4th of July Special - Rolling 9/11 Memorial & Trucks in Red, White & Blue!

In light of the upcoming 4th of July celebration, I decided to find some photos of big rigs with American flags, stripes & colorings on them.

I see a lot of beautiful big rigs with patriotic designs like the Star Spangled Banner or the bald eagle displayed on them, but the problem is that I'm usually on the move myself when I see them and I'm unable to take pictures. I really should mount a camera system on my car so I could snap photos as I roll up and down the freeway. Maybe someday I'll work something out.

Enjoy the following patriotic display of trucks in red, white & blue and have a Happy & Safe 4th of July 2009 celebration! Happy Birthday America!!

A perfect line up of trucks in red, white & blue! (Photo taken by my brother)

ROLLING MEMORIAL -

an amazing tribute to the 9/11 victims!

I want to start with a special treat I found in my search for patriotic trucks. It is an amazing memorial tribute to the victims of the 9/11 tragedy. The tribute is called "Rolling Memorial" and is a big rig that is customized with a mural in honor of the victims of the 9/11 tragedy, along with the names of all the people that died in this attack. The truck is owned by a truck driver named John Holmgren and he was inspired by Darryl Worley's song, "Have You Forgotten". The customization of his truck cost him $40,000 and despite selling t-shirts and various merchandise to cover his expenses, he still ended up deep in the red over this project.

John and his truck have become very popular & are invited to events and concerts all across the country. Inbetween displaying his truck at events, it also is still in service as a regular truck.
The only problem is that John keeps getting pulled over by the highway patrol as they want to check out & take photos with his truck, and frankly, I can't blame them. I hope someday to see this truck for myself, it would be an amazing sight.

For now, I have photos that I want to show you. Here are the photos of this amazing rolling memorial tribute to the 9/11 victims:

The American Spirit - Big Rigs with Patriotic Designs

Below is a collection of big rigs with custom designs in the form of American flags or red,white and blues. I'm not going to put any commentary on these, just sit back, watch & enjoy these trucks, they're quite spectacular.

Dedicated to the Kenworth!

(Note: There are a lot of photos in this blog, so if it loads slowly, this is why ... Let me assure you though, that these beauties are well worth the wait. A lot of the photos were borrowed from www.kenworth.com )

The Kenworth! Ah......the Kenworth .......

To me, no truck glistens as beautifully under the sunlight as the Kenworth does.

I was driving to work this morning, the sky was blue and the sun was shining brightly, shiny grills of Kenworths were beaming at me as I passed them along the way. There’s something about the design of the Kenworth that is so beautiful… all their models are really classy and well-designed in their own way.

My favorite Kenworth is the W900. (As you can see, it is no coincidence that this very truck is the one displayed in my blog heading...) I love that gorgeous, big, shiny grill. When it rolls up on my bumper in rush hour traffic, it’s delightfully intimidating. This truck is so majestic, especially if they’ve been polished and cared for in a way that a W900 deserves to be pampered!

Then there’s the T600 … and I’m not sure that a big macho big rig, nor a macho truck driver, would want to hear this… but the T600 is sooo cute! (If that makes me sound too girly, so be it….it IS cute!)

With that stripe down the middle, the nose is so small & dainty and with the big head lights (i.e big “doe eyes” or "puppy eyes") it’s simply adoreable! There's no better word for it.
(But let’s be clear however, it IS a big rig… it’ll crush your little Honda Fit in a second, so don’t let it’s cute & innoscent appearances fool you…)

The T600’s big brother is the T660. It’s not quite as cute as the T600, it’s bigger and has more muscle, it’s certainly more intimidating than the 600.

It's fun to observe the different styles as they've evolved through the years. Personally I'm a bigger fan of the more "square" look that these truck grills used to have, but the new & more "modern" look they have now isn't bad either. This truck is like the "in-between" child in my book ... it's nice looking, don't get me wrong, but between it's oh so cute little brother and it's big & menacing big papa (coming up in next paragraph), it kind of remains a little anonymous...

The “big papa” is the T2000 … I love passing the T2000s on the road, that humming from their massive engine is like some kind of a soothing sound, it’s very relaxing & I wish I could stay next to them and just relax in their shadow for awhile, but we all know that lingering next to a big rig is not a bright idea, so I just resort to passing while turning down my radio for a second.

Ah yes, this is a shallow, shallow blog … but I couldn’t help but blogging about the Kenworth today, there were so many of them on the road this morning and it’s just really nice to have something pretty to look at while stuck in traffic… I know I could write much more about these trucks, such as power and evolution through time and how many awards they have won through the years, but I just really wanted a blog about the exterior today ... Perhaps another day, I'll go more into detail about each model. Today was not that day.

These awesome photos below are from the Wes Kerney Collection and I shamelessly copied them from http://www.hankstruckpictures.com/ - if you are a big rig fan, I strongly recommend that you visit Hanks' Truck Pictures, there is a LOT of eye candy there...

Please enjoy the lovely Kenworths displayed below ....

A Trucker's Prayer

A Trucker's Prayer

Dear God above bless this truck I drive

And help me keep someone alive

Be my mortal sight this day

On streets where little children play

Bless my helper fast asleep

When the night is long and deep

And keep my cargo safe and sound

Through the hours big and round

Make my judgement sound as steel

And be my hands upon the wheel

Bless the traveler going past

And teach him not to go so fast

Give me the strength for every trip

So I may care for what they ship

And make me mindful every mile

That life is just a little while

Amen

Why a blog about big rigs?

Since I moved to the US, I have developed a fascination for big rigs.
I’m not sure where this fascination came from or when it was developed. The only one in my family who is a truck driver is my father’s cousin. I remember he came to visit us once as he was passing through town. He parked his rig in front of a local grocery store, and when he was leaving, my brother and I were allowed to climb up and check out his cabin. It was very cool.
I remember that. Finding a bed in the back was surprising to both of us, and we realized that the cab of a big rig is more like a small apartment. Since nobody else in my family drives a big rig and I had no other big rig experiences that I can remember, that must have been the moment when I was smitten with these big trucks. I just didn’t realize how bad it was until I moved to the United States.

I grew up in Norway, and most of our big rigs are Scanias or Volvos. Due to measuring regulations, they’re also mostly cabovers, so the variety of trucks isn’t that great there. Here in the US, the variety of trucks is huge and the customization that is performed on some of these rigs is amazing. Some truckers invest a lot of time and money into their trucks, decking them out with lights, murals, custom coloring, tall smoke stacks and polished rims. I love it. (I guess it comes as no surprise that “Trick my Truck” is one of my favorite shows…)

Despite my fascination with big rigs, since I’m not around them, I don’t have that much knowledge about them. I know the various models of course. My favorites are Kenworth and Western Star. They’re gorgeous. There’s a little game I play when I’m stuck in traffic, I try to guess the model of a big rig just by its contours before I pass it. Seems silly but it has really increased my skill in recognizing most of these trucks on the spot and it gives me something to do.

In addition to liking big rigs, I also love blogging, and I thought, what better way to learn about the ins and the outs of big rigs than to blog about them!

So that’s the brilliant basis for this blog. The intention is to learn more while blogging about a subject I like. I plan on posting random thoughts, facts and information about big rigs as I think of them. Maybe I’m the only one who will ever benefit from this blog, but I don’t really care. I’ll enjoy developing it and learning something new in the process.

Note: I'll be taking photos on my own that I will be using in my blog, but for now, I'm using photos I find on the web. If you are the owner of any of these photos & would rather not that I use them or would like me to give you the credit you deserve for your photo, please feel free to contact me. Thank you.