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Big Blue and Mardi Gras

True Road Trip Tales

Release Date: 04/05/2021

Coveting in Nashville show art Coveting in Nashville

True Road Trip Tales

A quest for a Gibson Super 400 leads three friends to Nashville

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Route 66 and the Checker show art Route 66 and the Checker

True Road Trip Tales

Ernie takes his Checker Marathon through the heart of America to the promised land.

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Big Blue and Mardi Gras show art Big Blue and Mardi Gras

True Road Trip Tales

Three college women drive from Kansas to New Orleans in a '79 Cadillac Seville

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Two for the road show art Two for the road

True Road Trip Tales

Brad and George go big to rediscover the soul of America

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Road Trip Reawakening show art Road Trip Reawakening

True Road Trip Tales

The story of Rob and Toodles, the ocean and oranges, Widespread and underwear, and plugging back into life.

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Burning Man to Vegas show art Burning Man to Vegas

True Road Trip Tales

Burning Man to Vegas You have to hand it to Las Vegas: over decades, it has established itself as an adult playground where virtually anything goes. If you want the chance to revel in excess and not feel like you have to make any excuses for your choices or behavior, Vegas is the place. Sure, the shops and shows and spectacle and helicopter rides and Hoover Dam lend the city a patina of respectability, but everyone knows its pure decadence is really the draw. For people who think Las Vegas has too many rules that get in the way of the good time they really want to have, Burning Man is a...

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Cousin Eddie goes to Clemson show art Cousin Eddie goes to Clemson

True Road Trip Tales

This story encompasses some elements that couldn’t be more American: an annual guy’s trip, college football, a carefully constructed song list, and an RV. Enjoy.

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Highway 61 and the crossroads show art Highway 61 and the crossroads

True Road Trip Tales

This episode is about chasing ghosts and legends—always a tricky proposition. The legend in question: the crossroads (purportedly at the intersection of Highway 61 and Highway 49 outside of Clarksdale, Mississippi), where a young Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in return for prowess on the guitar.

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Love, Daytona Beach, and Pop-Tarts show art Love, Daytona Beach, and Pop-Tarts

True Road Trip Tales

This story has so much we can all relate to—high school friendships, first love, spring break, a wildly ambitious plan, and some indelible life lessons. We said in the first episode that the road reveals. This tale is exhibit A.

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Gemini Gypsy show art Gemini Gypsy

True Road Trip Tales

Ep 3:

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In college, if you were lucky enough to have a car to drive, it was often a hand-me-down—the 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, “How do you expect to pick up any puss in that boat?” The salvage yard delivered the final verdict in exchange for $100. That felt like par for the course. 

It’s 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’s always a road trip. It barely costs anything, and as long as there’s a floor to crash on, you’re golden. 

But sometimes the most hastily thrown together plans don’t 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’s been to Mardi Gras knows that’s just scratching the surface of the story. Enjoy.