Life as a Carnie

I graduated on June 7th, 1977 from high school. Before the month was out I had moved out of my parents' home, never to return except for a few visits. So at the age of 18 years and 4 months I was on my own.

| First Capital Engineering
Horn Field in Red Lion where graduation took place

I needed to work since I was a fan of eating, both then and now. I also like having a roof over my head and clothes on my back. I even wanted gas for my 67 Chevy Belair so off to work I went.

'67 Chevrolet Bel Air | 50's -60's Every day Cars and Trucks | Pinter…
Mine was just like this.
I drove 1100 miles to Covington, LA. I was so tired that when I filled my car with gas in Covington I put diesel in instead (in my defense it was the same price). Not a great start to my career!
Covington is just east of Hammond

I stayed in the living room of a girlfriend Leslie, and worked on a spec house with her father, before the whole carnie thing was ready to go. After a few days there, Leslie's sister and brother-in-law were ready to go. We were going to work 2 booths that they owned. Another 1,000 mile trip lay ahead.

We headed up I-55 on our way to the greater Chicago area. I drove one of the trucks with a 20-foot trailer behind it. Boy was I in over my head the first time I made a wrong turn and ended up in a dead-end alley. Turning that 16-foot truck and it's 20-foot buddy took at least 20 minutes. At the time I thought I'd never get that U-turn completed.

Most Popular Carnival Games Are Rigged - Here's How They Do It

We worked a week somewhere in the Chicago area, tore down and moved to another carnival just north of Chicago. At that carnival, Leslie's sister and brother-in-law got in a fight with another couple who were leading this shindig and they went their separate ways. My days manning the bottle booth ended. All that was left was a 3rd 1,000-mile drive back to Louisiana. My carnie career was dead.

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