We got up early to head to S. Bend, I left Bloomington at 0’dark thirty to meet Billy (Indy pipes) up on the north side for the drive up. Straight shot up 31, not exciting.
Coming into S Bend, and having that gold dome come into view is a bit of a pilgrimage for any football fan or Indiana boy….so it was cool to see. The firehouse on campus is great, old building good bunch of guys. Great hosts, free buffet. We met up with Clayton and Scotty D, and some of the Cleveland guys, and some cops from Ft. Wayne. Chief Kruzan was there too. Pretty good sized band. We warmed up, getting lots of hellos, requests for pics etc. just standing there. The people who go to the tailgate are a fun bunch. After running some gear down to the stadium, we formed and marched, playing most the way. The 3/4 was ROUGH. OUCH. But people were still treating us like rock stars. We stopped in front of Touchdown Jesus for some pics, and everyone wanted to get pics with us too. Played 4/4 most the way….took pics in front of the stadium, and then marched into the lot. What a crowd. I have never seen a tailgate like this, and mind you I live in a Big Ten College town. It was awesome. We made a quick lap, stopping for a ND trustee, playing at his tent. Free food and Beer flowed…weather was perfect.
We marched to the FOOLS tailgate, to cheers from the crowd. More food, more beer, a couple of girls making rounds with shot glasses, spiced rum and vodka, and lots of brothers. This was base camp for the rest of the afternoon. We made another round of the lot, and this time we had groupies, a gaggle of girls feeding us sandwiches and getting us fresh beers. NICE. When we came back from that loop, I literally ran into Bobby Halton, Editor in Chief of Fire Engineering. Never know who will run into…pretty cool.
I had to split to meet my bro for the game, so I changed back at the firehouse and into the stadium we went. Our seats were ¾ of the way up in the end zone, but still great seats. There doesn’t seem to be a bad seat in the house, and watching a game w/ 80,000 lunatics is something to do once in your life. There is so much history there, so cool to be a small part of it.
We left the game early, once we knew the Irish had it in hand, for the long drive back to Indy. Saw Joe and Gron on the way out, toting their drums home. The guys at the firehouse were good enough to give us a ride back to the car….which would have been a long walk.
All in all a great trip, will def. be back next year. I hope it grows…
Pics are up on myspace.com/indypipes and MICHIANA FOOLS
Cheers
Rob
Firepipersupply
