TUSCALOOSA, Ala. — As the sun prepared to set over the Black Warrior River, Dennis "Soup" Campbell eased his 40-foot motor home into its accustomed place in a blacktopped lot on the outskirts of downtown.

The last miles of a 9-hour journey from his home in Beaver Creek, Ohio had reminded Campbell, a University of Alabama alumnus, of just how good he has it.

"Every year you see people and their rigs camping further and further outside (of Tuscaloosa)," Campbell said last night.

Never mind that kickoff for Saturday's University of Alabama-Hawai'i football game was 72 hours away, that annual rite of pigskin pilgrimage here, the onslaught of motor homes from far and wide, was under way with clusters forming.

"By Friday, the streets will be clogged with them," said Robbie "Bama" Clines, who, with wife Barbara, has been making the journey for six years from Rogersville, Ala., three hours away, in their 40-foot rig emblazoned with "Roll Tide" decals.

By the time the Warriors and Crimson Tide tee it up, folks here expect in the neighborhood of 2,000 motor homes to be camped in and around the city, some coming from as far as Canada.

If football is the overriding passion here, then motor homing it to the game is the preferred way to experience it. Campbell has taken his "bus" — as some call their homes away from home — to games at UCLA and Oklahoma.

"If y'all'd build a bridge over there to Hawai'i, we'd have brought ours there, too," Robbie Clines said of the Crimson Tide's games at Aloha Stadium in 2002 and 2003. As it was some 8,000 Alabama fans found their way to the first meeting with UH.

It is word-of-mouth legend here that one die-hard fan refused to be deterred by the expanse of the Pacific Ocean and had a motor home shipped to Honolulu for the 2003 game, though nobody can say they actually saw it.

Still, with some spending upwards of $1 million on their "buses," it is a possibility few discount. More incredulous to Alabama fans is that UH tailgaters are content with only a few hours of tailgating at Aloha Stadium, a period they regard as ridiculously short.

Both will be topics, like discussion of the new quarterback and whether this is the year to beat hated rival Auburn, to pass around among the faithful while the grills warm up for nights of seemingly never-ending tailgate parties.

In this lot, which includes several military retirees including Campbell, who once worked at Hickam, most are dropping anchor for three weeks since the UH game is the first of three consecutive home games.

Some will follow the team to Arkansas, Florida, Tennessee and Louisiana State and whatever bowl might follow, returning for the home games.

This evening the university begins opening up the most prime of locations on campus, adjacent to Coleman Coliseum and in dorm parking areas, which students are asked to vacate.

"You know it is time to start the season when all those motor homes start arriving," said Marcus Carter, a starting safety. "It is amazing the way they roll in all of a sudden."

Roll Tide, indeed.

Reach Ferd Lewis at flewis@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8044.