Andrew Pace pulled into the line of motor homes waiting to get into the camper lot outside Highmark Stadium at about 7 a.m. Saturday, one hour before the gates opened.
Pace dined on pulled pork prepared by a friend, wandered around the camper lot greeting fellow Buffalo Bills fans and enjoyed a few adult beverages before turning in around 1 or 2 a.m. Sunday.
He was up at 6 a.m., without an alarm, to get breakfast quesadillas going, set out the slow-cooker chicken wing soup and eagerly await the 1 p.m. kickoff against the Miami Dolphins.
“You roll out of bed and you’re a couple hundred yards from Highmark Stadium. There’s nothing like it,” a sunny Pace said on a cold, misty Sunday morning. “It’s like falling asleep next to the tree and waking up there Christmas morning.”
Pace is one of the regulars in the camper lot on Abbott Road across from the stadium who take traditional tailgating – for which Bills fans are famous and notorious – to a higher level.
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The 44-year-old Hamburg native lives in North Boston now with his wife, Lori, and their two children. He works at a company that manages heavy equipment and other commercial assets.
A Bills fan since the mid-1980s who survived the drought years, he had his first taste of the camper lot in 2010.
He’d given up his season tickets before then but renewed them in 2012, after the Bills successfully courted free agent Mario Williams, and has kept them ever since.
He’s on his fourth motor home, buying his latest version in December. It’s a Class A, 35-foot recreational vehicle with a bedroom, dinette, couch and bathroom.
He told Lori he wanted to put a large Bills logo on it, maybe red, white and blue Zubaz stripes on the sides. She responded, he said: “Absolutely not. I’ll divorce you right now.”
He said he looks forward to seeing Bills players leave the stadium after their final pre-game meeting Saturday night and TV reporters do their standup reports from the lot Sunday morning.
It’s easier to get into the camper lot now that the team requires a parking pass, but he still gets there early to make sure he has the same space: No. 9 or 10.
For a 1 p.m. Sunday game, the Bills allow people to stay in the camper lot until noon Monday.
“It’s worth it,” Pace said. “It’s a long weekend. There’s not a lot of sleep. It’s not cheap.”
He figures he spends about $500 or $600 per weekend on gas, food, beer and the prorated cost of the tickets and the parking pass.
Between his motor home, and one or two others owned by friends who park nearby, they can get dozens of people stopping by before the game.
“We look forward to this part of it more than the game sometimes,” said Andy Clemen, who said Pace got him hooked on RV tailgating.
Lori Pace, a nurse at Oishei Children’s Hospital, and their teenage children embrace the motor home tailgating, despite the investment of time and money.
“I’m all for it,” she said.
Their dog, Lincoln, wearing a canine-sized Mario Williams jersey, seemed excited, too.
As a small group huddled around a fire pit, Andrew Pace said his family plans their fall weekends around Bills home games.
“It’s a big commitment,” he said. “It’s kind of like an addiction.”
