For the first time in 15 years, the CMU football team will play a bowl outside Michigan.
CMU will travel to Mobile, Ala., to take on the Sun Belt Conference champion Troy Trojans (9-3, 8-0 in the Sun Belt) in the GMAC Bowl on Jan. 6 at Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Here is all the information you need to know if you are going.

Ticket information

Tickets go on sale at 8 a.m. today through the Athletic Ticket Office in Rose Arena. Sideline seats are $45 and end zone seats are $15.

Tickets also can be be purchased directly through the GMAC Bowl offices by calling (251) 635-0011. As of Monday evening, GMAC Bowl Media Relations Director Kelley Wright said the number of tickets allocated for each school was still being negotiated.

How to get there

Ladd-Peebles Stadium’s address is 1621 Virginia St., Mobile, Ala. 36604. Driving distance from Mount Pleasant is approximately 16.5 hours.

From Mount Pleasant: Take US-127 South to I-69 West. Take that into Indiana, then take Exit 0 and merge onto I-465 South near Indianapolis. From there, take the I-65 South exit and follow it through Kentucky, Tennessee and into Alabama. Once you are in the Mobile vicinity, take I-10 East to the Michigan Avenue exit and drive north two miles. Cross the railroad tracks and make a left at Virginia Street. The stadium will be on your left.

From Detroit and Northern Michigan: Take I-75 South through Ohio and entering Kentucky to I-71 South. From there, take Exit 5, I-264 West/Watterson Expressway to I-65 South, passing through Tennessee and entering Alabama. Follow I-10 East to the Michigan Avenue exit and drive north two miles. Cross the railroad tracks and make a left at Virginia Street. The stadium will be on your left.

From Grand Rapids: Take US-131 South to I-94 East. Take Exit 108 to merge onto I-69 South entering Indiana. Take Exit 0 to merge onto I-465 South and follow I-65 South through Kentucky, Tennessee and entering Alabama. From there, take I-10 East to the Michigan Avenue exit and drive north two miles. Cross the railroad tracks and make a left at Virginia Street. The stadium will be on your left.

Check mapquest.com or maps.google.com for more detailed driving directions.

Flights to Mobile from Detroit, Grand Rapids, Lansing, Saginaw/Bay City and Flint also are options, with roundtrip ticket prices ranging anywhere from $250 to $400. While checking earlier this week, Detroit and Flint tend to have cheaper rates.

Two-night hotel and roundtrip flight packages also are available on travel Web sites. As of Tuesday afternoon, packages around $300 were available on Travelocity.com.

Places to stay

There are several options downtown, where all the festivities and party scenes will be. The Hampton Inn & Suites Mobile/Historic Downtown District, 62 South Royal St., offers rooms from $135.15 to $189 per night. The Holiday Inn Mobile-Downtown/Historic District, 301 Government St., offers room packages from $119 to $341. The Renaissance Marriott, 26 North Royal Stret, offers rooms from $169 to $294 a night.

In addition, the Ashbury Hotel & Suites, 600 W. I-65 Service Road, offers rooms for $85 to $120 a night. The Hampton Inn & Suites, near the Mobile airport at 525 Providence Park Dr., offer rooms for $149 and $159 a night. The Hilton Homewood Suites, 530 Providence Park Drive East, has rooms from $84.15 to $239 a night.

For a complete list of preferred bowl hotels, visit gmacbowl.com.

Things to do

There are many events scheduled for Jan. 5, the evening before the game. The city will host its annual Mardi Gras parade at 6:30 p.m., featuring 16 Mardi Gras societies, local high school bands and each team’s band and cheerleaders. Immediately following the parade, a fireworks display will light up the Mobile River and each school will hold their respective pep rally. The festivities will then go to the streets — Water Street and South Plaza — featuring country music and R&B performers.

Other attractions include the World War II-era USS Alabama Battleship Memorial Park, Mobile Carnival Museum, the Mobile Botanical Gardens and Civil War settings Fort Morgan, Fort Gaines and Blakeley State Park.

Visit mobile.org for more information on things to do.

Prohibited items

Coolers, outside food and beverages, backpacks and large handbags, air horns and noisemakers are among the items prohibited from Ladd-Peebles Stadium. Go to laddpeeblesstadium.com for a complete list.

Parking/tailgaiting

Parking is available on the east and west sides of Ladd-Peebles Stadium.
Given the emphasis on tailgating in the south, the stadium is easy on rules when it comes to tailgating. While encouraging safety, it is required that those who decide to partake not leave grills unattended and put out all fires after they are finished.

E-mail the author: Aaron McMann