What is it with obnoxious 4x4 truck drivers? When we were up in the Lake Placid area this weekend, I couldn't tell you how many times we were bullied by a 1995 Dodge Ram or a rusted Ford Ranger from ’79. It was like they wanted to see how close they could get to the Pathfinder without touching to make me drive faster. And it’s not like I was driving slow either. We’ve driven up to this part of the Adirondacks quite a few times so it wasn’t like it was my first time driving on the roads and didn’t know what was coming around the bend. No, it’s a shear attempt to intimidate.
Why? I think its just their reaction of seeing a hippy SUV packed with camping gear with 2 kayaks on its roof with a life is good and Sierra Club sticker on the back window. They know that we’re definitely not a local, but some silly wanna-be adventurer from some far off place. I think they hate the fact we’re encroaching on their peace and quite with our love for the outdoors and it annoys them. So, to get their point across they need to shimmy their trucks from side to side to make sure I see them in all of my mirrors and press up on me like we’re heading toward 3rd base. Yeah, I see you townie, who wouldn’t with the illegal deer hunting spotlight mounted to your roof and your Technicolor hood.
I just hope that they realize that the only reason their little town exists is because of tourists coming in and out, eating at their restaurants and buying supplies at their supermarkets. You want us to recommend your town as a beautiful place to spend some time and that it’s worth the 4 hours to drive up there. The more people that come, the better your towns financial bottom line will look. When you live in a tourist town you need to realize that we (the tourist) are paying part of your salary in some way or another.
I, myself, am a townie of sorts. Although we live a few miles from New Paltz, a very touristy town, I feel that we still have the townie status. I think what makes us different than the rusted pickup driver is that I’m cool with it. I know there are some sacrifices to living there. For example, New Paltz on weekends from now until the end of October, just doesn’t exist to us. I can’t take the Thruway home on Friday nights because of the traffic jams on 299 leading into Main Street from cidiots coming up to check into their B&Bs or hang out at their weekend homes. It’s actually a good thing because I’ll get to enjoy the scenery taking the back roads and seeing things that they don’t know exist. In the afternoons I’ll to avoid some of the roads that have Farm Stands and Apple/Pumpkin picking because of the families with 2.5 kids driving around aimlessly in there Volvos and Infiniti’s looking for them. They’ll be picking some pumpkins here, some apples there, and of course stopping short and take photos of the 2.5 kids with some cows that happen to be close to a fence near the road. That, while amazingly annoying, makes sure that my local farms can stay in business another year and not have to sell off land to the builders of Mc Mansions to pay their workers and mortgages. I just deal with it knowing it's for the good of my town, and our collective survival.
I just don't know why some people have an overly possessive ownership of thier towns and hate it when others come in to enjoy it's fruits, whether it be apples, changing leaves, cute ecclectic shops or the beautiful clear lakes of their parks. You made the choice to live there full time and enjoy it year round, whereas I can just enjoy it for a few days. Life is just too short. Get over yourselves and chill out.
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