SPF 100: 2016 Big Truck across the SE, Day 7

Day 7 - all packed up & ready to roll just after sunrise. Of course, just as I'm doing the last walkaround to triple check everything, the Flanders family rolls out just in front of us.

On our way out of the Outer Banks, we crossed this bridge for the 4th time, and each time I swear we are the last vehicle it will hold. Luckily that crane you see in the distance is part of a construction project to hopefully replace the entire thing. I'm sure the scrap metal equivalent of a bunch of mismatched 4x8 sheets of plywood was a good idea at the time, but this design has probably run its course.

Unless you have driven this section (or 7 mile bridge, or the chesapeake tunnel (coming up soon)), it is hard to convey the amount of time and engineering that must have gone into deciding the route & then planning and building the entire project. Maybe civil engineers weren't just too dumb to hack it in the other disciplines (sorry - misplaced nerd humor. carry on).

I know I've written about this before, but I'm too lazy to look back in the archives. We passed the Grave Digger compound in Poplar Branch, NC. It's everything you would hope and expect it to be. A few miles before it there is some sort of 80s Toyota SR5 monster truck on the side of the road, and a few miles after it there is an offroad motorsports park.

Above is the track that I assume visitors get to ride around on in a monster truck version of a tourist bus. The look in your eyes right now reading about all of this certainly matches the looks on my wife & daughter's faces as I was ranting about Dennis Anderson and the legacy of Grave Digger & monster trucks in general. I still remember how crushed I was when Bigfoot jumped the shark with this abomination.

From here on out things went downhill fast, starting with this.

Days of salt water, sun, and stray sunblock had turned the rafro into an unmanageable mess. When I saw this picture, I was taken back to 2 lasting images from my memory banks. The original:

and the Bloom County version:

In both versions, there is some implied airflow creating the effect. In mine, the windows are up and nothing is causing that salad to behave that way except a whole lot of awesome.

Moments later, I spotted this Redline.

I had wanted one of these so badly when I was growing up, so I can only hope this random citizen appreciates what they have, or can remember finding a catalog like this at their local BMX dealer.

One more random aside before getting to the bulk of the day. This unassuming sign,

which triggered a rush of these references.

One more random aside - this sign:

which resulted in a very disgusted reaction from my spouse Which in turn prompted me to engage in some sly internet commerce, which will result in me wearing a shirt with the above slogan.

Ok. The rest of the day in a brief photo essay.

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