as we did for 95 Sugar Bowl. Our story....trying to abbreviate it some, as it makes for a fun story when told in full.

We rented an RV that accommodated 6 and left from Rochester, NY with 4 of use. Picked up # 5 in Maryland on Interstate 81, picked up # 6 in Bristol. We actually enjoyed the drive down, and splitting driving, and cost, 6 ways made it pretty easy. It was more fun once we got there.

Stayed in the "Mardi Gras Campground" on Chef Menteur Highway. Not that New Orleans has a lot of 'good' parts of town, but this was a bad part of town even by NO standards. We immediately bought bus passes and headed for Bourbon St.

While waiting for the bus outside the campground (at night), a car with blacked out windows pulls in near us, the window rolls down and 2 guys wave us over. We were a bit nervous as to why, but they politely said "Yo man, you don't want to be standing here with no lights and no people around. Walk the 2 blocks that way and catch the bus in front of that Holiday Inn."

So 15 minutes in town, warned for our lives once.

Got to Bourbon street and some random drunk guy who made no sense whatsoever decided he wanted to talk to us. No sense....until....he says "you know, if you ever find yourself in this town in a dark area, with no one around, don't stop, don't look, don't even think. Just turn around and run as fast as you bleepin can in the other direction"

So in town for 90 minutes. Warned for our lives twice.

Bus back to campground, dumb friend is telling others on bus "yeah, we're down here for the Sugar Bowl. Me? Oh, I'm an investment banker from Rochester NY"....something I would have rather not had him say loudly on that bus.

Next day, out on the town again, A different friend and I are speaking with locals as we're drinking at "The Gold Mine". They say "Holy ship!! You guys drove here in an RV from Rochester NY!?! Where are you staying?"

I say "Uhhh...Mardi Gras Campground on Chef Menteur Highway."

Their expression changes to one of shock and horror, as one of them says "$hit...did you brig a gun?"

I'll count that as warned for our life #3. The same guys later in the night say "hey, after the game on NY Eve, don't be on Bourbon Street at midnight. Go over to the down party by the river. The idiots shoot their guns in the air at midnight and last year falling bullets killed 3 people"

So I'll count that as warned for our lives #4.

And the story of the trip home could be several more paragraphs, but the short version is that we drove home in (once we reached southern Pennsylvania) the worst blizzard of the year, in an RV that didn't have a working defroster, so there was plenty of adventure there as well.