Heavy Metal

Today was "Heavy Machinery in the Road" Day. I don't know if they have this where you live, but in a crowded, constantly under-construction place like Taiwan, it's pretty common.

I constantly share the road with forklifts, dump trucks loaded with rocks, 20-story cement-pump cranes, bulldozers, cement mixers, millions of smaller delivery vehicles, car-hauling trailers, and flatbed trailers with more of the above.

But oddly, the one thing I almost never see here are western-style pickup trucks. When people want a work truck here, they get what I've always called a "blue truck." They're the ones that look like this. That's what Taiwan is filled with. And, they really are nearly always blue. They're always sold that way new, and most people here wouldn't waste money on something like painting a vehicle.

If I ever make it back to N. America, I want one of these instead. They're the true workhorses of this place. And when they get beat to hell, they don't get fixed. What a deal.