Cliff and Jennifer Vellucci are in the middle of a three month-long road trip across America and it’s all in the name of college football.
BUCKEYE, Ariz. — A Buckeye couple is embarking on the journey of a lifetime: driving to every ESPN College GameDay for 15 weeks straight.
Cliff and Jennifer Vellucci have had the idea in the back of their minds for years. They are big sports fans and love large events. Now that their five children are out of the house and they can work remotely, they decided now was the time to check it off of their bucket list.
“On August 23 we packed up our car from Buckeye and planned out for three months to not go home until after the game on December 7, which is the conference championship game,” Cliff Vellucci said.
They packed up their sedan and set out on the road. So far, they’ve been to cities like Norman, Oklahoma, Knoxville, Tennessee and Athens, Georgia.
“We truly wanted to see the country. We wanted to drive our country, and I know a lot of these college towns are in these very small, remote areas that aren’t big cities, and that’s really what we wanted to do, and so that’s why we did it,” Cliff Vellucci said.
Cliff drives while Jennifer works a full 8-hour day from the car.
“All of the games have been a lot of fun, but I would say Neyland Stadium, the Tennessee game against Georgia, was probably the top game, and then Penn State, the white out. That’s always been on our bucket list as well,” Jennifer Vellucci said.
Adding to the already logistical challenge of a three month road trip is that they don’t know where they are headed next. ESPN announces their GameDay location weekly, usually on Sunday mornings.
“This past Sunday, we literally checked out of our hotel at 11 a.m. and we’re driving in the car and had no place to go. We didn’t know where we’re going,” Cliff Vellucci said.
During week six of the season, they were in Tuscaloosa, Alabama. Then, they found out they were heading to Eugene, Oregon for week 7. Then, it was back to the south to Athens, Georgia for week 8.
“You plan it out the day you leave, you know, so that that can be stressful, or it can be fun. And we’ve tried to just say, ‘Hey, this is fun,” Jennifer Vellucci said.
But they’re embracing the chaos and have been able to reconnect with family and friends along the way.
“We’ve never been alone at any site, and these are people I haven’t seen and we haven’t seen for 30 years,” Cliff Vellucci said.
They have seven games to go and will be in Nashville on Saturday for the Missouri at Vanderbilt game. Their next destinations remain to be seen.
“We just truly committed to doing it because we know time is it’s precious,” Cliff Vellucci said.
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