2011 Bowl Schedule: How Many Bowl Games Could You Road Trip to?

It is that special time of year again.

A time when families come together and children's dreams come true.

It is a season full of spectacular displays, amazing colors, fabulous lights, parades and seasonal extravaganzas.

In the coming days, hopes will be realized and memories will be made.  It is the kind of special occasion that only comes around one time a year, and people are sad to see it go.

It is of course—bowl season.

All over the nation, fans will convene on destinations from Albuquerque, New Mexico to New Orleans, Louisiana and several points in between.

Thirty-five teams will swim in victory and just as many will drown in defeat.  Some fans will celebrate, while others will mourn.

It is a crazy, wonderful, frustrating, heart-breaking, exciting, exuberant, tediously terrific time that can't be duplicated.  It makes you wish you could attend every game and experience every atmosphere.

Which brings up an interesting question: How many bowl games could a person attend in one season?

What if a person climbed in their car and set out to see 'em all?  How many bowls could a traveler attend?

How many bowl games could you road trip to?

Starting Point: Gildan New Mexico Bowl, Albuquerque, New Mexico

There are three bowls on opening day of the bowl season: the Gildan New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque, the Famous Idaho Potato Bowl in Boise, Idaho, and last but not least, the R+L Carriers New Orleans Bowl in of course, New Orleans, Louisiana.

The best starting point for the bowl game road trip would have to be the Gildan New Mexico Bowl in Albuquerque.  Why? You might ask.

Well, if you want to hit San Diego and Vegas, you need to be close enough to reach those locations in time.

Starting at this bowl puts you in perfect position to drive to San Diego and the Poinsettia Bowl four days later, and it gives you the ability to backtrack to Vegas to see Boise State vs. ASU the day after that.

The Gildan New Mexico Bowl will feature Wyoming taking on Temple in a matchup of 8-4 teams.  Kickoff is at 2:00 PM ET on December 17, 2011.

After three hours of football you will have time to enjoy your night out on the town in Albuquerque.  You could head over to the One Up Elevated Lounge and get something to eat, drink and then get your move on.

After a night of One Up, you will need to wind down.  You could then crash at your hotel of choice, and enjoy sleeping in.  After all, you have four days to get to California.

Bowl No. 2 on Your Journey: The Poinsettia Bowl

So you got in your car in Albuquerque and you drove down I-40 for 418 miles and arrived in Phoenix.  It took you 10 hours because you stopped and did some sightseeing in the Petrified Forest National Park.

You arrive in Phoenix, Arizona at 10 o'clock Sunday night.  You have three days until your next bowl game.

In Phoenix you enjoy a nice night's sleep, and you are up and on the road again on Monday morning.

It is another 355 miles down I-10 this time, to your goal of San Diego.  You arrive at your destination just in time to check in to your hotel, clean up and head over to Ruth's Chris Steak House for an incredible dinner.

On Tuesday the 20th, you wake up and head over to the USS Midway Museum for the Landmark Aviation Team Luncheon.  You dine with the players and have a great time meeting them and discussing the game.

You enjoy the rest of your day sightseeing on Coronado Island, and you head back to the hotel realizing you have time to kill the next day because game time is at 6:00 PM local time.

You wake up and head out for a nice morning walk.  You step in to the Fig Tree Cafe to enjoy breakfast.

After filling up you head back to your hotel to gather your things, get cleaned up and head over to the In hands Media VIP Tailgate Party at Qualcomm Stadium.

Kickoff comes at six and you are in your seat just in time.

Bowl No. 3: MAACO Bowl in Las Vegas

Back to your hotel in San Diego for a good night's rest, you wake up early to get on the road to Vegas.

You get out of town around  11, and you head up I-15.  It is 326 miles of Godforsaken wasteland, so you pray you don't hit a giant coyote with your car.

You arrive in Las Vegas around four o'clock, just in time to check in to your hotel, get showered and changed and head out to Sam Boyd Silver Bowl for the game at six local time.

No time to waste, you enter the stadium 30 minutes before game time.  Boise State and Arizona State fill your next three-and-a-half hours.

The game was over at halftime, but you gutted it out.  Now, you can't wait to hit the nearest buffet and casino.  You don't want to party too hard because you have four days to get to your next bowl game almost 1,500 miles away in Shreveport, Louisiana.

As much as you would love to attend the Sheraton Hawaii Bowl on the 24th, there still isn't a way to drive to the islands.

You wake up on the 23rd, and you head east.

Bowl No. 4: AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl

The day is Friday December 23, 2011.  You have just under 1,500 miles and three days to your next bowl game, the AdvoCare V100 Independence Bowl in Shreveport, Louisiana.

You head out planning to cover just over 500 miles back through a familiar setting:  Albuquerque, New Mexico.

You hit Albuquerque in time to check in a hotel and get a night's rest.  The next day you spend another 10 hours on the road, stopping in Wichita Falls, Texas for another night in an unfamiliar hotel bed.

You wake early and head out toward Shreveport.  It is another 332 miles to your destination.  It will take you just over five hours if you make good time.

Arriving in Shreveport at 1:00 PM, you grab a bite to eat and make your way to yet another hotel to clean up and head over to Independence Stadium.

You catch the last hour of the Metropcs Fan Fest event, and then you make your way to the game itself.

Missouri and North Carolina clash in a game with two 7-5 teams trying to prove they belong.

After the game you hit the pillow by 10.  You have to wake at 4:00 AM to be on the road by 5:00 AM. It is 842 miles to your next bowl game in Charlotte, North Carolina.

It will take you at least 13 hours on the road, so time will be at a premium.

Bowl No. 5 on the Trip: The Belk Bowl

It is now December 26, 2011.  As much as you would love to attend the Little Caesars Bowl in Detroit to see Western Michigan take on Purdue the next day, the mileage just doesn't make sense.

The best location to tackle next would be the Belk Bowl in Charlotte, North Carolina.  However, you have 15 hours to game time, and a 13-hour drive.

If you manage to avoid getting a ticket, you can make good time.  You arrive with two hours to spare, and that time is spent doing your regular ritual of inhaling some fast food, showering in a new hotel room and hustling to the stadium for the game.

You arrive with 20 minutes until kickoff, and you settle in your seat.

Louisville and NC State crash heads for four quarters, and by midnight you are back in your hotel bed.

It is just over 16 hours to kickoff in D.C. for the Military Bowl featuring Toledo and Air Force.

Your drive is over six hours, and game time is 4:30 PM.  This means you must get out of Charlotte no later than eight o'clock in the morning.  This gives you a couple of hours for traffic delays, a pit stop or two and a bite to eat.

Sixth Point on the Bowl Map: Military Bowl

R.F.K. stadium by 3:30 PM on Wednesday December 28, 2011.  The Military bowl is quite the sight.  Air Force and Toledo play their hearts out, and you enjoy the game.

However, all you can think about is the 15-hour drive you have to get to your next bowl game in Orlando, Florida.

As much as you would like to return to San Diego for the Holiday Bowl and Texas vs. Cal, you know the time and distance would be impossible.

You opt for the Champs Sports Bowl and Florida State vs. Notre Dame.

The time is now 9:00 PM, and you will only have the luxury of a few hours sleep.

You will have to be on the road by 1:00 AM to make it to Orlando on time.

Lucky No. 7: Notre Dame vs. Florida State in the Champs Sports Bowl

Groggy but awake you get on the road early Thursday morning December 29, heading to Orlando.

Thank goodness for energy drinks...you drive wide-eyed and amped up, stopping only for sustenance and emptying the bladder.

Amazingly enough you make it to Orlando just in time to hit the stadium.  The fans around you wish you would have showered, but at least you are at the game.

You have a hard time staying awake for the last quarter, but you make it through.  Your mind races to play out which bowl you will go to next.

You make it to your hotel in time to catch Washington vs. Baylor in the Alamo Bowl on TV.  Exhausted as you are, not much of the game makes sense.

You lay out your choices for the next couple of days.

Should you head to the Bronx for the Pinstripe Bowl to see Rutgers take on Iowa State?  No, it is over 1,100 miles and game time is just over 16 hours away.

How about the Insight Bowl in Tempe, Arizona—impossible.  Although Iowa vs. Oklahoma would be a good game to watch.

The only possible choice is the Franklin American Mortgage Music City Bowl featuring Miss State and Wake Forest.  

The game is over 20 hours from starting, and the trip from Orlando to Nashville should only take about 10-and-a-half hours.

This means you actually get to sleep for seven hours.

No. 8: Miss State vs. Wake Forest

The day is Friday, December 30, 2011.  You have just slept seven hours in another strange room.  It is currently 5:00 AM, and you are tired, cross-eyed, hungry and numb.

You fill up your tank, grab a bite, and you are on I-75 heading to Nashville by six.

You arrive in Nashville less than two hours before game time.  You decide to head to the stadium and see what's going on at the tailgate party.

You suddenly realize that you have forgotten the time change from eastern to central time zones.  It pleases you to realize you have an extra hour of time to enjoy some food and fun.

Game time comes, and it proves to be more entertaining than you thought it might be.  Both teams play tough, and for two 6-6 teams they really aren't that bad.

Another nice thing is that you realize you get to stay in the state of Tennessee for the next bowl game.

No. 9: The AutoZone Liberty Bowl

It is now Saturday the 31st.  You got your best night's sleep in a while.

You have to miss the Meineke Car Care Bowl of Texas in Houston, the Hyundai Sun Bowl in El Paso, the Kraft Fight Hunger Bowl in San Francisco and the Chik-fil-A Bowl in Atlanta, Georgia.

Those games are all on the 31st, and you are unable to clone yourself.

So, instead you settle for a three-and-a-half-hour drive to Memphis for the AutoZone Liberty Bowl between Cincinnati of the Big East and Vanderbilt of the SEC.

You get to sleep in at your hotel room in Nashville.  Game time in Memphis is at 3:30 PM so you don't have to be on the road until 11:00 AM.

You drive down I-40W and you make great time.  Memphis is in your sight by 2:30 PM.

Your seats are good, and you enjoy the game.

You overhear several fans having the same conversation;

"Vanderbilt is in the SEC, seriously?"

"Ya, think about it—grade point average statistics."

"Ohhhhh—that makes sense."

Bowl 10: Going Outback

New Year's Eve in Memphis was great!  In fact, you really can't talk about it.

You get a decent amount of sleep, but you have to make a tough choice.

It is now New Year's Day, and there are no games, but tomorrow there are six games to choose from:

The TicketCity Bowl: Houston vs. Penn State, Dallas, Texas, 451 miles away

The Outback Bowl: Michigan State vs. Georgia, Tampa, Florida, 797 miles away

The Capital One Bowl: Nebraska vs. South Carolina, Orlando, Florida, 779 miles away

The Taxslayer.com Gator Bowl: Ohio State vs. Florida, Jacksonville, Florida, 686 miles away

The Rose Bowl: Wisconsin vs. Oregon, Pasadena, California, 1,784 miles away

The Tostitos Fiesta Bowl: Stanford vs. Oklahoma State, Glendale, Arizona, 1,467 miles away

The closest bowl is the TicketCity Bowl, but that game isn't as appealing as some others.

There really is no realistic way to make it to the Fiesta or the Rose Bowl on time.  So, the best choice of the remaining bowls would certainly be the Outback Bowl with Georgia and Michigan State.

A 13-hour drive awaits you down I-75, so you head out.

You roll into Tampa around 1:00 AM and check into your room.  You wake up, clean up and head out to the stadium.  It dawns on you that it is now January 2, 2012, the year the Mayans say we are finished.  

You shrug it off, and journey on.

Kickoff is 1:00 PM, and since you forgot about the time change once again, this time you make it just in time for the game to start.  You thought you were an hour early, but at this point you're just thankful to be there.

You watch a great game, and because you have the time, you decide to drive the six hours to New Orleans after the Outback bowl.  This puts you in a position to sleep in and enjoy the day in the Big Easy.

Game time for your next bowl isn't until 8:30 PM on Tuesday, January 3, 2012.

Bowl 11 in Year 12: The Sugar Bowl

After a great night's sleep, you are recharged and ready to go.  You head out for some good Cajun food come lunch time, and then you hang on Bourbon Street until six.

You head to the stadium for the Michigan vs. Virginia Tech matchup, and arrive realizing the Sugar Bowl won't be as well attended as organizers had hoped.

In fact, some BCS protesters are set up in the parking lot with some pretty creative picket signs.

Your favorite reads "BCS=Big Cash Supply."  Okay, that was not your favorite, but the others have words you shouldn't repeat.

The game is interesting, until it starts, and then it is quickly understood why these two teams shouldn't have been matched up.

You leave the game early, and call it a night.

You awake the next day, not that excited to be driving another 13 hours to Miami to see another lackluster BCS bowl pairing.

The Orange Bowl starts at 8:30 ET, so you have time to make it—unfortunately.  However, if you do that, you will not be able to make the Cotton Bowl on Friday, January 6 in Arlington, Texas.

You decide that Arkansas vs. Kansas State in the Cotton Bowl is a much better choice than West Virginia vs. Clemson in the Orange Bowl.

12: The Cotton Bowl

It is now Thursday, January 5, 2012, and you are on your way to the Cotton Bowl.

You spend just over eight hours on I-49, arriving in Arlington around five central time, just in time to check in and then grab some food over at Beef 'O' Brady's inside your hotel.

You crash early so that you can hang out at Six Flags all day before the game on Friday.

After a day of riding roller coasters and eating junk food, you are nauseous, but looking forward to some good football.

You head to the stadium and are very impressed with all the pageantry.  You wonder why this game hasn't been turned into a BCS game.  However, on second thought, that's probably why it hasn't been ruined.

The game is incredible, in fact it's a barn-burner.  Offense lights up the night and the final score is higher than anyone predicted.

You head back to your hotel room satisfied, and exhausted.

Lucky Number 13: The GoDaddy.com Bowl

You awake on Saturday the seventh.  You realize that there is no way for you to make it to Birmingham, Alabama for the BBVA Compass Bowl that starts at 1:00 PM.

It is at least 10-hour drive, so you choose to rest a bit and then head to Mobile, Alabama instead.

It is also a 10-hour drive, but you have plenty of time because the GoDaddy.com Bowl isn't until Sunday at 9:00 ET.

You hotel is nice in Mobile, and you don't want to get out of bed because your body is in rebellion. However, this is the last bowl before the big one, and you want to finish strong.

Arkansas State and Northern Illinois actually surprise you.  After all, these are both 10-win teams.  The game is outstanding, and it comes down to the wire.

After the game you hit the bed like a load of bricks and sleep like a baby.

The Big One: LSU vs. Alabama

It is now January 9, 2012.  It is a Monday, and you can't help but think that if College Football had a playoff they could be playing the Championship game the weekend before the Super Bowl.  It certainly would get better ratings, and create a national event.

However, you are excited to see the game on any day of the week.

The drive from Mobile to New Orleans is a pleasant one.  It is only about two hours down I-10.

You arrive back in New Orleans around lunch time, just in time for more Cajun spice.

The city is abuzz with events and parties.  You take a few in and make it to the stadium by six.

Tailgating with the fans is everything you thought it would be.  You wear neutral colors so as to hang with both sides and see how they feel about the contest.

The game starts at 8:30 PM, and the air is charged with excitement.

It is a much better game than the first one, and the offense on both sides actually gets involved.

You sit there in amazement as the Crimson Tide take control of the game.

It comes down to the last minutes when Alabama keeps LSU from coming back.  The final score is Alabama 24, LSU 17.

You then spend the night partying it up with Tide fans on Bourbon Street.

Looking Back

On Tuesday, January 10, 2012 you wake up at the crack of noon.  Tired, sore, a headache, cotton mouth and wearing an Alabama Crimson Tide T-Shirt.

You have just driven 8,026 miles in 24 days.  You have stayed in 23 hotels and eaten 38 meals at fast food drive-thrus.

You have had the pleasure of sitting down to eat at six great restaurants, attended a handful of parties and even spent the day at a theme park.

You have watched 14 bowl games in person, a few on television and listened to a couple on the radio as you drove.

You have gained 16 pounds and spent $1,725 on hotels, $368 on food, $1,123 on gas, $1,465 on tickets, $180 on parking, $200 at a theme park and $350 on memorabilia.

This doesn't include the $3,000 you won in Vegas only to gamble it back, or the additional $923 you lost that night.

However, if you total it all up the trip cost you $6,334 and probably a year off your life.

Worth every penny.