Good morning everyone!

We’re taking a break from the traditional Sunday Gravy to bring you a very special Boots on the Ground episode.

A couple of weeks ago, I made what turned out to be one of the more monumental trips of my life.

I went to Indianapolis for the total solar eclipse!

I booked this trip, the room part anyway over a year prior to the eclipse date. Once I knew the date, I knew I would be going. The choice of Indianapolis for the eclipse was due to several factors. First factor obviously being it was directly in the path of totality.

The second factor was based on the time of year, potential weather issues and things of that nature. General concept being the farther south you are in the US the better chances you would have for a clear viewing window of the event. Since this whole thing was, you know, a fucking total eclipse, weather was indeed a major deciding factor. The date being in April meant that it would be dicey all the way up to the event date.

I selected Indy because while their politics aren’t exactly ideal, they do possess the standard warm and friendly Midwestern mindset and having lived in the Midwest for awhile, I knew I would be fine.

Final factor, despite being predicted as potentially having some of the best possible viewing locations, there was no way IN FUCK I was going to be spending my hard earned dollars in Texas. Fuck that fucking state.

Hilarious punchline to the Texas thing, turns out they had some of the shittiest viewing conditions on April 8th.

That’s Karma fucking with you!

I coordinated this trip with my best buddy who lives in Jersey. He indeed wanted to go and just the opportunity for us two knuckleheads to experience this event together was something that had to happen. We had been talking about doing this very thing for over 40 years after all. 

He drove from Jersey to Indy and I chose to fly.

I arrived on Saturday April 6th.

Awesome timing here. As my flight landed and I headed downstairs to baggage claim, my buddy pulled up right outside the window of baggage claim to pick me up at the airport.

That’s proper timing right there.

We check into the hotel, unload an ice chest with beers, snacks, cheeses, fruits and veggies and we were ready to go.

Let the festivities begin.

While walking downtown for beer and sustenance we encountered our one and only sighting of a “chain” restaurant.

Folks! I can fuck with that!

First stop, the Slippery Noodle Inn!

Indy’s oldest operating bar. Founded in 1850. This place has a fucking story to tell.

I’ll get to that but motherfucker I was starving. For breakfast in LA I had a smoothie and a dry piece of toast. About 8 hours prior to this photo!

Food first!

Too goddamn hungry to even bother with a “before” photo. These wings were EXCEPTIONAL. So good in fact we came back on the day of the eclipse to prove that it wasn’t a fluke.

It wasn’t.

These were battered wings with a spicy seasoned batter. They were also big fat motherfuckers and they were easily one of the top 5 bar wings I’ve ever had in my life. Period. No question. Maybe worth a trip all by themselves.

As anyone who has lived in the Iowa/Illinois/Indiana region knows, if you’ve been away for awhile then you are absolutely going to need one of these to get you right in both head and belly.

Pork tenderloin sandwich! With tots!

Let’s go ahead and take a look at the whole order.

Got to get a closer look at that “Vegas” burger that my buddy ordered.

This fucker is “Topped with rib roast, smoked Applewood bacon, sauteed mushrooms, cheddar Jack cheese and caramelized onions.” 

In other words it’s been “Indiana-ized.”

You know you could destroy that.

After feasting and drinking the store manager who I schmoozed a bit offered to give us a tour of the place. I had no fucking idea this was a thing they did. What the hell? We wandered into the bowels of a very old building.

There’s definitely a Blair Witch ending here.

Original pea gravel crunched underfoot.

The building opened as a livery and stable but at one point it was one of the final stops on the Underground Railroad.

Prohibition-era still. All of the shit you see is original brick from when this building was built. Dirt floors are still the order of the day. Probably due to blood absorption but that’s just a guess on my part.

That covered up window was once at street level. We are in a basement of sorts. City engineers didn’t waste time scraping up old pavement, they just kept on layering shit on top.

This window was were farmers would park their wagons and they could shovel horse piss and horse shit directly into their wagons!

Appetizing!

They had all kinds of prohibition-era shit including a wall that, according to legend, John Dillinger used for target practice.

Convenient place to store weapons and cash while you’re visiting the brothel.

Enough! If you are curious about more of the history of this incredible building you can find it here.

On to Day Two we go.

There was no way I’m coming to this town and not visiting here. Fun life fact! My buddy actually introduced me to Kurt Vonnegut. True story. We’re both massive fans so this was something pretty fucking special.

Absolutely worth a visit.

On the way from the museum to find a grocery store we stumbled across the Capitol. Actually you won’t stumble on anything here. There are only like 7 large buildings.

Speaking of the grocery store, important drinking note! If you are attempting to buy alcohol at a store in this town on a Sunday, you have to wait until after noon! You have been warned. I remember this same type of shit when I lived in Iowa now that I think about it.

Hey look! Our hotel was about 50 freaking yards from this place.

Yeah, sorry about this next one.

Properly doused in pigeon shit!

Since it wasn’t a long trip I went ahead and created a pretty full schedule of events around eclipse day. The fun part was keeping the entire itinerary secret from my friend. I just kept casually springing event after event on him. All he knew about in advance was the eclipse. It was fucking great.

Anyone recognize this place?

Here’s the entrance.

That’s right! It’s where these guys play.

Pacers beat the Miami Heat in a really solid game.

From our seats.

 

Yep. Killer seats.

This all took place on Sunday, the day prior to the eclipse. For a food timeline, the hotel had free breakfast which we took advantage of prior to the museum. Then back to the room with the Kroger beers and wines. Had some snacks and fruit and shit that my buddy carried with him in the car. Then a few beers before and during the game.

When the game was over? Shit man! It had been hours since we had any food.

Which of course, led to this.

And that’s just MY order. Four doubles with cheese and a sack of fries. Buddy ordered 10 single sliders and a sack of onion sticks. Please take note of the “Hoosier Gameday Lager.” This went famously with the White Castle order but when I was finished eating and started to sip on one without the benefit of washing down food?

Feel free to skip the Hoosier Gameday Lager while visiting.

ECLIPSE DAY!

There hadn’t been a formal discussion regarding just where we were going to watch the fucking eclipse. Indy had events all over including at a couple of bars we had visited which, when you think about it, watching the eclipse with a full belly and a full beer in hand sounds pretty fucking fine.

They had a big event going at the Brickyard but, I don’t know, that seemed a bit informal and potentially crowded.

There was also a big event at a park called White River State Park, which was a very easy 10 minute walk from the hotel. 

Plus, it’s a pretty sweet park.

Nice looking, right?

I thought so too. We walked over to the park, gathered some intel on the layout and festivities planned and what-not. We noticed lots of open green space, tons of food trucks,

lots of port-a-potties and even a food truck selling beer and wine.

SOLD!

Back to the room to gather things for the event and right back to the park we went.

Yeah, this shit will work. That’s the NCAA Hall of Champions to the left in that picture by the way.

They even had the proper signage!

The weather was seriously fucked during the entire trip, including 30 degrees and overcast the day we arrived.

Eclipse day though? 75 and sunny. We have lived right in the eyes of Fate. Hell yes.

I can’t even give an accurate count on the number of times I checked the forecast for this day. I’m talking MONTHS away from the event, which obviously didn’t mean SHIT if Nature was pissed off at us. 

The relief when the day dawned like this was enormous.

The moment approached.

Anticipation builds…

Notice how all of the colors seem dampened down and washed out? It’s kinda fucking eerie during this time.

Then.

Not the greatest shot but I was using my phone. Did get a killer shot of Venus making a cameo appearance.

I was surprised by the amount of ambient light still around during totality. I thought it would be like night but it wasn’t.

It was pretty fucking cool seeing the skyline light up at 3:00 in the afternoon.

Fucking biblical. The feeling of shared experience by everyone there. I think I’m addicted to this experience now. People had tears in their eyes. Nobody spoke, it was insanely fucking awesome. That halo effect will be permanently etched in my brain for the rest of my existence.

As the sun re-emerged it was well past beer o’clock so back to “The Noodle” we went for MANY beverages, reminiscing and more wings and burgers.

Awesome.

One last full day to go.

We headed back to the park on Tuesday to get a better feel for it without the 50,000 some odd folks around.

Took some great skyline photos from across the river.

Another.

Last night in town I figured maybe we can grab a good meal because why the fuck not?

First idea that came to mind was…

Did we try the shrimp cocktail?

Oh fucking hell yes we did. This shit is mind blowing. I had a river of tears pouring down my face, nose is snotting up and I just kept eating. When the shrimp were gone I made sure to not leave even a drop of the cocktail sauce. Three types of freshly ground horseradish went into this sauce and I wasn’t going to let their sacrifice be in vain. 

How about the lobster bisque?

But of course! You can upgrade to the bisque over their standard offering of navy bean soup with ham. Which I fucking LOVE by the way. My buddy said it was delicious. I just wanted to add to the luxury element with the lobster bisque.

Twelve oz filet mignon and baked potato, medium rare of course?

Yes, that is very much medium rare. They put a hard ass sear on the outside but it was immaculate on the inside.

A great way to cap off the trip.

I know there were several of the crew who witnessed the eclipse and I’m curious to see if the moment had as dramatic of an impact on them as it did on me.

As has been well documented, I am pretty fucking far from religious but this whole experience was powerful as fuck. It was moving! Again, something about being around so many people – including a large group from Tibet, some from Argentina and a bunch of Germans – all gathered to experience the same thing at the same time.

I can’t recommend experiencing a total eclipse enough.

Try wrapping your head around this next shit!

 

“Where is the 2027 total solar eclipse?

On August 2, 2027, the path of totality will stretch from the Atlantic through Spain, Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia, Libya, Egypt, Sudan, Saudi Arabia, Yemen and Somalia.

So you do have some travel options, though there are three reasons to head to Luxor, Egypt:

Clear skies are almost certain in North Africa (as are midday temperatures of 41°C/106°F).
Maximum duration is 6 minutes 23 seconds just southeast of Luxor, Egypt—but only four seconds shorter in the Valley of the Kings.

The area is a tourist hotspot (in normal times) so it has lots of hotels—if you book early.”

 

FUCK! An eclipse over the pyramids!

DUDE!

See you there.

 

Thanks for reading folks.

Sunday Gravy will return next week!

PEACE!