Hokie family tailgates in style: The Jennelles will prepare for today's battle with UVa in a lunch pail-inspired vehicle.

BLACKSBURG, Nov 29, 2008 (The Roanoke Times - McClatchy-Tribune Information Services via COMTEX) -- DIS | Quote | Chart | News | PowerRating -- There's no room for a toilet in a hearse. Why would there be?

And it was that detail that led Kenny Jennelle to buy a 1984 Pace Arrow and turn it into a moving, 28-foot, 6-ton replica of the Virginia Tech football lunch pail.

Like the lunch pail, a creation by Tech defensive coordinator Bud Foster to reward and symbolize a hardworking defense, the recreational vehicle is a little dinged up and painted black with orange lettering spelling out "Win," "VT" and "Team."

The handle will come next year.

"This thing was so ugly, we thought, 'What are we going to do with it?' And we made it the lunch pail," Jennelle said.

Jennelle, a 56-year-old lifetime Hokie fan from Pearisburg, has been a season-ticket holder since 1994.

A few years back, he and his wife, Beverley, and their sons started to think about buying a tailgating vehicle that would give them more room and make a statement on the way to games.

"Our first thought was getting a hearse," he said. "Well, you know, I thought we'd paint the hearse and do it. And have all the ACC -- or the Big East then -- logos on it and have the food table roll out the back. But there wasn't room for a bathroom."

And after spending several Saturdays waiting in portable toilet lines for both himself and the grandkids who make up part of his tailgating crew, Jennelle decided an RV would be the way to go.

The owner of Collision Plus Inc., a Montgomery County auto body repair company, bought a used RV for about $4,500. His two sons, Jason and Kin Jennelle, fixed it up, painted it and had it ready for its inaugural run for the 2007 opener against East Carolina University.

Kenny Jennelle said it cost between $12,000 and $15,000 to renovate the RV. They added new tires, replaced the generator and exhaust system and reorganized the inside of the vehicle -- removing a stove to add seats and painting and upholstering it in maroon and orange.

He said his sons did most of the work, but the upholstery was professionally done. It can comfortably seat 10 people.

"The seats were made out of five cow hides," Jennelle said proudly.

Game day is typically a 12-hour event, with the lunch pail arriving three or four hours before game time and staying well after the game ends for a post-game feast, usually slow-cooked ribeye.

Kin Jennelle estimates 80 to 100 people join them during a typical tailgate, when they extend tents out from the RV and set up a series of propane heaters. There are two flat-screen televisions, one inside and one outside, getting a signal from a satellite dish.

The vehicle draws plenty of attention at the tailgate.

Several people have come up to the lunch pail, which is parked in Tech's parking services lot near the tennis courts, to have their picture taken with it. On the way to the game, people are constantly waving and honking at him, Kenny Jennelle said, because any Hokie fan immediately knows that the RV is modeled after the lunch pail.

Kin Jennelle said the vehicle has received the thumbs up from the creator of the original lunch pail.

"If I wasn't going into the stadium for the game, I'd be here," Foster told them during a pre-game visit.

And although it doesn't have a handle, it comes equipped with some amenities that Hokie fans appreciate.

Speakers mounted on the outside of the vehicle and connected to a sound system play recordings of turkey calls and Metallica's "Enter Sandman."

And for today's game against the University of Virginia, Kin Jennelle has a special recording prepared -- a 10-minute tirade by ESPN radio host Colin Cowherd ridiculing UVa football. The relentless rant spans two shows, and Cowherd holds nothing back.

A segment of the rant: "UVa football is the softest bunch of cream puff, bowtie-wearing, brie cheese-eating, ascot-wearing wussies I've ever seen in my life. ... Virginia Tech and Virginia go toe to toe, put your money on the Hokies. They're just tougher."

Three days before the game that could vault Tech to a chance at another ACC title, father and son stood outside the RV laughing as they listened to their in-state rival being mocked on national radio.

The younger Jennelle seemed to be enjoying it more, but his father smiled, looking forward to another long day of tailgating.

"We just stepped it up a little bit," he said.

To see more of The Roanoke Times, or to subscribe to the newspaper, go to http://www.roanoke.com/. Copyright (c) 2008, The Roanoke Times, Va. Distributed by McClatchy-Tribune Information Services. For reprints, email tmsreprints@permissionsgroup.com, call 800-374-7985 or 847-635-6550, send a fax to 847-635-6968, or write to The Permissions Group Inc., 1247 Milwaukee Ave., Suite 303, Glenview, IL 60025, USA.

More News:   Market Updates | Stock Alerts | All Trading News | Stock Index