Gary and Marty Underwood of Hoover
Proud parents of Auburn graduates, this retired couple drives their RV all around the country throughout the year, but during football season, it stays in one place--Auburn.
Keeping the RV at University Station on Alabama Highway 14 during the week, Gary and Marty drive from Hoover on Thursdays and move their RV to their yearly tailgate spot in the fields off Donahue Drive, close to the AU Solar House.
After spending a summer driving through Alaska, they made it back to Auburn just in time for the first football game of the season.
The Underwoods have been tailgating for Auburn games since before 1988, when Gary's son graduated from Auburn, but they began using the RV the day of the 2003 Iron Bowl.
After getting settled at the tailgate spot, the Underwoods usually watch whatever college football game is playing Thursday night and go to Niffer's Place for burger night.
Friday morning, they run a four-mile course they have devised that takes them through the center of campus, passing by Jordan-Hare Stadium.
They attend every home game they can, with season tickets in section 14 in the south end zone.
"We just really enjoy it," Gary said.
After the LSU game, the Underwoods set off for the Great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee for two weeks, with plans to come back just in time for homecoming, slowly building up to the 15,000 miles they put on the RV every year.
The Underwoods have been to nearly every state in the RV, except Hawaii and upper New England.
A self-described "computer guy," Gary worked for AT&T for 25 years before starting his own software company with his son, an Auburn graduate with a degree in electrical engineering.
Rob Burt of Auburn
For Rob Burt, owner of Mobile Home Service Center, tailgating is about good times and family.
Burt said tailgating spans generations in his family, and on any given Saturday, 70 people could show up.
"It's a way of life, I guess you could say," Burt said.
He has been tailgating since 1984 and attends every home game he can.
"We do it rain, sleet, snow or shine," he said.
He even had his Thanksgiving dinner last year at his regular tailgating spot, in the field on the corner of Lem Morrison and Donahue drives, between Old Camp Road and the Ag Heritage Park.
Burt treats his tailgate lot as if it were his front yard, starting the day by raking cigarette butts, picking up loose trash and setting up his own trash cans before even unloading the trailer.
He tailgates with an Airstream and a trailer packed with chairs and canopy tents and equipped with a 56" flat-screen TV, all of which he uses only eight times a year.
In front of Burt's spot, a temporary courtyard forms with the RVs and trailers of his "neighbors," which last week included LSU, Alabama and Auburn fans.
"All of us in here, we're just like a family," Burt said. "Some of us have been coming for years and just see each other for football games."
Burt said he was worried about Saturday's game, but whatever the result, the tailgate would still have been a success.
"Win, lose or draw, we're here to have a good time and enjoy football season," Burt said.
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