This article originally appeared in the March 2021 issue.
My wife grabbed my cell phone the other night and started scrolling through my photos. Now, that can be an uncomfortable situation if you don’t see it coming. I hadn’t changed my pass code in years so I blame myself, but I didn’t think I had anything to hide so I wasn’t overly concerned. We had just returned from a 10-day family vacation and she was curious to see what pictures I had taken on our trip. In my defense, I did take plenty of pictures of the kiddos and what not, but I squirmed in my chair a little when she paused for a moment and then questioned something she had just found.
“What is this?!” she asked in a confused tone. My mind instantly began to race as I tried to figure out what she could possibly be referring to. A hot girl by the pool? Nope, already deleted those pics. A video of me launching the kids “safely” onto the hotel bed from across the room? No, it couldn’t be that since we always hide the evidence from mom. I was out of ideas and I had no clue what she had found that had her so confused. All I knew was I was busted for taking a photo of something she didn’t agree with.
I leaned over with some hesitation to see what the fuss was about, only to discover my wife was looking at a photo of a white GMC truck that I had spotted while we were waiting for our swamp boat ride. I guess this photo of a random truck did stand out a little because it was in the middle of my more traditional family vacation-type photos so I guess I can understand her reaction a little, but doesn’t she know me by now?
Clearly my wife doesn’t go through my cell phone photos very often if finding a picture of a truck throws her off. I reached over and pulled the phone closer to get a better look at the truck since I had already forgotten about taking the picture. Looking back now there wasn’t anything really special about it. I liked the lift and how clean it looked and at the time I just felt like snapping a photo after I had snuck away from the family to take a closer look. If there was a set of Mickey Mouse ears on the hood she probably wouldn’t have even noticed the truck, but I wasn’t about to go there.
Truth is I have dozens of photos like this one of trucks from clear across the country to builds in my home town and I’d be willing to bet I’m not alone. As truck enthusiasts we can’t help it. I once spotted a beautiful truck after (okay it was during) a little league baseball game. I pretended to walk out to left field to give my son some fielding tips between innings when really I just wanted to verify the model year and snap a quick cell phone pic.
Blame it on my day job, but I’m just drawn to cool-looking trucks. Most of the time they’re modest builds, but with the over-the-top ones I have been known to slip my business card under the windshield wiper in hopes of meeting up with the owner to get photos and more details for a feature.
Sometimes it’s a wheel, tonneau cover or just simply the overall look that I want to make note of for a possible future modification to my own truck. Who knows exactly why I like to take so many photos of trucks? I just know that I do. And I’m sure my wife is glad that when I do get a wandering eye from time to time it’s just to check out another truck.