When we drove down to the Mackinac Bridge to make our way back to civilization, we found scores of people lining the road on the St. Ignace1 side. Curious, we asked at the tollbooth and were told that there was a big truck show coming through town that evening.This seemed to be a big event. Mackinaw City, where we were staying, was kind of chaotic. Our hotel was completely full, and when we wandered into the tiny downtown area to find some dinner, there were hundreds of people on either side of the road, standing around or sitting in lawn chairs, and waiting for the truck show to parade through town and back over the bridge to St. Ignace. We couldn't find parking on the side of the road, so we parked at the Shepherd's Ferry terminal down by the shore, and then got dinner in a local steakhouse.
Dinner took forever because all the people who weren't standing outside were inside eating. When we finally stepped outside, well over an hour later, it was dark and the truck show had begun. It turned out this was not just a truck show, it was a Truck show. I had been picturing, say, vintage Fords. But these were semi-trucks, tricked out and lit up and blaring their horns as they barreled (well, crept) through town. We had inadvertently stumbled upon the 14th Annual Big Rig Truck Show's "Parade of Lights."We were pretty much stuck watching it. The trucks were driving right past the entrance to the ferry parking lot, and on down the one street that led to our hotel less than half a mile away. There was no leaving until it was over. Don't get me wrong. It was kind of awesome that we just happened to be in town for this odd piece of Americana. But there were a lot of trucks, and they just kept coming and coming and coming. Sadly, we had left the camera back in the hotel room, but I managed to snap a couple blurry photos with my cell phone.
And I think that was actually one of the best parts about this trip. Not the truck show, but what it represents. Our trip was semi-planned in that we knew where we were staying each night, but quite a lot of it involved just stumbling into things. We went to dinner in downtown Chicago and stumbled on the American Girl museum, made our way up the shoreline of Lake Michigan and stumbled upon the Harley Davidson Museum (which was more interesting than I thought it would be), drove from Pictured Rocks to Tahquamenon Falls and stumbled upon Oswald's Bear Farm, crossed over the Mackinac Bridge and stumbled upon a semi-truck show.
For all the planning that goes into a vacation, it's the unplanned that makes the vacation memorable.
1 Q: How in the world do you pronounce St. Ignace? A: I finally learned this one. It rhymes with "bigness." I've wondered that for a long time. I tend to just avoid saying the name when I go to Mackinac Island.
6 comments:
I think it's great that you were able to see the truck show. We live in a small city and one thing I've loved is the experiences I've had with "Americana" ... for example, we were invited to march in a Fourth of July Parade and it wasn't until we started that I realized there were more people IN the parade than were watching. Finally, I agree that it's the unplanned that makes vacations memorable.
I could have told you about St. Ignace a long time ago. ;)
I love things like that Truck show. A few years ago, with no warning, a unicycle parade came down my street. It was long and full of people of all ages and skills. It completely caught me off guard and I absolutely loved it.
Sounds very Stars Hollow, except Taylor would hate all the noise from the trucks.
I happened to be serving in Elko Nevada when they had their cowboy poetry going on. Of course I didn't attend any of it, but it's rather amusing to enter a town and see a water tower that reads "Elko, home of cowboy poetry"
I wish there was a little more information about the truck show on the internet. How/why did it start? What are the requirements, if any, to enter?
I thought it was great. I loved the old ones that had been restored and I loved all the lights. I thought the one with the flames shooting out of the pipes on top was cool. It was fun listening to the horns--some were kind of wimpy. I especially enjoyed watching to see how some of them would make that very tight turn without hitting curb/people/cars. Some did it with a lot more ease than others!
We have a knack of stumbling on fun things, like the time we stumbled on the Tall Ship festival in Maine.
My fiancée and I are very much planning to do something very similar for our honeymoon. For part of it, we are specifically planning to see what we can stumble upon for a couple of days.
We're both really looking forward to it.
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