[ponyakr]

i'd heard about mardi gras all my life, so i decided i needed to go check it out. in feb of 1970 i loaded up all the boys & we drove in the ole goat to new orleans to hit mardi gras. let me say here, if you have been, you can probably relate, if not please don't go. well we checked into a hotel several miles from bourban street, then took a cab to the corner of bourbon & canal, where he let us out, each carrying a fifth of boones farm apple wine in each hand. anybody remember apple wine? then we strolled on down the street, takin in the sites. but there wasn't much to see. it looked like a slum section to me. there were carnival barkers outside the strip joints, trying to lure us in & occasionally 1 of the girls would come out to further entice us. but we kept walkin & suckin on our bottles til they were empty, then we'd stop by the way & buy some more which was iced down in tubs all around. we saw the big floats come thru with people throwing cheap beads off them to the drunks below. if a trinket was not caught, there would be a large pile-up of humanity scrappin to get the treasure. sometimes peoples hands would be bloody because they had gotten stepped on while reaching for the beads. there were cops on horseback patrolling the streets. when somebody got out of line or shouted obsenities at them, they would reach down, grab hold of them, & jerk them up over the iron railings & put them into paddywagons, which were parked on every corner. when the wagon got full they'd take 'em to jail, then bring 'em back empty, ready for another load. i could tell i was not in kansas any more. during the nite we got seperated & 1 guy got lost. when he finally found us you could tell he was extremely releived. me & 1 other guy decided we'd check out a strip joint, since we'd never had the pleasure(or whatever). it was'nt really a nude show, you know just little g-strings & such. i really felt sorry for the 1st few girls we saw. they were obviously on drugs & just doin it to get drug money. but then a beautiful, tall, dark eyed cajun girl came out. that got my attention. about that time i heard a thump. it was the sound of my friends head hitting the bar. he'd had all the wine he could stand. the bouncer quickly escourted us out & that was that. we survived the nite, then loaded back up into the ole goat & cruised back home, never to return to that h??? hole again!