84BDsop Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Trees??? At MARS?? In our day we havge NO trees...they were but saplings..we had to march uphill in all directions (and for those who've never been to MARS...thaqt descrtion ain't far off!), blah blah blah.... Rich, you forgot the ever present smell of the refineries... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd5times Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 (edited) I remember the summer of 77 when Mt. Diablo was lit up like a candle. We were driving home from staying at my uncles in Fort Bragg. There was quite a thunder storm up there that caused quite a few fires. We could see Diablo from 505 and it looked like a candle in the distance. Aside from the fire, it was a pretty sight to see this huge glowing red thing off in the distance. Devils Mountain! Edited September 12, 2005 by bd5times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Devil Legend Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Rich, you forgot the ever present smell of the refineries... <{POST_SNAPBACK}> and there's a good reason for that. :spit: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bd5times Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 (edited) the sight of Mt Diablo everytime we went back to the starting line for run throughs.....hotter than #### during the summertime, but nice nights cool.gif I remember....some of the nights were nice. I remember many nights freezing my tail off with numb fingers and burnt chops. It's amazing the drastic temperature changes that place gets. 100+ degrees in the day and who knows how cold at night. Certainly, a different temperature than the rest of Concord. Who can forget random baseballs in the parking lot, sectionals in the various dugouts, and most importantly, the drag strip down the gravel road with S-curves and a final straight-away down to the field? From the field, it looked like a sandstorm coming your ways as some section got done with lunch or sectionals and were breaking all known land speed records to get to Mars. Edited September 12, 2005 by bd5times Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Devil Legend Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 It's amazing the drastic temperature changes that place gets. 100+ degrees in the day and who knows how cold at night. Certainly, a different temperature than the rest of Concord. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Heh, I can remember wearing the least amount of clothes during the day, and then the most at night, including the heaviest winter jacket one owned. However, the drum line most of the time did sectionals at Willow Pass Park under the HUGE trees. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jonnyboy Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Funny, all these years I pictured the Devils practicing in some nice college stadium with all the nicities that money could buy (ice cream truck, air conditioned bunk house, astro turf, steak diners etc). Good to see that they suffer for their art like the rest of us. Hey guys, assuming the corps will be around another few years, why not plant some shade in them thar hills? Give the kids of 2020 a break already. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Blue Devil Legend Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Funny, all these years I pictured the Devils practicing in some nice college stadium with all the nicities that money could buy (ice cream truck, air conditioned bunk house, astro turf, steak diners etc). Good to see that they suffer for their art like the rest of us.Hey guys, assuming the corps will be around another few years, why not plant some shade in them thar hills? Give the kids of 2020 a break already. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> Lemme tell you, it was difficult to find practice location, so we took what we could get. Mars was an upgrade. :P Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wolf1 Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 (edited) We practiced there the entire month of August leading up to DCA, and like Rich Chavoya (SCV mid 70's) said, and I'll repeat it again: "No wonder the Blue Devils were great at marching. This place makes you get it right the first time!" (I think he was making reference to his time competing against BD) And I think that was on a day that it hit around 105+ in the afternoon. Saturday night blocks were hitting high 60's to 70's. And I've still got dust on my dashboard from driving up and down the dirt roads to the practice field! Edited September 12, 2005 by wolf1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
84BDsop Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Who can forget random baseballs in the parking lot, sectionals in the various dugouts, and most importantly, the drag strip down the gravel road with S-curves and a final straight-away down to the field? From the field, it looked like a sandstorm coming your ways as some section got done with lunch or sectionals and were breaking all known land speed records to get to Mars. <{POST_SNAPBACK}> That would've been Andy Hedin's taxi, trying not to be TOO late to practice!! Or Glen Beuker, driving like normal...how I survived some of the lunch trips with him driving I will NEVER know! Man....I need to take a pilgrimmage back to MARS one of these days... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Xcalibur Posted September 12, 2005 Share Posted September 12, 2005 Mars is the strangest place in the world. Where else do you have to be dressed for cold in the morning, sweatshirt and sweats, be as naked as possible in the afternoon, and then get bundled up again at night? That's the only place that I know of. A couple of funny incidents involving Wayne happened there. There were numerous times he would drive in during sectionals in the BMW, pull up next to Gino, talk for a few minutes, and then drive away. The infamous there are no more snuggies in this corps took place at Mars. My personal favorite was when Wayne came out and led us in running block at Mars. Great times.... Carlito Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.