Murph's RVTV Photo Album: Day 5 Ames

 

Our friends at Fareway came and grilled out for us live at 5 and 6. Jamie Pollard ate a steak sandwich in one commercial break. Fareway meat is good.

The Ghostbusters wouldn't paint their car these colors, but we appreciate them pulling up for the 10 p.m. live and making a lot of noise. 

 The fire truck makes its fifth appearance at RVTV.

 

The ISU marching band also showed up for our Football Friday finale. Disappointingly, they didn't ask us to play. I wonder if they missed our promos. We love to jam.

 The batons on fire were fun until one landed on our camera cable. It didn't quite burn through the wire, and we managed to finish up with a flare.

The Iowa State ROTC ran the game ball from Iowa City to Ames. They timed it to arrive during the newscast at 18 hundred hours. Naturally, being military, they were right on time. We appreciate how welcome ISU has made us feel on RVTV.

Murph's RVTV Photo Album: Day 4 Nevada

Nevada rolled out the red carpet like few towns in RVTV tour history. It was nice to see all the channel 13 personalities getting a shout-out. I learned they love Erin here. A lot.

I walked to the bucket for a live shot in the 6 p.m. news. I'll confess I wanted to turn around about halfway up the ladder, but so many people were watching, I continued the climb. The Nevada firefighter who went with me couldn't have been nicer. Respect. It sure seemed higher than it looks in this picture.

Cy showed up, along with the ISU cheerleaders and the 2-0 Nevada football team, the marching band, and the Cubs cheer squad.

Chris thought UNI showed up, but after the Nevada boosters gave him a Cubs T-shirt, he knew Nevada's colors. Side note: The Chamber of Commerce provided a great workspace.

One of the few RVTV tour stops where Cyclone fans outnumbered Hawkeye fans, but Iowa showed up strong considering how close Nevada is to Ames.

Early vote: One of the three best RVTV towns ever.

Murph's RVTV Photo Album: Madrid Day 3

More perfect weather as we reach Madrid. The deck at the Flat Tire, overlooking the bike trail, was a tough place to leave.

Murph & Andy Show live on the deck. No, I 'm not a Brewers fan, but that old school logo is sweet. Brewers should go back to it immediately and for good.

When you think Madrid, you think football. The logical place for the RVTV tour stop was the football field, and to our surprise, the folks in Madrid let us park and play right by the field, less than 48 hours to kickoff.

Only one person has cheesy smile. I'm just realizing I later met woman over my right shoulder at the Tiger Bowl. She's a Hawkeye fan who works at Iowa State. Wait, what?!

This gentleman told me he once won a car on WHO TV 13's Let's Go Bowling with Jim Zabel.

The Trestle Bridge lives up to the hype. Breathtaking in person.

Murph's RVTV Photo Album: Day 2 Adel

Beautiful day, and a nice crowd in the land of Kinnick. I wore a gold shirt, and had several people say I was "wearing Hawkeye colors". I pointed out gold covers both teams.

Closed eyes, full hearts, can't lose.

Andy's daughter Elin waited until she was on camera to start crying on cue. My son Cade did the same thing on RVTV ten years ago. It was Thanksgiving because 9/11 moved the game to end of the season.

I always wondered how Andy would look as a little girl. Now I know.

This is a collector's item.

Chris joined the ADM band as they played our Football Friday music.

On top of our Bob & Jo's RV. We parked in front of the courthouse.

The Murph & Andy Show from the Brick Street Books & Cafe, which is right next to Nile Kinnick Drive.

These two Hawk fans are standing in front of a really cool bus.

Murph's RVTV Photo Album: Day 1 Pleasantville

It's Thursday night, the Packers are picking up where they left off, and I thought I'd use halftime for a show and tell on the RVTV Tour 2011.

Day 1 in Pleasantville. This semi-truck showed up and started blasting the Hawkeye fight song. No Iowa fans complained. It's a cool truck.

I can't say enough about Pleasantville. The people could not have been nicer. It's interesting how much small towns appreciate positive coverage. Time and time again, we hear, "Usually the only time we see the media is when something bad happens. Thank you." No, thank you.

RVTV? Perfect time for a lemonade stand! Never pass up kids selling lemonade. Especially when they're this cute.

I was thrilled to meet Bruce Willis.

Not Cast Your Kernel, Cast Your Bean at Smokey Row. Hawks clearly in front of the bean count. Smokey Row brought us breakfast in bed. Well, breakfast in the RV.

Not exactly roughin' it, but we do work long days. Many people are surprised how much goes into putting a few minutes of newscast together. Here I'm pictured with Brandon McCauley, the pride of Nevada. (More on Nevada later.)

Pleasantville had a great turnout, and a fun street party. We stayed out late with some of the nicest guys I've ever met.

Pleasantville Bags Tournament. We were disqualified.

The Trojans cheerleaders in a serious posedown.

This is one cute dog. Go Hawks!

Pleasantville did too much, and then showered us with gifts. My wife wants to move there.

The Iceborg actually believed he had to sleep in this tent, and he never complained.

Reflections From The Tent Day 1

(Zach)

The concrete is cold.

There's a rock on the ground that's hurting my back.

That is all.

(PS-Thanks to the people of Pleasantville!   The stop rocked!)

Welcome to Pleasantville

(Alisa) Hey there, I'm the multimedia producer at WHO and I'm tagging along on RVTV to make sure our site (www.whotv.com/sports/rvtv) gets updated and you all know where we are and what we're up to.
Also, check us out on facebook (SoundOFF Nation) and twitter (@Soundoff13). All the guys will be tweeting from their own accounts and hashtagging it #13RVTV, so join in the conversation and hashtag your RVTV tweets!
Well, we got into Pleasantville around lunch time today and there were already kids playing football in the street. I went into Smokey Row and 10-year-olds were discussing the pros and cons of their teams offensive and defensive lines. Suffice to say, this town is ready for some football!
They've turned their main street into a giant tailgate. There is BBQ wafting into the windows of the RV as I type this.
We've had a few bumps in the road so far, but the cooler is stocked and the pillows are fluffed. Keith and Andy are the only ones here so far, but they've laid claim to the most comfortable beds. Zach, of course, will be camping out in the tent (he's a newbie). Ed says no rain though, so he should be okay.
Being the only girl on the trip, I have to watch out for myself. I got a whistle, to get their attention, and I bought a pink camping chair. I figured it would deter the guys from sitting in it... But everyone says the same thing, Chris will be all over it when he gets here...

It Begins!

(Zach)

Thanks to Murph and Andy for the shout out to my college football odyssey, even though they short changed me.  I started for Iowa City at 6:15 AM, not 6:30.

In all honesty, it was a lot of work, but a blast.  Other than needing an ark at times for all the rain, going to games at Kinnick and Jack Trice was everything I thought it would be growing up.  And it made five years of freezing my butt off in Missoula and Fargo worth it.

I guess now I can't wait for the games to matter a bit more.  Iowa did what they had to do against a bad Tennessee Tech team.  I think the conditions and Kirk Ferentz being the kind of guy who doesn't run up scores kept it from being bigger than 34-7.

If anyone is ripping ISU for going to the wire with UNI just shut up.  This is the same program that should have beaten Iowa in 09 and is a year to year contender for the FCS national title.  There were several FCS teams that DID upset BCS teams (Sacramento State won at Oregon State 29-28, Richmond beat Duke 23-21).  Seldom do the Appalachian State over Michigan upsets happen, but a good FCS team can hang with just about anybody in FBS who isn't a superpower (Texas, OU, etc.).  The Panthers will win the Missouri Valley again, but they need Tirrell Rennie to give them more from the passing game to win it all.

The most concerning thing for Iowa State has to be the line play.  The defense never got a ton of pressure on Rennie, and the offensive line got flat blown up at times.  That said, both lines did step up and make plays late in games.  Still, with the Hawkeyes bringing a veteran O-Line and the makings of another good D-Line, Paul Rhoads has to figure some stuff out fast.

My head tells me Iowa is going to win this game.  But I get this nagging feeling that Iowa State will find a way to pull the upset.  I think Rhoads is due and playing at Jack Trice can be a great equalizer.  For the Clones it all rests on Steele Jantz.  If he plays like he did for the first three quarters of the UNI game against Iowa then ISU may have to think about giving Jared Barnett a rep or two.  If he's the fourth quarter Steele Jantz for most of the game, Iowa could be in trouble.  The Hawkeyes struggled to wrap up and tackle Tennessee Tech's mobile QB.

RVTV starts later today in Pleasantville!  Keith will still be updating his blog, but we'll describe the madness here as we road trip across Iowa.  Like many of you I've been a fan (from afar) of RVTV for years, so I'm looking forward to joining the fun.  Watching Keith's bad movies, listening every night to Andy talk about what bugs him, and Chris' for some reason refusing to wear clothes (see the end of this video http://www.whotv.com/videobeta/25fd4ffc-41d4-4d49-af6c-8754122e07de/News/RVTV-Starts-Monday ) have me a bit nervous though.