So, we are a few months away but I myself am starting to get itchy and curious. Who all will be camping for Battle at Bristol? When are you getting there, and what are your plans?
We got extremely lucky. We have two full service RV spots basically right next to the track in the Earheart Campground. We should be getting there late Wednesday, sometime. This will be the first Multi Day tailgate that we have ever done for a VA Tech game. We have lots of experience doing this sort of thing with NASCAR, but never a football game. We are not even sure, at the moment, if this experience is something that a human being can survive, but we intend to find out. We love entertaining visitors though, so hopefully we will get to see lots of Hokies stopping by. Because of the full service spot, we will actually have the above ground pool we weren't able to make work out for the Ohio State game last year (Roller Coaster and Merry Go round pending permits).
What has everyone else got going on? Any other RV'ers?
Comments
8 other Hokies and I have an RV spot in Rogers Gardens. Allowed to arrive Thursday I believe, so will likely leave Northern Virginia sometime that morning. Not planning to go to the concert but hoping it will be audible from outside. Should be a drunken good time.
We discussed the concert but I don't know what the final verdict is. I myself am starting to lean against it. Not that it wouldn't be fun but I have a feeling I will just be preoccupied.
Two RVs, 10 guys, arriving Friday morning and leaving Sunday at Race Day Center Campground.
Going with some UTenn fans...
Not sure about parking but ladies inside the RV, fellas wherever...
Food, beverages, football. I can't wait.
Wanted to camp out but the RV rentals were pricey and the womenfolk were not excited about it. Ended up with a hotel and know I am going to be wishing I was out there tailgating all day.
Tent camping at Bristol campground. Plan on heading up from Charlotte first thing on Friday morning so we can get up, get some meat going on the grill and proceed with heavy beer consumption.
I have a feeling a lot will be "camping out" when the game ends at 12:30 and it takes an hour to find/walk to your car and 2 hours to get out of the parking lot. Race venues are always a blast to navigate!
Cannot be worse than my BSU experience at FedEx in 2010.... We were not paying attention and were herded out of the stadium from a gate that we did not enter in. Husband said the lot was down this street. Walked down said street and did not recognize a thing. Realized the error so we started heading left. Opened Google Maps and realized that we were 2 miles away from our car. At 12:30am. With an 11 month old. The only comforting thing was that we were not the only lost fans who were herded the wrong way.
3 Campers/RV's and 2 Tents at Shadrack. Apparently its next door to a brewery which should be fun to check out Friday.
Holston River Brewery! Solid brewery, IMO.
I didn't organize, but Shadrack rings a bell. We'll be there with a motorcoach and two on-site rental RVs. Arriving sometime Thursday.
We have a tent space at Shadrack as well, and likely hitting up the brewery on Friday night... see you there friend.
We're camping at the Bristol campground. Weekend site (with power) was only $160. Between the Friday concert and Saturday tailgates/game, the convenience of the tent outweighs the comfort of a hotel 20-40 min away.
Btw, I just reserved at the Bristol Campground (little late to the party), but in their FAQ section, it says they don't have electric hook-ups (but electric at the shower house). The $40 per night per site for the game weekend (incl showers and shuttle) is definitely nice, though.
We'll be tent camping at Bristol Campground also. Probably getting there sometime Friday afternoon. Should be an epic weekend
My group of 10 has three tent camping sites in Earhart Campground West. Hoping for a lot of Hokies in the campsite.
I'm arriving early Friday morning to get everything set up and get an early start on my Monday morning hangover.
Solid spot. We will be close by wherever the RV spots are. We plan to engineer it so we are easy to find.
We are in with a bunch of the 'Clubhouse Tailgate' folks from the Airport RV lot. We've all reserved spots at "Lady's". I'm not sure when we will be arriving but I'm debating just taking off from the Liberty game and keep going west. Our reservation is for 'the week'.
I am a part of this group also. I believe there are around 15 of us and the majority of us are heading there directly after the Liberty game. If you have to pay for the week, you may as well use it. Also going to the concert Friday night. A bunch of us did the same thing for the OSU game and spent the week in Columbus. it was fun walking into the bars on Monday and the OSU fans were like "Aren't you guys a little early"
Our number of people interested keeps growing so we are going to end up with a giant amalgamation of RV's and tents. VT Footbal and NASCAR are some of our favorite things we do every year. Adding a mix between the both is something I cant wait to put my body through.
A leg for the GIF. That is fantastic!
Got a 5 person RV...with 10 people confirmed to go.
Hoping that if someone sleeps in a sleeping bag on the roof of the RV, or 'falls asleep' in a chair just outside the door that they let that kind of thing go.
Going to an epic time. Arriving Friday night, leaving Sunday.
I plan to sleep everywhere but the RV
Does anyone know how strictly they enforce the "one tent per campsite" policy? I assume once the lights go out they aren't going to walk around and kick people out if they have two tents instead of one. And what do they consider a tent? If I hook up a lean-to tarp to the back of my vehicle will that be considered a tent? What about a pop up canopy with a tarp around the sides? What about a tent inside of a tent? So many questions!
I cannot say for Bristol as I have never camped there. However, I can say that many of the other tracks I have been to and camped were very unpoliced. You pay to get in and for your spot, but don't see anyone in charge of the place all weekend. Martinsville is a huge free for all, though. It's just a big hill with some level spots that everyone crams in to. They get strict about vehicles, but other than that once you are in, you are in and can set up whatever the hell you want. Generally there has never been anything to stop people from walking in too.
I was told when I got my camping site, I could have two tents. So if you are camping at Bristol Motor Speedway like me, I think you could do the same.
Staying at Thunder Mountain Campground (it's the campsite with Holston River Brewing actually inside of it). Me and some buddies stay there for the night race. Brewery is good (what we can remember) and they will likely have bands playing there Friday night as they did last August race weekend. Camping isn't the greatest, but compared to the other places around the track, it's pretty damn "cheap", $100 for the race, $150 for the game. They have bathhouses on site (for the love of Christ bring flipflops). Gonna try and get out there by Thursday. Plans: drink alcohol, grill meat, and mingle with other Tech fans and the UT fans.
ALSO: tent camping for me and the lady. They're out of RV spots I believe.
ALSO-ALSO: it's outside of turn 2 about a quarter mile walk down the road. Not a bad walk at all.
I'm there too. Got 8 Rv spots .....so we got a huge crew rolling. Looking forward to the brewery being onsite!!
Good lord lol certainly won't be hard to miss. And yes! The brewery is pretty good...good atmosphere. And the rv section, especially near the entrance is very close to it.
This is where I'll be as well. Rolling down with 6 in an RV Thursday night. Any other tips besides bringing flip flops?
We're actually in the campground right now. A few (like 10) of the RV spots have been seeded/strawed and not overly grassy right now. There's a creek onsite, if you're into that kinda thing, bring some swim attire...it's nice. I also forgot about the shuttle/schoolbus in the campground...runs thru the property and then all the way down to the track. I asked my friends what they would say, two answers I got: "don't bring a civic" and "Bring a good attitude"
Awesome - thank you!! We'll have to meet up for a beer during the game weekend!!
My body is in so much pain from race weekend...I think I should be back in tailgating form by then.
What day are you all arriving @ Thunder Mountain?
I think some of us will be there Thursday night.....the rest first thing Friday morning.
I hope to get there thursday night, all depends on what the bossman says.
Tent camping here too. Glad there will be other Hokies at the campground!
No camping for this guy. Luckily, my old roommate lives in Bristol. I'll be crashing there.
***Edit-Tickets sold
Staying at Shadrick with a bunch of friends and a big ass RV....can't wait.
I wonder what their policy on us just showing up now would be?
I managed to grab 3 rooms I no longer will be using (Sept 10 only). They're in Elizabethton at a 2* place, and they're definitely not as cheap as they should be:
Room 1: 4 adults, 2 double beds
Room 2: 4 adults, 2 doubles
Room 3: 4 adults, 2 doubles
They're not equally priced (an experiment to see if they'd sell quickly). Hopefully most of you have your plans lined up already; the website allows you to offer a different price, so you're welcome to throw a number out there and I'll try and make it work.
The end of August and the month of September is going to be exhausting, but a blast. We kick it off with our annual trip to Virginia International Raceway the weekend of August 26th. RV camping at its finest, we are going to just consider this a Bristol Rehearsal this year. Then we have Liberty the weekend after that, followed of course by the trip to Bristol. Then a home game the rest of them month. By the end of it I will be crying for a weekend off.
I'll be in the BMS Dragstrip RV lot with a 33 footer and a few friends.
RV passes came with the tickets. I'm think I'm just going to head that way tonight.
Here are some offers and discounts for those staying the weekend:
http://battleinourbackyard.com/
Is anyone in need of an RV parking pass? I bought one for the the Dragstrip RV parking lot through Bristol motor Speedway and no longer need it. Please let me know if anyone is need or knows anyone who might be in need!
The MOOKsters will be there! Gonna do ol school. Tent city here we come!!!!
So the word we got out of Earheart is they do not want any tents in the RV Spots. We can have just about anything else we want (I took that to mean yes bring the AG Pool). I think they do not want 40 people cramming into one spot.
Got a new spare tire cover for the camper today.
Almost ready to go to VIR this weekend, then on to Bristol on 9/7.
I'm doing a little maintenance on the RV today (sanitizing the fresh water system, etc). If anyone has any questions about this stuff before they go to Bristol, I'll he happy to answer them as best as I can. I have some homemade contraptions for storing/pumping fresh water into the RV and a DIY macerator pump that I can share details about.
We are staying in the pole position campground. Half a mile away from the track. Don't touch the smoker it will be hot from thursday when I get there until after the game saturday,
Following @micahwJHL is said to provide lots of good updates on the construction of the field. I would try to embed some of it but always have trouble at work due to them blocking twitter. They are laying gravel and dirt already this morning.
Saw this video somewhere. A nice little view of the preparations going into the game.
http://www.bristolmotorspeedway.com/fans/news-archive/pilot-flying-battl...
Live camera of the field being made.
I really hope someone is taking a sampling from this so they can put together a high speed version
Well I can't watch on my iPad sooo...
they've posted an archive version so I'm hoping someone more computer savvy can put something together when it's all said and done.
I wish Apple with get with it and make it so everything is cross watchable and usable. No reason there is a live stream that won't play on an apple device.
NASCAR FANS CAMP OUT UNTIL BATTLE AT BRISTOL
Not sure this deserves its own thread so I'll ask here. Looking at setting up a tv to catch earlier games at our tailgate, none of us have a satellite dish and I've heard not to trust any kind of streaming from a data plan, so I'm looking at the antenna route. I figure somebody here has done this in Blacksburg or maybe even in Bristol for a race, so anyone have a recommendation on a cheap antenna? It looks like I would need a range of 25 miles for Bristol, but might need to go for 40-50 if I ever wanted to use it in Blacksburg.
just grab a basic digital antenna.
edit like this one: HDTV antenna with stand
Should be able to pick up local broadcast stations right? I guess it depends on the mountains etc.
ABC/NBC/CBS should all have some college football on.
Battle at Bristol is going to be televised on ABC.
We have always made our own out of speaker wire and had amazing results, at least in Blacksburg. The homemade version tends to be cheaper and in our experience quite a bit more effective as well. Who knows what kind of over the air broadcasts you will pick up out there though.
I would look at the local signal strengths in the area using a site like this: https://www.fcc.gov/media/engineering/dtvmaps
The address of the speedway is:151 Speedway Blvd, Bristol, TN 37620, USA
We've had very good luck with a DIY coat hanger antenna. You can find plans all over the internet.
DIY Antennas
Couple that with a small in-line amplifier Amazon Clicky (only if the antenna struggles by itself) and you should have a solid setup.
What does everyone here know about overnight parking at Bristol? We get a certain number of cars per spot at Earheart. However, we will have a few extra cars that will need a place to live for the weekend. Speedway parking does not allow anything over night parking, and doesn't open until Saturday morning anyway. Does anyone have any insight on this?
Please and Thank-you.
I would love some info on this as well. Meeting some Vols down there and staying in their RV but we are coming from VA. Need a place to leave our car for a couple nights. Any tips?
Almost time everybody. Thanks to the government I am off today. Then I just have to make it till 2pm Wednesday and I am driving down to Bristol like a bolt of lightning.
Someone on Twitter said they got there last night! This is truly something.
We thought about it, but I don't think Earheart opens until Wednesday. That might be incorrect and I am just looking for excuses as to why we are not.thag hardcore hahaha.
I flew in from San Francisco Sept 1st and a lady on my plane said she was coming for battle at bristol, she lives in Ohio but was a Florida gator fan. She said she was here to PARTY and looked the part. Being from Church Hill/ Kingsport area I was surprised she thought the party was gonna start so early. But being from this area we avoid race weekends. I bet she's been bored.
Anybody know if ESPN has announced where Gameday will be setup?
Been wondering this myself but have yet to see anything.
Tweeted at them and got.this link in response Game day at Bristol
It's happening in Earheart East. This is pretty cool as we are camped right next door in Earheart West. But there will be lots of people closer. Should be fun
Also, I believe Earheart East is where a majority of the parking passes for tickets purchased through Hokie Club tickets are from.
They will be set up in Earhart East, the Hokie side!
BTW, saw the GameDay RV on the way to work this morning. They're staying at the Holiday Inn off of exit 7!
Okay, need some help. Have had some life madness going on, and didn't know if I was actually even going to be able to make it to the game...until niow. So here's my question: What does everyone recommend at this late stage for a place to park the car to leave it overnight? Don't have access to my camping gear, so plan is to just lay the seats flat and crash out in the back of the SUV. Really needs to be walkable from the track stadium (officially what I'm calling it). Thoughts?
Side note: Do not yet have tickets secured, however, have inquired about a couple I am supposed to hear back about by tomorrow night. If anybody roaming this thread has any, let me know. Would need 2.
We are looking into this as well for a few of our people that are camping with us. We have been told there are places around that will offer overnight parking (not affiliated with the speedway). Price is the question and I doubt they are going to be incredibly close as far as walking distance. I have also heard that, for races at least, even though they don't offer overnight parking they don't exactly shoo you out of the lot. And also to expect the egress from the parking lots to be quite a nightmare, so you may have time for a bit of a nap before finding a permanent spot.
A friend of mine is parking their car at Bo's Campground for $20/ night. Half a mile from the track.
http://www.mikeboschassiscraft.com/Bos%20Campground.htm
I looked at my tickets today EE lot doesn't open till 7am. I live 30 minutes from the track so I have no clue when I should head down there. If anybody needs any other info on timing of events or parking etc I'll do my best to answer.
Well I can't get my hands on a parking pass. I am staying at a friend's house about 5 miles from the track. Does Bristol have any public transportation or cabs?
Check craigslist.
Is anyone camping in the All American Campground? I'm in there with a group of people tenting it up. Getting there Friday. I'll have my VT tailgate flagpole raised high. Packing the maroon flag in case it's a sea of that orange Tennessee claims.
Also, anyone have any idea where the Tennessee fans will be clustered? I don't want to feel like a pilgrim.
I've been in this guy's situation before and I can do it again.
I'm in the All American as well. I won't get there until late Friday night/Sat. morning....(son's football game). But we'll be ready come Saturday morning.
If you see one of these I'll be under it. Although All American looks gigantic on the map.
I'll be looking for it.....
Any one been to Bristol and know if there is decent cell service for AT&T? Heading down Friday morning and likely to have some work calls that day.
Around the Speedway itself you will be fine. As you venture out, hard to say.
I live in Bristol and plenty of my friend have AT&T. You'll be fine pretty much everywhere.
Thanks for the replies!
I'm about to be out of work like Skeletor and make this drive.
Does anyone know anything about the VT Tailgate listed at the Copperhead Rd entrance listed on the official "Parking & Camping Information Guide?" I can't find any info on it anywhere.
Also, Kenny Chesney roll call? We're still undecided. I'm sure it will be heard everywhere around the track.
Ok, just found out we're staying at the Bristol campground across the road from the track. It's got a ton of good reviews on Google and looks like they'll have shuttles running to and from the track.
Friday's my birthday, I'm so pumped!