On the Road
Some people notice you some don't when you
are driving down the road in a 3-ton military truck. Many don't really notice
that if it is new or old, many times I'm sure they mistake antique military
vehicles for current military.
Above Beauty is Tail End Charlie on a convoy of trucks
WWII military vehicles heading down to a D-Day commemorative day at the
Boston Navy Yard Historical Park.
This
is my co-driver for Parades a bear in uniform it takes people a while to
realize that the truck is right hand drive and that it is not a person in
a bear suite driving. The bear is animated so that he waves, peoples reaction
that they have been waving to a stuffed animal is interesting most laugh
and continue to wave other look somewhere else and try to pretend that they
weren't really waving to the bear. Children universally seem to be like
him. The Bear has been stopped by the police twice.
Driving a strange (and to be charitable CMPs are strange)
looking vehicle on the roads here in the states does result in some funny things
happening. When I first got my HUP on the road some 20 years ago a number of
times found myself being followed by a police cruiser. Generally after they
had followed me for a mile or two I would pull over and stop, never got a ticket,
but often did have a pleasant time telling them what a CMP was. In the last
few years the reasons for being stopped or followed by police have been pretty
funny. The last two stops have both related to the right hand drive and the
fact that I have a parade bear that rides in the left hand front seat for parades.
The bear is human sized dressed in a Canadian Army uniform the bear is animated
to wave in parades.
Riding in the left seat the bear has caught the eye of a trooper
and local police officers. The trooper was passing in the opposite direction
and pulled a "U"y to come up behind me with his lights on. Then he
came up to the left side of the truck to ask the bear for his license and registration.
When I said from the other side of the truck "yes officer can I help you"
he just sort of waved at me and said get out of here as he walked back to his
cruiser. The only thing I could figure was that he was stopping me for driving
in a bear suit figuring that it had to obstruct my vision. I always wondered
if he ever told anybody he had stopped a stuffed bear.
The next time I was stopped again on the way to a parade I
had pulled up to an intersection squared the corner so that I could see both
directions from the right hand side. I could see a cruiser parked on the edge
of the road up a ways. After waiting for traffic I pulled out made and made
my turn. A little way down the road there were the blue lights so I pulled over.
Again the officer walked up to the left side of the truck but this one realized
that it was a stuffed bear and laughed. When I asked him why he stopped me he
explained that he had been parked down road and that the driver, the bear, had
not looked either way. So he was going to warn the BEAR to look both ways.
Our MV Club participates in 10 or so parades
and displays each year, some are small town events such as Memorial Day in Fitzwilliam,
New Hampshire where the viewers walk along beside the parade form the town common
to the cemetery. (Below)
Or large parades like the Patriots Day Parade
in Lexington Massachusetts
In displays the Bear draws attention to the truck
and people then read the magnetic signs that explain that the truck is a 1942
Canadian Chevrolet built to serve with British Commonwealth Forces.
When displaying the truck at a meet I also have copies of the
data sheet and vehicle history in clear covers that are magnetic so that I can
just stick them on the side of the truck, generally I put them all on the shady
side of the truck so that one side is left clean for photographing.
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