Faithful students to caravan across country

A member of the Block I surfs the crowd after Illinois scored a touchdown during the game against Penn State at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill., on Sept. 29. Illinois beat No. 21 Penn State, 27-20. Erica Magda

A member of the Block I surfs the crowd after Illinois scored a touchdown during the game against Penn State at Memorial Stadium in Champaign, Ill., on Sept. 29. Illinois beat No. 21 Penn State, 27-20. Erica Magda

By Susan Kantor

The school bus that will be carrying some Illini fans to Pasadena this year was brand new the last time Illinois was in the Rose Bowl.

Jacob Shulkin, senior in Engineering, and Andrew Werner, sophomore in Business, and a group of their friends, are calling themselves the “Rose Bowl Roadies.” The duo and the other roadies are organizing a caravan to drive to the Rose Bowl game in Pasadena, Calif., led by a 1983 72-seat school bus they found on eBay. They plan to purchase a former Indianapolis Colts fan bus Friday just outside of Indianapolis.

“Buy the bus, paint it Illini and head straight to the bowl,” Shulkin said about their plans for the trip.

The Rose Bowl Roadies, consisting of about 10 confirmed people, are recruiting more cars to follow their bus, creating a cross-country caravan en route to Pasadena.

“Everybody’s going in the same direction, it’s more of everyone going together as a team,” Shulkin said. “I thought it would be fantastic to head out there with a giant parade of people.”

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The group plans to leave Dec. 29 from Chicago and travel cross-country until reaching its final destination on Jan. 1.

“All of the Illini can come together and take on the country by storm,” Werner said.

Instead of staying in hotels, the group plans on camping throughout the country, traveling south first and then traveling parallel to Los Angeles to avoid as much winter weather as possible.

“It won’t be as cold sleeping outside in 40- or 45-degree weather,” Werner said.

Werner said that they are looking forward to seeing the small towns and sites across America.

“We want this to be a fun trip for everybody,” Werner said. “We’ll get to see landmarks we normally wouldn’t see.”

Shulkin said that the bus is fully equipped with what they need for the trip.

“There’s beds, there’s couches, there’s counters — this is the tailgate bus,” Shulkin said.

When they arrive in Pasadena, the roadies plan on tailgating before the game.

“It should be the ultimate tailgate,” Shulkin said.

But before they can celebrate in Pasadena, the Rose Bowl Roadies need to make sure they have enough funding for the trip.

Werner said that they have drafted a letter to different corporations to ask for possible funds or sponsorship in exchange for advertisement on their bus and that they have already talked to some potential sponsors and hope to get definite responses later in the week.

They estimate that the entire trip will cost approximately $5,000 to $5,500, including $1,500 for the bus and $2,200 for gas.

“People who normally wouldn’t be able to go on this trip will be able to,” Werner said. “We’re going to get as many people as we can on the bus. If we can get 16 people on the bus who normally wouldn’t go to the Rose Bowl, that’d be great.”

Before it was announced that the Illini would be playing in the Rose Bowl, Werner and Shulkin were working to create a new Registered Student Organization called “Go Club.” The club would take students to educational sites throughout the country on a bus like the one they are planning on getting for the Rose Bowl.

“When the possibility of the Rose Bowl came up, we said, ‘Why don’t we get the bus for the Rose Bowl?'” Werner said.

The group is enthusiastic about the trip, tailgating and the game.

“There wasn’t a bowl to go to,” Shulkin said. “There has always been tailgating and there has always been going to the games and cheering on your team as fans. This year, we have an extended game.”