Will you do it again?

[dtel's wife]

Dtel and I thought we would go to Indianapolis to see the company headquarters and meet some old friends, as well as make some new acquaintances. We felt it was something we needed to do at least once, since we attended the Pilgrimage in Hope last year.

Upon our arrival in Indianapolis we were greated by IndyKlipschFan, his wife Cindy and their two wonderful children, Emma and Roger. Upon entering Indy's house I was amazed. What a well thought out floor plan, beautifully furnished and very spacious. He and Cindy have done a wonderful job making the house a special place to entertain friends and family. Cindy immediately acquainted me with the kitchen, which always makes a person feel comfortable. Roger, was busy entertaining us with the K-horns...just to warm us up a bit...before taking us "down to the show". Tickets in hand, we sat back and were blown away!

Roger, Emma and Buddy immediately became best buddies. I have never seen three children play together so well. It was obvious to everyone that they enjoyed each other's company immensely. Playing with trains, scooters and the indoor space walk while performing for us just seemed to come natural to these three. Little Roger has some of the Energizer battery stuff too, because he was never tired, even when he was laying down to go to sleep at night. Three future Pilgrims all enjoying the music, movies and festivities of the weekend. Lifelong friendships were formed between the three of them and I can see in future years these little ones getting together for their first Pilgrimage. So....hats off to all future Klispch Pilgrims.

I can't say enough about Roger and Cindy's generosity. Having never met us before, they invited us into their home as overnight guests and treated us with nothing but complete kindness and respect. Wednesday and Thursday was somewhat of a recovery period after the 13 hour drive to Indianapolis and late nights with Roger in the beautiful home theater. I was grateful to have the opportunity to play "stand in hostess" for Friday's incoming Pilgrims in Cindy's absence. I was excited to show their home off to all the "women folk" and hope I was as gracious to the guests as Cindy was to me. Thank you Cindy for allowing me that priviledge, it is one I truly enjoyed. Friday's Pilgrims who visited Roger's house included Picky, Verna (Ms Picky), customsteve, Caroline (Ms. Customsteve), Michael Hurd, Jay and Dr. Who. I think I included everyone present during our time at his house on Friday, if not my deepest apologies.

On to Colter's Thursday evening for a dinner of ribs and ice cream with Coytee, Roger, Dr. Who, Colter, dtel, myself and Buddy. What a treat...thanks again Colter and Coytee. Customsteve and Caroline were delayed and missed a wonderful dinner.

Friday, brought about another visit to Roger's see above paragraph and then the Mixer. The Jubilees, well what can I say....awesome...what a treat....even if Trey was monitoring the sound level.[] It was worth it just to see IndyKlipschFan and Anarchist stand side by side....OMG.

Saturday's tour of headquarters started with an APB being put out for dtel, myself and Buddy...seems we overslept a little (thank you Michael) and then took a wrong turn. (We missed the breakfast provided courtesy of Klipsch) Finally arrived at headquarters to be personally greeted by Amy....everyone else was already touring....thanks Amy for showing us in and making us feel welcome.

The rooms, displays and demonstrations were awesome...loved the chamber...even if I got a little dizzy with the lights on...the dead silence does strange things to a person. Klipsch opened it's doors to over 100 people and were as honest and forthright with us as they could be. The only they asked in return..... be respectful of the products we saw and tested that have not been released. Lunch was great...overstuffed sandwiches, with all the works....Klipsch chips....if you have never had any...well you are missing something...and fresh baked cookies.....

Buddy and I took a break after lunch to rest up....listened to Trey's "surprise" as we relaxed in the car....good job Trey.

Saturday night mixer was awesome...got to spend some time talking with Mike 2b's gal....Linda....wonderful person...hope to see you again next year Linda. Dtel and I had front row seats for the Town Hall meeting, directly in front of Fred Klipsch and Richard Paynting. IMO, Fred Klipsch was astonished by our knowledge of Klipsch and even more so by our "fanaticism" for all things Klipsch. Fred wanted to take the microphone and answer each question personally. He was actually restraining himself to allow others to answer, all the while looking at Keith (PR) and tell him, "Make sure you get that down....did you get it....are you sure you got it". The body language of the panel said it all. They were completely overjoyed to be in our presence....can you imagine that????? The panel intently listened to each joke, negative comment, positive comment and suggestion presented.

Dinner was terrific...kudos to those who selected the menu...and even more so to the folks at Holiday Inn who attended our every need. If there was nothing on the table you liked then you had to be "taste bud impaired".

Finally, when Bob Riff's name was drawn as winner of the Jubs I turned to see his reaction. I felt like I was back in Hope watching dtel. All Bob could do was shake his head in disbelief. What a great guy....so deserving....even if Roy did try to "rip him off [] by "stuffing the hat with his own name".[]

Sunday, the dawn of a new day...brought more visitors to Colter's House of Klipsch....Picky, Verna, Michael Hurd, Dr. Who, DeanG and his wife Debbie. What a treat...Debbie and I cried together and laughed together while looking at the photos of the triple wedding and discussing the joy of homeschooling.l Dean, I really hope you and Debbie can make it on the cruise in April 07. Ms. Verna, as always brought laughter to our faces with her good humor and never ending friendship. I think you and "Mr. Verna" would have a great time with us...first time cruises are addicting...just like Klipsch.

Verna, you and Caroline are two special friends and I really enjoyed showing off Roger and Cindy's home to you two. In your words Verna, "That's some good stuff". Of all the rooms in the house my personal favorite, if you can believe this is the "master closet"....what a room. I think we were all in awe of the beauty and well thought out design of the home. I leave the home theater comments to the men...although I did think it was super.

Monday still saw Michael Hurd, Dr. Who, dtel, myself and Buddy as house guests at Colter's House of Klipsch. I think the guys rattled Michael's windows and shook the neighbor's bed with Pink Floyd. Tuesday we all cleared out....so Colter...I bet there is eery silence in your house after all that noise.

Yes, I will do it again...Indianapolis or Hope....goodbye for now to all my old friends and new friends and I can't wait till we get to see you guys again.

[Jay481985]

Hopefully next time I will fly to whereever but IF NEED BE I WILL TAKE THE BUS AGAIN! I hope that says alot

[dtel's wife]

Jay,

I am so glad you came....and I kind of thought you would be the first to say....Yes, I will do it again. You are one funny dude! I loved spending time with you and so did dtel and Buddy.

You are welcome down this way anytime you want to come! I'll even tell you where we "hide the key".[]

[BobRiff]

Christy,

If Jay takes you up on your offer, PLEASE don't let him go to The Quarter unescorted!

It sounds like he learned a lot on his bus trip home, but he'll still need an experienced guide down there.[]

[Jay481985]

I already was there []

[BobRiff]

Did you learn any lessons while you were there? [6]

[tom b. 57]

dtel's wife,

this is the best recount of the pilgrimage I have read yet. It sounds like you had a wonderful time, in fact a time to be remembered forever, what with the making of new friends and seeing old friends. This makes me feel like I missed out on a great time. I hope that sometime within the next few years I too will be able to partake in this event. I am very happy for you guys, in fact, for everyone who was able to attend.

Tom

[anarchist]

To be honest, I enjoyed Klipsch headquarters and seeing the new products and anechoic chamber etc, but my favorite time was the mixer and dinner Sat. night. I didn't get to meet everyone I wanted to but those I met made me realize why I frequent this forum so often. We all mix it up here from time to time and some of the bickering can get quite "edgy" but we are a group of people bound by a common thread. It seems a love of Klipsch is also indicative of people who are generous, friendly and willing to open their hearts. Dean, Roy, Harry, Trey... the list goes on and on.,

Sat. night I needed to split early to get back home for my daughter who was going into the hospital Sun at noon for surgery. I mentioned to colter I needed to get out of there and drive back to Lexington. Knowing it was a long day and we were well into the evening, colter offered to let me crash at his place and drive home the next day. I couldn't, of course, but the generosity of the offer really touched me - not like Indy wanted to touch me mind you [}]- and I can't believe colter hasn't found a woman yet who appreciates such a big-hearted guy. Roger, on the other hand, was more of the same; a friendly, likeable fellow who obviously is passionate about Klipsch. Breakfast saturday morning was a riot. I enjoyed dinner big-time Sat. with him, customsteve, picky and the beautiful gals at the table; not a politically correct person in the bunch.

I won't mention everyone by name but I truly enjoyed meeting all of you I did meet and look forward to see you guys again and meeting others at the next event.

Ok. Enough of the feel-good stuff - time to get back to being the anarchist. I feel I have lost my edginess and need to irritate someone - wheres IndyKlipschFan? []

[mikebse2a3]

Saturday night mixer was awesome...got to spend some time talking with Mike 2b's gal....Linda....wonderful person...hope to see you again next year Linda.

Thanks Christy!

I asked Linda after the pilgrimage do you see why I like spending time on the forum (so many really nice forum members that I call friends now) and why I have so much respect for Klipsch as a company and it's products and above all the Employees. She said yes she did and how unique in todays times for a company to treat it's customers like family. I've actually overheard her telling several people about how great the whole experience was.[]

Dtel and I had front row seats for the Town Hall meeting, directly in front of Fred Klipsch and Richard Paynting. IMO, Fred Klipsch was astonished by our knowledge of Klipsch and even more so by our "fanaticism" for all things Klipsch. Fred wanted to take the microphone and answer each question personally. He was actually restraining himself to allow others to answer, all the while looking at Keith (PR) and tell him, "Make sure you get that down....did you get it....are you sure you got it". The body language of the panel said it all. They were completely overjoyed to be in our presence....can you imagine that????? The panel intently listened to each joke, negative comment, positive comment and suggestion presented.

The Town Hall was really fun and the openness of Fred Klipsch and everyone of the panel members really was a great example of how Klipsch looks upon us as part of the family.

What I took away from the Town Hall meeting was that Klipsch has an absolutely excellent Management and Engineering Team and that they are very aggressively looking at the products that they want to produce and how best to market them so that all the Klipsch Product Lines including the Heritage Line can survive and grow.

" Will You Do It Again"

I've been to two pilgrimages now and each one has brought new friends and it was great meeting some old friends again so yes absolutely I hope to make it to many more in the future!

mike tn[]

[michael hurd]

Would I do it again? Absolutely in a heartbeat! While the cost of driving down, and the hotel rooms and meals were expensive, there is a lot worse ways I could have spent that money. In a nutshell, I had a blast!

The hospitality of forum members, Klipsch and the employees of Klipsch was amazing. I hope to meet you all next year, thanks again to the members that I hung out with. ( the pre-mixer mixer, and the post pilgrammage party )

[DrWho]

How did Buddy enjoy the trip? I was kinda bummed last wednesday when I messed my thumb up, knowing I wouldn't be able to do much...

Did anyone travel further than Hurd? Sounds like your drive home took even longer...? [6]

[dtel]

Buddy had a great time, "with the boys".

I would like to thank everybody for such a nice time.

We first went to Indy's house, very nice home and really a well thought out floor plan by two of the nicest people you will meet ! Roger and Cindy has a dedicated theater in there home that will keep you up all night enjoying it, ask anyone that sat in to watch a movie or music. It is the best sounding theater/listening room I have ever heard, by far ! Thank both of you for having us in your home, it was a good time, and Buddy really had a great time with little Roger and Emma. Thats all about this for now, this could turn into a novel if I talked about everything that happened ! Thank you Both !

We then moved on to Michael's house, Ok I see why they call it the house of Klipsch ! I think the only room in Michael's house that don't have Klipsch speakers is the bathroom ! And I don't mean just a pair of speakers in each room, I think there were 22 or 23 speakers in just one room and every other room had at least 2 pair [] and I am not talking little speakers, Heresy's, Cornwall's, Klipschorns, well just about every speaker they make.. Different wood types and even different industrial designs ! It's like a Klipsch Museum, including speakers to roll out on wheels into the driveway to play to the neighbors, or if you want scare the neighbors you could roll out the MCM's somethings ?, they are huge !

I was standing in the front door of Michaels home when Jay got there, Jay asked me "is this really the house of Klipsch" I just smiled and said come in ! He walked in 2 steps and all he said was WOW with a big smile, how could you not love it !

Michael had told me it was a bachelor's house, I had no idea what to expect ? I loved it, to me it's like a large ranch style home. Every time you walk through a room their is another room off of it, cool Home. I was there 2 days when Michael said did you see the basement ? What basement, I said I didn't walk around your house opening doors. He walks into the hall to a door I had passed many times and said come see ! We walked down to a huge area where he plans to build a a home theater, I would guess it over 1000 square feet down there, with a bathroom ! OK down here in the south we don't have basements, I am very jealous, such a great space could be used for many things. I had no idea Michael was handy with tools, he put down some really nice hardwood floors himself, who would have known ? Indiana Limestone on the outside of the house and on one wall in the living room, and old style thick real wood lining the walls, "not the cheap paneling stuff" make the room sound and look great ! Cool home [H]

Ok this is getting way to long for me, I have a reputation to keep up and all ! [*-)]

Roger and Michael both opened up there Homes to us and said, make yourself at home and do what what you want, and they meant it. And we felt very comfortable at both homes !

Thank you both for everything you did we had a great time we will never forget it !

As far as the pilgrimage goes, of course it was great, many old and new friends, how could it not be ! Many described it so I won't try to add, except to say Klipsch is lucky to have so many really dedicated and hard working people. We were invited and treated like family, how many companies can you think of that do something like this for its crazy fans, heck how many companies even have fans ? They must be doing something right !

Thanks Klipsch and it's employees for being the kind of company and people you have proved again you are !

That's it for now, I have already exceeded my words per post rule ! But it's hard not to do with so many things to be appreciative for, THANKS, and nice to see you all again.[A]

[Macho Nacho]

If she will let me, trouble is, I am all out of money and I don't know her name.

[colterphoto1]

Christy, thanks for the posts,esp the second one. I was beginning to think you didn't care for the 'House of Klipsch' although you spent 5 nights here! LOL Such good house guests the Dtel's were. [{]Christy played 'Mom' [}]which she does so well, and since there's not one here, it was seriously welcomed.

Mike B- ya got me with the 'Mike Beasley' thing. I remember firing into you with parts questions, then remembering you were the 'other' Mike Beasley. Good times chatting with you at dinner. Dtel and I felt like we were seated with Royalty between you and Richard- the original Jubilee owners. Table 1 was a good place to be that night.[C]

Tom b- yes you missed a good thing, don't let that happen again.

Anarchist- dude, I will never read your posts the same again. Especially your duels with Indy. My preconceived notion of you could not be further from the truth. Folks, this guy is actually likeable with a big eating grin. [] Any friend of Rogers is a friend of mine. Thanks for the kind thoughts.

Jay- I only wish I'd been there to see your face light up at the 'House of Klipsch'. Everyone told me of your reaction []and I was jealous that they got to show you the house while I was at work. In the same turn I was proud to have friends that I would trust with the place (and the SYSTEMS) to just do whatever they wanted. When I say 'make yourselves at home' that's what I mean. No pretense here. None. And Jay, that you would take that trip as you did- on a crazy bus [au]- and would do it again- says a lot about your dedication to this group and Klipsch as a brand. Thanks for just being Jay. Don't ever change.

Michael Hurd- who is even more personable in life than in text or the phone.[:S] Dude, I feel a real kinship with you. You will be receiving a bill for the room and damages however. And the neighbors came over to complain about something in their flower bed, what's with that? jk

We had 6 people here Sunday night and the weekend lasted 5 days. Not bad for a bachelor pad. [H]

It was all over too soon.[O] Wish I'd taken photos....[:'(]

M

[picky]

Wow! Imagine that: Colter took NO PHOTOS!! Now, I've heard everything! LOL<?xml:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:office" />

Will I do it again? I attended my first pilgrimage 2 years ago at Indy; alone. Last year I attended Hope with my wife Verna in tow and it made such a wonderful difference because I got to watch as she formed new friendships with folks she was meeting for the first time, too. I didn't feel bad that she might be bored because each time I stopped what I was doing to check on her, she was engaged in either deep conversation with several people or total laughter from something one of them had said! Verna told me she had a genuinely-good time at Hope. So, when I asked if she'd consider going with me to Indy this year, she said she had to or Caroline (Customsteve01's better half) would kill her for not showing up! LOL And now she's made even more new friends, as have I.

I think one of the most amazing things I noticed about this, my third pilgrimage, is that although the attendance is growing each year, it seemed as if I already knew 2/3's of the attendees! And not only was it wonderful to meet and talk to new people like Jay, Meagain, Anarchist, BobRiff (congratulations, Bob!) just to name a few, but it felt so warm to see the faces I have grown so familiar with like Colter, IndyKlipschFan, the Dtels, Dr.Who, Customesteve01 and Caroline, <?xml:namespace prefix = st1 ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-com:office:smarttags" />Michael Hurd, Dean G, J-Malotky (John: Did you miss not seeing Damon, too?), Trey and Amy, Phillips, Hunter, to name some. I also noticed the gaping hole that was left by the absence of Craig and Paul Parrot. I really wish you both could have made it, but I respect your decision not to come.

And there are so many people to thank such as Klipsch for going to the trouble (and expense) of putting this thing on to begin with, which means a lot of folks such as Trey, Amy, Colter, Hunter, Phillips, Roy, Fred and the rest need to be thanked too for giving up their personal time just for us. I've already expressed thanks (in another post) for our hosts this year Roger and Cindy and well a Colter for inviting us over to his place. Also, Dtel and Christy for cooking us up some great BBQ soon after we arrived at Roger's place on Friday.

But, I want to take time to pay special thanks to Michael Hurd. This past week represents the third time this young man has driven the 13 hours it takes to drive the 730 miles down from Thunder Bay, OntarioCanada to our home south of Detroit to see us. He arrived at our place a week ago this evening at 12:45 AM and then he drove to Indy behind us for 4-1/2 hours the next day to attend the pilgrimage. Once there we all had a wonderful time both together and separately with all of our fellow Klipsch friends. Then Monday night, Michael drove back to our house from Indy, arriving about 11:40 PM. I took Tuesday off from work and Verna, Michael and I spent the entire day Tuesday down in our theater enjoying music and video. At dinner, I BBQ'd up some New York Strips steaks for us along with some Elk burgers out on the deck. I returned to work on Wednesday and Verna took Mike shopping to the local stores. I think his favorite store was Best Buy as he got lost in their Magnolia Theater rooms! Last evening we drove Michael out to Marine City, which is about 1-1/2 hours northeast of our place to our daughter's house, which is right on the water of the St. Clare river and overlooks Canada. We introduced Mike to our daughter Sierra, her boyfriend Dan and their dog "Patton" (Dan is a World War II buff). My mother Rose was there too as she spent the week there with them so she would not be alone while we were gone to Indy. We took everyone to a local corner bar for dinner called the Marlwood which is right on the water and has a nautical theme and a great view of the passing freighters. The place is your typical noisy, Michigan "blue collar", dive bar that has great food and cold beer. Today, Verna is taking Michael sightseeing while I'm at work. They'll see the Detroit Historical Museum, Greektown (for lunch) and the Belle Isle Aviary.

So, as you can see, our little portion of the Klipsch pilgrimage hasn't even ended yet! And, Verna has already said that she can't wait until next year. Unfortunatley, with both of my knees being injured just prior to this trip, it prevented me from getting around the room to talk with everyone whom I was looking forward to talking with. And for that, I apologize (I am on the mend and should be better soon.).

So, will I go it again? You bet your arse I will! Thanks everyone! -Glenn

[Jay481985]

Picky I appreciated meeting you at Indy, and your wife and Customsteve's seemed every bit like life long friends from what I saw.... Hard to imagine that they weren't, even though they meet only two years ago....

Also I had to laugh when I read this sentence, "We introduced Mike to our daughter Sierra" I was about to say, sooooooo you like Michael Hurd soo much you want him in the family []!!! then I read boyfriend, heh.....

[picky]

Ha-Ha...Yeah, Jay. You're right! That did sound kind of like we're trying to marry-off our daughter to Mike Hurd. LOL! In fact, I can't think of anyone nicer than Mike, but no, Sierra has had Dan as her boyfriend for the last 5 years and I can assure you if Sierra decides to marry at all, it will 99.999% be Dan. He's a great guy and I would be proud if he asked for her hand some day. BTW: We enjoyed meeting you too! Thanks.

This weekend is the annual "Crusin' Downriver" event. It's our local version of the bigger, "Woodward Dream Cruise" that happens up on the East Side of Detroit in August. Folks like Dizrotus attend that one. I usually drive Verna's '96 SVT Mustang Cobra in this one. But, alas; Michael is heading home to Canada this afternoon after Verna takes him to see the Henry Ford Imax theater, which I consider the ULTIMATE theater experience. I have to work.

So, last evening I took Michael up to Fort Street, which is just 2 miles from here, and we spotted some of the "pre-cruisers" motoring around and gathering in parking lots. It's actually a one-day event which happens on Saturday. But the cruisers can't wait and usually begin tooling around in their rides on Wednesday night. We spotted about 12 in a Burger King lot and then another 50 in a KMart lot. I think Mike said he took over 100 pictures! LOL The cars were gorgeous and what a nice way for Mike and I to spend our last evening before he leaves. It certainly has been a pleasure having him here. He's an excellent house guest, and very polite and considerate. We're going to miss him. What a wonderful "Klipsch Week" this has been for us all! -Glenn