K2R2 turns two
Part III
In part III of the K2R2 turns two we will be discussing the reaction to the K2R2 in what we’ll call the Overland, 4X4, Gearhead, Harley crowd. These folks are my kind of people. Their conversations usually begin and end with big knowing smiles. They are also the group who most likely will stop and help you when you really need it.
One of the most memorable encounters was outside a convenience store/gas station/gun shop/outfitters/liquor store/sporting goods/grocery store in Arcadia, MO. where the red sign read: Arcadia Sporting Goods Over 1,900 guns! Since 1973. After the K2R2 had a nice drink of 89 octane elixir and I had been inside the store to confirm the existence of 1,900 guns we headed back towards the open road when suddenly a very loud Ford 4X4 pickup came careening off the road’s Macadam surface spewing small pieces of gravel everywhere. The driver was motioning out his window to us to stop and we pulled up even with the driver’s window just a few feet apart. Inside the driver sporting a huge smile of rotten teeth was giving the universal signal to lower the window. After I lowered my window the driver said, “That’s a badass rig there cuz!” I replied, “Thank you!” He smashed the accelerator spinning back on the road yelling, “HELL YEAH!” I had an extremely rare speechless moment.
In Jamestown, Tennessee we were slowly approaching the police officer who was directing traffic at the scene of a bad accident when a car with a heavily damaged front end came towards us going in the opposite direction. We rubber necked at the dazed occupants in the front seat whose shocked faces were bloodied and appeared to be driving themselves to the nearby hospital. They had hit the passenger side of a car that appeared to have backed out of a driveway on the crest of a hill. The policemen motioned us around in the clear oncoming lane. When an occupant of the house standing shirtless on the roadside spies the K2R2 approaching. He flashes a huge toothy grin and shouts, “Big Ford from Texas!” We had another speechless moment.
Finally, it was parked in front of the “Original” Cooper’s Pit Bar-B-Q in Mason, Texas where the pit boss asked, “What is that thang?” “Sportsmobile.” I say. “You can live out of that?” he replies. “We do.” I said. “That’s awesome!” he retorts. He sticks his head in the kitchen door and says to his buddy, “Hey dude, come look at this van!’ His buddy emerges and shouts, “That’s BADASS! It makes me want to cry.” The pit boss says, “it’ll go anywhere.” The “dude” says, “I really want one.” I told the young lad that anything is possible in life because my first job was at Whataburger. He smiled and went back to the kitchen.
