This was our 6th “Bama Mom” trip. I mentioned in my last post that there are over 20 ladies that get together annually for a trip. This tradition started in 2018 when Alabama (my son’s college) played Arkansas (my alma mater and home state) in football. My friend Roni and I had discussed in the spring of 2017 this cool lodge in Arkansas that comfortably slept 20 people, even more if we doubled up in queen size beds. The 2018 lodge was in one of my favorite places – the Buffalo National River area of Northern Arkansas. She guessed at the dates that the game might be for the fall of 2018 (a year and a half away!) and put a deposit down. We weren’t sure we’d get any interest in a bunch of ladies traveling to Arkansas to hike and go to a football game. After all, the nearest airport was an hour and a half away and the ladies that we thought might be interested lived all over the country. Boston, Seattle, New Orleans, Chicago…Roni handpicked the group and we ended up with over 20 ladies committed! So that is how the BAMA MOM group trips started.
The following year, we went to Texas to see the Alabama/Texas A&M game. Then 2020 we decided it was best to not travel due to the pandemic. In 2021, we went back to the lodge in Arkansas even though we didn’t go to a game. Then we went to the Alabama/Tennessee game in 2022; Alabama/Kentucky game in 2023 and now the Alabama/Wisconsin game in 2024. Many of the ladies have come back year after year. So it’s always fun catching up with those that we may only see once a year.
In September, I flew from Fort Smith to Milwaukee and met up with part of the group on a Wednesday night. Thursday, after a morning walk along the Milwaukee River, we made our way across the Southern portion of Wisconsin and visited New Glarus Brewing Company. It was interesting to see the production facility and taste several of their beers. We had lunch nearby and then made our way to the lodge near Potosi, Wisconsin. It was a nice property above the Mississippi River that included an indoor pool and hot tub and a pond that had kayaks for us to use.
Friday was spent exploring the property. I hiked to the river overlook twice. I saw deer, butterflies, mushrooms and even a couple of snakes! That evening we crossed over to Iowa and went to the site of where they filmed Field of Dreams. Then on to dinner at a cute country buffet. And a ride on a car ferry back across the mighty Mississippi at sunset!
We had an early start Saturday, as we had an 11am game to go to and Madison was an hour and a half away in our chartered bus. We enjoyed walking around campus prior to the game – everyone was friendly and welcoming to the Bama fans. The game was good – Alabama won 42-10. When we returned back to our cars, we visited Potosi Brewery. We had to try out some of their beer as well! And then home for Chicago pizza, swimming and visiting.
Sunday had an easy morning schedule. I took a 3 mile walk down to the river and back then made a couple of laps kayaking around the pond, followed by more swimming and hot tubbing.
Roni finds the most interesting activities for us, so Sunday night we visited a working milk farm Berning Acres. The couple that runs the farm have taken over the business from his parents, who still work on the farm. It has grown to 420 milking cows with new calves born daily! There were 5 born the previous day! Very informative and I really enjoyed our visit there. We were able to feed the calves and milk the cows.
Then Monday came and we all had to go home. We cleaned and emptied the houses and all headed our separate ways – back to Fort Smith, Orlando, St. Louis, Chicago, Boston, Phoenix, Chattanooga, New Orleans, Dallas … and may other towns in between. There were 26 ladies this trip for our annual Bama Mom football weekend – and not one mom is from Alabama! LOL
As far as points & miles go … I flew from Fort Smith to Milwaukee. When I booked the flight, it was cheaper to pay than to use points. I look at the cash price compared to points. In my mind, I think of a point being worth 1.5 cents – so 10,000 points would be approximately $150. This particular trip, I booked the flight for $283. Points at that time were 37,000 ( or about $550 equivalent). So I can quickly look to see that $283 is cheaper than $550 so I booked with cash instead of points. And, when you book with cash (credit card) you also EARN miles. So I earned 1,533 American Airlines miles for the flight plus the points/miles for charging the airfare on my credit card.
I also had a short time to spend in the DFW airport both directions, so because I have a credit card that gains me access to Priority Pass lounges, I was able to relax with snacks & a drink while I waited for my next flight.