{"version":1,"type":"rich","provider_name":"Libsyn","provider_url":"https:\/\/www.libsyn.com","height":90,"width":600,"title":"Big Blue and Mardi Gras","description":"In college, if you were lucky enough to have a car to drive, it was often a hand-me-down\u2014the ride that your family had broken in or your brother had nearly driven into the ground before it got to you. And that was all fine: if it was roadworthy, you were way ahead of the game.  Very few people, save for the future trust funders and frat boys, were driving nice cars. And no one was looking to make any kind of statement. My friend Tim drove a blue 1978 Dodge Monaco that broke down five miles outside of our destination one trip. When the tow truck driver came to our rescue, his first words were, \u201cHow do you expect to pick up any puss in that boat?\u201d The salvage yard delivered the final verdict in exchange for $100. That felt like par for the course.  It\u2019s one of the paradoxes of being in college: all the time in the world but no means to wring the nectar out of life. Then again, there\u2019s always a road trip. It barely costs anything, and as long as there\u2019s a floor to crash on, you\u2019re golden.  But sometimes the most hastily thrown together plans don\u2019t quite work out, and your vehicle is all you have. A notion to experience Mardi Gras on a whim would fall into that category. The three adventurers in this episode encounter just such as fate, but they had a secret weapon: Big Blue, a 1979 baby blue Cadillac Seville. It was more than a car on that trip; it was a beacon, talisman, guide, protector, and lodging. Big Blue had their back and kept them between the ditches when it mattered most.  Anyone who\u2019s been to Mardi Gras knows that\u2019s just scratching the surface of the story. Enjoy.  ","author_name":"True Road Trip Tales","author_url":"https:\/\/www.trueroadtriptales.com","html":"