Standing on the corner, watching all the trucks go by

"This Saturday is the Darlington 500", my cousin, Diane told me.

I remembered driving by the track in 1997 as my parents, Rich and I were on the way to New Jersey. Most of my family and friends know that Rich loved NASCAR. In fact on that same trip we went to a racetrack in the Poconos and he actually participated in a class for driving racecars.

I knew a little about NASCAR.

Diane continued.

"And they are having a festival in Florence as a part of the hoopla that goes along with the race. The cars are at the Florence Convention Center."

She went on to say that a group of her friends would be meeting at a Huddle House on the Florence/Darlington highway to watch the parade of trucks as they took the cars to the track

I assumed the drivers would be in that parade.

No - just the trucks.

At the appointed time (7:00 P.M.) the group we were sharing supper with, left our tables and walked out to the street. We held flags and waived them as more than 50 colorful trucks slowly rolled past us.

I kept thinking - we are standing here watching trucks.

Diane's grandchildren, Tripp and Madison joined us. Madison thought the noise was too loud but Tripp thoroughly enjoyed waiving his flag and pulling his arm bidding the truck drivers to blow their horns.

The parade of trucks ended and we finished our supper. We headed back to the farm in Darlington.

Diane's dad, Leon, was known for having some little special activity "up his sleeve" for us when we visited.  That same personality trait was so evident in Diane as she just couldn't resist offering us some more excitement. Would we like to follow the parade?

Sure.

So we got in line. And that's when it really got interesting.

Groups of people lined both sides of the highway. There seemed to be no age, gender, or race barrier. There were grills, tents, lawn chairs. They were tail-gaiting.

It was amazing. Who could count the people? I thought of the pictures I have seen of funeral trains slowly making their way through the country side - trains that carrying the bodies of presidents - these trucks were carrying cars.

One of my reactions was that this was really sad - these people had nothing else to do?

One of my reactions was curious - why in the world would people come to see a truck?

And then I thought it's really kind of cool that people want to come together for something rather than just sit in their homes and watch television. This was an example of community - so it's a good thing.

Some people would call those who came to watch the trucks, "red necks". In fact I started to name this blog - "You might be a red neck if...". But then I thought that's a disparaging term and I did some research to see what it means.

One source said the term red neck is used to described the uneducated and many times racist.

Well, I happen to know many very educated engineers who love NASCAR and who might enjoy watching the trucks that carry the cars - and many of the people I saw lining the highway that night were black. They would certainly be far from racist.

So I've decided not to categorized the people who enjoyed that interesting event.

Let's just chalk it up to a really fun evening.