Trucker’s Parade

Having just returned to the United States from Oman the flip side of this Not Quite Right idea has become more and more apparent.  As an American it is very easy to view the rest of the world as if it is an oddity, especially since we’re so isolated here, a single monolithic culture from ‘sea to shining sea’.  So, as a new part of this blog, I’ll add an occasional observation on the weird things American life often accepts as normal.

For starters, in my very own little Wisconsin hometown, we have an annual Trucker’s Parade.  The event consists of a couple hundred highly decorated, chrome-enhanced semis parading not once, but twice through the city streets (day and night) — complete with horns, jake-brakes, sirens, black undercarriage lighting, flames, and cotton-candy vendors walking the streets.  All the trucks stage at a big open field near the town’s community center, where bands play, beer is consumed, and people vote on the prettiest trucks.  It’s the sort of thing stolen from a Jeff Foxworthy joke!

Here are some of the best trucks, pictures of which I snapped while sitting in a lawnchair on my parents’ sidewalk . . . there’s nothing wrong with a parade of semis, mind you, but the rest of the world will probably agree that there is definitely an element of Not Quite Right involved here.

Double Wide Orange Monster of a Semi . . . look at all the cab space!

The 1980's called . . . they want their flames back.

And the very best, most ‘Wisconsin’ of all the trucks . . .

Pulling a giant Old Style beer!