2010

Picture of the Day

I was driving home from the busy, almost Christmas-eve bustle of downtown Norman today, and in an effort to avoid the traffic on Main Street, I took a turn down a nearby residential street.  

It was the best decision I made all month.

I thought I had my Pic 'O the Day when I saw the Hummer on Main Street.  I was going to write about my being a stealth photographer and pride myself on being all subversive blah blah blah.  

And this I saw this: 

And I thank my lucky stars that no one was driving behind me because I quite literally slammed on my breaks and backed up in the middle of the street so I could 1) take a closer look and 2) find a parking place.  

This truck is the most glorious thing I've seen in months.  Naturally the owner caught me red-handed snapping pictures and I simply did not care.  Besides, if you're driving this thing around, not only are you begging for people to take pictures of it, you're begging to be featured on some whimsical HGTV show.  

Poor man.  All he gets is my obscure blog.  

William Patterson is his name.  He was so nice and obviously proud of his project. He coached high school baseball for years and now is a plumber.  Obviously, he's a huge fan of the game and he's visited every major league stadium in North America. He had a Dodger Stadium sign bolted to the (other) side of the truck and many of the baseballs displayed on the dashboard were from games he attended.  

The truck used to belong to his brother but they both had mobile museums.  Then his brother died, so Mr. Patterson took over the truck and combined the memorabilia from both.  He has no plans of letting this one go.  

Here's the best part:  

Yes.  All of that paraphernalia is BOLTED to the hood.  See the gloves on either side? One belong to his son and one belonged to a grandchild.  The catcher's vest?  That was his son's.  Interspersed among all the hard hats are figurines:  

 

He said he had thousands of them.  I counted a baker's dozen on the hood, but I've no doubt I missed some.  

The range of stuff he displayed was amazing.  Everything from kitsch to genuine antiques to objects that held sentimental value, obviously the most precious to him. See the bat and the ball?  He had them all over the truck and most were either from his offspring or his coaching days.  

I love this:  

And the inside of the truck was not spared.  Observe: 

That's right, folks.  The grandkids have free reign in that vehicle, and the ceiling was covered as well, with drawings and phone numbers and buttons of the kids and grandkids in their uniforms. 

So here he is...Mr. William Patterson.  Who, by the way, doesn't even have an email address so I can't send this entry to him.  He gave me permission to post, though, and said other people have put pictures of his masterpiece "on the computer".  

Best of all, this truck in not only in good working order, he takes it on road trips.  


Fabulous.  ->