Mardi Gras 1974 - The Road

It was Mardi Gras 1974 fifty years ago this week and I got into my '73 Chevy Vega and drove down through that gas crisis to New Orleans from Philadelphia with my friend John Howley. It would be quite the adventure and I can't believe we thought it was a good idea to take that trip during a gas shortage. From Philly we headed down to Maryland and then cut across Virginia. Somewhere down in southern Tennessee we needed to fill the gas tank and we were driving around looking for an open gas station or one that didn't have mile long lines. It was getting late in the day and gas stations were closing. I don't remember the name of the town but after getting something to eat we were still driving around looking for a place to get gas and finally decided to stop for the night. We pulled into a station that looked like it would be open in the morning and we parked next to the pump. We went to sleep in the car. We woke up at dawn and a little while later the gas station opened up. We were surprised to see cars lined up behind us down the road for about a mile. We got gas and continued back on the highway to New Orleans. We then drove through Georgia, Alabama and Mississippi.

We finally got into New Orleans a day later than planned because of the gas problem. It took a while to get into the city. It was getting late in the day so we headed for Tulane Stadium on the university campus to park the car and sign up to crash there in our sleeping bags. This would be the last year that visitors would be allowed to enter the city for Mardi Gras without proof of hotel accommodations. This would also be a week of really crazy experiences. We lost my friend John a little over 9 years ago and I sure wish he was still here for me to call him to talk about that trip together. We had shared memories but some different perspectives too. To be continued...