Paso which is just an hour away. Even though it might be tempting to slip across the border into Juarez when you are driving from the airport to Las Cruces, it is not recommended AT ALL. But there are other cool places to visit in Southern New Mexico. White Sands National Monument is nearby and it has its own spectacular beauty.

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Carlsbad Caverns is also a few hours away and there are countless Navajo places to visit across the state. I know we have several posters with El Paso ties including bozlady. It definitely offers some interesting experiences as well.





November 3 - @ UMass

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Warren McGuirk Alumni Stadium
Opened in 1965 - Seats 17,000


First things, first. They no longer play home games in Gillette Stadium. And this stadium is nowhere close to Boston. Instead it is located in Hadley which is a shade under two hours driving time from Logan Airport. The airports at Springfield & Hartford are actually closer if you are planning on flying in. But Western Mass has its own appeal and this game is an attractive trip as well. It would be easy to visit the National Basketball Hall of Fame in Springfield. If we didn't have some other attractive options, I'd probably make this trip myself from Texas. As the pirates who don't do anything so eloquently pointed out, who wouldn't want to see Boston in the fall?






November 10 - @ UVa

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Scott Stadium
Opened in 1931 - Seats 61,500


Obviously this is the best known location on our schedule outsid eof Lynchburg. Any LU fans in the Commonwealth should not miss this game. Enough said.





November 17 - @ Auburn

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Jordan-Hare Stadium
Opened in 1939 - Seats 87,451


The last trip of the year is certainly the most grand. SEC venues tend to be awe-inspiring and Jordan-Hare certainly fits that bill. The Bo Jackson & Cam Newton refereces are everywhere around this place for obvious reasons. But for East Coast folks curious what all of the SEC hype is all about, this is a terrific opportunity to experience it at its finest. After Army, this is my most attractive date on the calendar. For strictly the stadium experience it would easily be #1. Yeah, I have experienced Scott Stadium and it is not in the same class for intensity and awesomeness.
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By Purple Haize
Registration Days Posts
#530938
Amtrak is the way to go from VA to West Point
You can also take a. Breaking Bad Tour at the New Mexico game
By Steve1981
#531249
Here is a link on game day and changes for 2017, which includes charging $5 for parking in advance and $10 for game day.
Hope you can make it and and will post a little more near game day.
Click on the read more and the other tabs at the top.
http://umassathletics.com/sports/2017/2 ... 1470061656

Adding some additional links and generally eat at the Hanger, which is in walking distance to McGuirk. Have not gone there immediately after a football game thou and like the dry rubs, believe it's a cajun something rub and one of the porter 22 oz beers.

The Amherst Guide from a specific event has some info but would ignore some of it. But it gives nice price ranges on some the the restaurants.
https://www.umass.edu/family/methodolog ... avel/guide

Here is the separate TripAdvisor link:
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants ... setts.html

Lodging, have been told the HotelUmass is very good and on campus. It's a far walk to the stadium and would probably be best to drive and there is parking by Campus Center and connects below ground and short walk above ground.
http://www.hotelumass.com/

The Hampshire Hospitality Group has nice options and well regarded and out on route 9 about a mile from the stadium.
http://www.hampshirehospitality.com/

In nearby Northampton and highly recommend the Eastside Cafe. The seafood chowder is excellent and in fact everything I've tried has been really good but recommend reservations.
https://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurants ... setts.html

Families like to visit the Yankee Candle
http://www.yankeecandle.com/about-us/vi ... eld-events
[youtube]G9muTOP9Qlc[/youtube]
Last edited by Steve1981 on May 18th, 2017, 10:56 am, edited 3 times in total.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#531252
Thanks, Steve1981. We'd love to tap into you for local intel moving forward. I have to admit that Western Mass is a new frontier for most of us.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#546225
Seeing the UVa thread reminded me to bump this back up. I am still looking at using the game at West Point as an inexpensive weekend away. Flights to Newark from IAH have been ridiculously cheap this year. But I am keeping my eye on flights into Westchester.
By Dirty 30
Posts
#546392
Thanks for the Guide Sly Fox. I will be attending every game this year so knowing where to go for the away games is great. I will be coming back to this thread in the fall or messaging you for information for the upcoming away games. Thanks for doing this buddy!
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By BJWilliams
Registration Days Posts
#546417
I'm eyeing the UVa game due to proximity. If I could, I'd definitely want a trip to Michie Stadium, but I'm saving my first game outside of Lynchburg featuring the Black Knights for Army-Navy
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#552549
I have been in New Mexico this week on business and have spent some time in both Albuquerque and Las Cruces. In fact, I am staying at the Comfort Suites in Las Cruces right now. For the record, the UNM game is a much easier travel trip for folks flying into town. It is a really short Uber from the airport to the stadium.

Las Cruces is tougher to reach as you will definitely need a rental car to make it work. Unfortunately the airport in El Paso is on the east side of town and is close to an hour drive away. Once you have a car, there are some cool things to see. This taqueria in town called La Nueva has a big time reputation in New Mexico and Mrs. Sly & I checked it out for lunch yesterday:

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Mrs. Sly went with the huevos rancheros and I went with a combination of things to savor the local chiles:

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Speaking of chiles, Hatch is just a few miles up the road. If you are into spicy food, this place is a mecca along the Rio Grande.

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I referenced White Sands National Monument above and checked it out for myself yesterday for the first time. You head east over these mountains just outside of town:

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Just as you reach San Augustin Pass, you are greeted by this view as you enter the White Sands Missile Range:

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Once you roll down the mountain you drive across the range unless it is closed for a few hours during testing. Just before you arrive in Alamogordo, you can access White Sands National Monument:

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It makes for a fun trip to Las Cruces but it does require some time.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#552551
Everybody in El Paso thinks that White Sands is the coolest place on earth. With all due respect, I never understood the fascination with sand, if there is no beach/ocean attached with it. And when we went, it was as hot as blazes.
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#552598
It did actually remind me a bit of the Arabian Peninsula. But the gypsum sand made it a unique experience. Learning there was water below the surface that keeps the sand from blowing away was really cool.

I also spent few days in El Paso. Not my favorite Texan city.

We drove across the state of NM again today en route to the Tetons and the Four Corners is breathtakingly beautiful. But it is nowhere close to either Las Cruces or ABQ.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#552630
Sly Fox wrote:I also spent few days in El Paso. Not my favorite Texan city.
My wife is from there, and that's where we were married. I like their Sun Bowl, but that's about it.
I think Ballcoach was stationed at Fort Bliss, so who knows how many Mexican or Texas women he dated there. :denied
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#552682
The Alamo City gets dismissed unfairly IMHO. SA is one of my favorite Texan cities. But just an hour up the road Austin is a whole other level.
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By Class of 20Something
Posts
#552692
Sly Fox wrote:The Alamo City gets dismissed unfairly IMHO. SA is one of my favorite Texan cities. But just an hour up the road Austin is a whole other level.
Not just SA but New Braunfels. We would drive down to float the comal every summer.
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By Class of 20Something
Posts
#552759
Sly Fox wrote:We're floating the Frio in a few weeks. The Comal was the go to float for Mrs. Sly & I before we had kids. Today, not so much.
Is the Texas State crowd a little rowdy for the family?
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#552768
They come from every direction these days. We just spent a few days with a client from New Braunfels who says she hasn't taken her kids to either the Comal or Guadalupe in years.

We also drove through Provo along the way. That is probably the coolest trip of the 2019 season for those wanting to plan far ahead. We drove through Moab & the Four Corners region on the way up here to the Tetons and Utah is epic if you have the time.
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By Cider Jim
Registration Days Posts
#553278
I see that LU's marching band will be traveling to Scott Stadium for the UVa game. How cool is that?!
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By Sly Fox
Registration Days Posts
#553283
Just found out that it appears I won't be able to go to West Point as planned due to being overseas. Really bummed. I have had that trip on my bucket list since we announced we were moving up. So it sounds like ABQ or Jordan-Hare Stadium for me this fall. I suspect Ritchie can give us local intel from his days in The Pit which is across the street from their football stadium.
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By gerb
Posts
#553285
Sly Fox wrote:The Alamo City gets dismissed unfairly IMHO. SA is one of my favorite Texan cities. But just an hour up the road Austin is a whole other level.
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