I'm Getting Too Old for This Crap....

foreverfan · 03-07-2011, 12:00 PM

Funny Story…

Sunday night an event that has only happened once in my life time happened. The best parade of the Mardi Gras season (Saturday night Endymion) was rained out and was forced to change it's route and follow behind another super crew's route on Sunday Night. While this has been done with other parades, it has never happened to Endymion. There is never a great place to see Endymion since it is always crowded from the beginning to the end.

BUT... last night since they were rained out they followed the other super crew and towards the end broke away and changed routes so they could disband easier. When they turned the corner where we were, it was only 1 person deep in the crowd. Most people had left because it was already midnight. Endymion riders still had a ton of crap to throw, and they did just that. The size of the crowd didn't seem to matter.

It should be noted that each float is actually 2 floats and much longer than 2 tractor trailer rigs with men stacked on two decks. Every float was like this. Each float holds at least 30 people on each side. It should also be noted that most of the bands had dropped out of the parade since they had obligations to march earlier in the day in other crews. So the floats was lined up in quick succession.

In any case, we became moving targets. It was unreal. They were throwing packs of beads. I mean 5-10 pound bags. They must have thrown 40+ per float at us. My wife was the only decent looking woman in the area and she almost got killed. It started out as funny and we had a blast but... good god... There was so much junk (and I mean nice junk) piled up knee high all around us. It was laughable. I've never seen something so unreal.

We survived the onslaught, and today I hurt from head to toe from dodging beads and getting killed by bags. I think the parade was beautiful, but you really couldn't do more than try to figure out where the next bomb was coming from. Imagine 25 guys unloading on you any of which could have 2 - 3 bags of beads. There was a nice old fat black lady sitting in a chair that just wanted to watch the parade. It was too funny. I'm surprised that she stuck it out. At least the bags bounced off of her.

If any of you think I'm exaggerating, I'm not. I remember by float 3 being having caught more crap that you'd catch in an entire Mardi Gras. By float 7, we stopped trying to catch the stuff and starting trying to dodge most of it. I mean as soon as you caught something, you couldn't blink or risk getting killed by the next bomb. There were over 30 floats. We couldn’t carry it all back. I pity the clean up crews.

In any case, we had the time of our lives.

73Saint · 03-07-2011, 12:09 PM

That's awesome!! Those are some pretty good pics, too.

foreverfan · 03-07-2011, 12:24 PM

Originally Posted by rfenasci

That's awesome!! Those are some pretty good pics, too.

Not my pics since you really couldn't hold a camera without risking your life. LOL

This is what a normal crowd looks like for this parade.
There were crowds this large all along the route except for a mile at the end.

st thomas · 03-07-2011, 03:12 PM

went to houma about 5 years back and experienced kinda the same thing . rain had postponed the night befores and they joined up the next day and it was like war, lol it was the best i hade even been to. footballs basketballs games in huge boxes being hurled, it was unreal.

03-07-2011, 12:00 PM	#1
foreverfan 12,000 BS Posts Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Metairie, LA Posts: 13,457 Blog Entries: 5	I'm Getting Too Old for This Crap.... Funny Story… Sunday night an event that has only happened once in my life time happened. The best parade of the Mardi Gras season (Saturday night Endymion) was rained out and was forced to change it's route and follow behind another super crew's route on Sunday Night. While this has been done with other parades, it has never happened to Endymion. There is never a great place to see Endymion since it is always crowded from the beginning to the end. BUT... last night since they were rained out they followed the other super crew and towards the end broke away and changed routes so they could disband easier. When they turned the corner where we were, it was only 1 person deep in the crowd. Most people had left because it was already midnight. Endymion riders still had a ton of crap to throw, and they did just that. The size of the crowd didn't seem to matter. It should be noted that each float is actually 2 floats and much longer than 2 tractor trailer rigs with men stacked on two decks. Every float was like this. Each float holds at least 30 people on each side. It should also be noted that most of the bands had dropped out of the parade since they had obligations to march earlier in the day in other crews. So the floats was lined up in quick succession. In any case, we became moving targets. It was unreal. They were throwing packs of beads. I mean 5-10 pound bags. They must have thrown 40+ per float at us. My wife was the only decent looking woman in the area and she almost got killed. It started out as funny and we had a blast but... good god... There was so much junk (and I mean nice junk) piled up knee high all around us. It was laughable. I've never seen something so unreal. We survived the onslaught, and today I hurt from head to toe from dodging beads and getting killed by bags. I think the parade was beautiful, but you really couldn't do more than try to figure out where the next bomb was coming from. Imagine 25 guys unloading on you any of which could have 2 - 3 bags of beads. There was a nice old fat black lady sitting in a chair that just wanted to watch the parade. It was too funny. I'm surprised that she stuck it out. At least the bags bounced off of her. If any of you think I'm exaggerating, I'm not. I remember by float 3 being having caught more crap that you'd catch in an entire Mardi Gras. By float 7, we stopped trying to catch the stuff and starting trying to dodge most of it. I mean as soon as you caught something, you couldn't blink or risk getting killed by the next bomb. There were over 30 floats. We couldn’t carry it all back. I pity the clean up crews. In any case, we had the time of our lives.
	2019 Death of a Parrot. Last edited by foreverfan; 03-08-2011 at 11:49 AM..

03-07-2011, 12:24 PM	#3
foreverfan 12,000 BS Posts Join Date: Mar 2006 Location: Metairie, LA Posts: 13,457 Blog Entries: 5	Originally Posted by rfenasci That's awesome!! Those are some pretty good pics, too. Not my pics since you really couldn't hold a camera without risking your life. LOL This is what a normal crowd looks like for this parade. There were crowds this large all along the route except for a mile at the end.
	Last edited by foreverfan; 03-07-2011 at 12:36 PM..

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03-07-2011, 12:09 PM	#2
73Saint 1000 Posts + Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: NOLA Posts: 2,336	That's awesome!! Those are some pretty good pics, too.

03-07-2011, 03:12 PM	#4
st thomas Site Donor 2018 Join Date: Dec 2009 Location: lafayette Posts: 7,753	went to houma about 5 years back and experienced kinda the same thing . rain had postponed the night befores and they joined up the next day and it was like war, lol it was the best i hade even been to. footballs basketballs games in huge boxes being hurled, it was unreal.