693/700 - Aaron
Earlier in the day I had spotted a remarkable vehicle in the parking lot of our motel in eastern Oklahoma. It was half truck and half monster SUV. I hoped to meet the owner to find out about it but as luck would have it, we were on the road for New Oklahoma before there was any sign of the owner.
To my amazement, when we pulled into a truck stop to get gas in Oklahoma later that day I spotted a similar vehicle at the gas pump fueling. We parked our car and I told my wife I wanted to meet the owner of the vehicle while she went in for coffee. He was just finishing gassing up the vehicle when I introduced myself and asked about the vehicle which was pulling an equally large and high-tech looking trailer. Meet Aaron who is from Orange County California and who works for the Oakley company whose livery the vehicle was wearing. Oakley manufactures very high quality (and high price) sunglasses for sports enthusiasts.
Aaron was clearly hoping to get back on the road but he was kind enough to entertain my questions about the vehicle for a few minutes and when I mentioned my 100 Strangers project he said I could go ahead and photograph him with the truck. As you can tell from this cell phone photo, Aaron was not overly-comfortable with the photo session at the gas pump but was, like so many subjects, obliging. He even offered to take my photo in front of the vehicle which was really thoughtful.
He explained that he does not usually pilot the vehicle on the road but his employer needed him to step in at the last minute and get the vehicle to the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament in Arizona where it was going to do promotions for Oakely. He (and we) were driving a lengthy section of the iconic Route 66 toward Phoenix but while he was continuing on in that direction from Albuquerque, we would be turning south toward El Paso Texas where we would be crossing the Rocky Mountains the following day.
What is inside this fancy vehicle? Aaron explained the trailer opens up into a shop which does a variety of demonstrations including firing bullets at the sunglasses to demonstrate durability. The whole rig looks like a very expensive way to promote a product but Aaron said there are two such vehicles owned by Oakley – one on the east coast and one on the west coast. They are scheduled to appear at major sporting events. You can see more about the vehicle here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=toqA7r0fZW4&app=desktop and here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUoV-NqruDc&app=desktop
When I mentioned I had never seen such a vehicle before and now had seen two of them in one day he laughed and said there are not a large number of these custom vehicles around. He explained that both the one I had seen one that morning and the one he was driving are based on the chassis of a Freightliner truck which is then fitted with the deluxe custom body. I mentioned that I had moved our car to be next to the first Freightliner rig and took some photos which showed the ridiculous disparity in size between the custom Freightliner and our little stock Subaru Forester car. He smiled and said “That’s when you discover how large these things are.”
It was time for both of us to be on our way, Aaron to the golf tournament in Phoenix and me to a family visit in Tucson. Thank you Aaron, for taking a few minutes to tell me about your truck and for participating in 100 Strangers. You are #693 in Round 7 of my project. Safe travels.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.
693/700 - Aaron
Earlier in the day I had spotted a remarkable vehicle in the parking lot of our motel in eastern Oklahoma. It was half truck and half monster SUV. I hoped to meet the owner to find out about it but as luck would have it, we were on the road for New Oklahoma before there was any sign of the owner.
To my amazement, when we pulled into a truck stop to get gas in Oklahoma later that day I spotted a similar vehicle at the gas pump fueling. We parked our car and I told my wife I wanted to meet the owner of the vehicle while she went in for coffee. He was just finishing gassing up the vehicle when I introduced myself and asked about the vehicle which was pulling an equally large and high-tech looking trailer. Meet Aaron who is from Orange County California and who works for the Oakley company whose livery the vehicle was wearing. Oakley manufactures very high quality (and high price) sunglasses for sports enthusiasts.
Aaron was clearly hoping to get back on the road but he was kind enough to entertain my questions about the vehicle for a few minutes and when I mentioned my 100 Strangers project he said I could go ahead and photograph him with the truck. As you can tell from this cell phone photo, Aaron was not overly-comfortable with the photo session at the gas pump but was, like so many subjects, obliging. He even offered to take my photo in front of the vehicle which was really thoughtful.
He explained that he does not usually pilot the vehicle on the road but his employer needed him to step in at the last minute and get the vehicle to the Phoenix Open Golf Tournament in Arizona where it was going to do promotions for Oakely. He (and we) were driving a lengthy section of the iconic Route 66 toward Phoenix but while he was continuing on in that direction from Albuquerque, we would be turning south toward El Paso Texas where we would be crossing the Rocky Mountains the following day.
What is inside this fancy vehicle? Aaron explained the trailer opens up into a shop which does a variety of demonstrations including firing bullets at the sunglasses to demonstrate durability. The whole rig looks like a very expensive way to promote a product but Aaron said there are two such vehicles owned by Oakley – one on the east coast and one on the west coast. They are scheduled to appear at major sporting events. You can see more about the vehicle here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=toqA7r0fZW4&app=desktop and here: www.youtube.com/watch?v=UUoV-NqruDc&app=desktop
When I mentioned I had never seen such a vehicle before and now had seen two of them in one day he laughed and said there are not a large number of these custom vehicles around. He explained that both the one I had seen one that morning and the one he was driving are based on the chassis of a Freightliner truck which is then fitted with the deluxe custom body. I mentioned that I had moved our car to be next to the first Freightliner rig and took some photos which showed the ridiculous disparity in size between the custom Freightliner and our little stock Subaru Forester car. He smiled and said “That’s when you discover how large these things are.”
It was time for both of us to be on our way, Aaron to the golf tournament in Phoenix and me to a family visit in Tucson. Thank you Aaron, for taking a few minutes to tell me about your truck and for participating in 100 Strangers. You are #693 in Round 7 of my project. Safe travels.
Find out more about the project and see pictures taken by the other photographers in our group at the 100 Strangers Flickr Group page.