The Modern Traveling Caravan

I love trucks. I have since the days when I still wore diapers. I spent many days on end playing with my metal Tonka trucks in the sandbox in my backyard. And I'm not talking about pickups. No, real trucks. Construction trucks - earth-moving, size-of-a-house, work-of-a-hundred-men trucks. They fascinate me on a number of levels. First, I love the science of hydraulics. Second, to me it's a marvel of human engineering that we can create machines that are capable of so many endeavors, such as literally scooping out boulders from the ground that haven't been moved since the Ice Age (and with relative ease). That amount of ingenuity is nothing but impressive.
Lastly though, and probably the most esoteric of the lot, is sometimes I like to think of them not in terms of a man controlling a machine, but of an artificial life form itself. Mechanical dinosaurs: powerful, lumbering, not terribly intelligent, and yet still an odd grace to their movements. I recall not but a year or two ago I stood watching a backhoe dig up a tree stump, and I remember fighting the urge as it was working to make roaring noises in an attempt to bring my imaginary metal friend to life.

To that end, I completely failed. So, I named him Herman.

That all said, there is a component to the man-machine dynamic that I do find both fun and endearing in a way I can't really explain. And that is of the modern traveling caravan. A multi-vehicle convoy. The reasons for it don't really matter to me; whether it's a military transport, a large family vacation, the Ice Truckers of Canada, utility men coming in to the region to fix our power lines (as was the case back in December of '08), or today in our nor'easter, I still find it, well, cool.
Caravans have always had logical purpose. The original camel caravans in Africa were necessary for survival. Merchant caravans of the Middle Ages required security from bandits. Frigate convoys protect the carriers. And so forth. The medium is always changing, but the reasons are still fairly fundamental: mutual collaboration and symbiosis.

I espouse this all because the plow trucks are out today, and as much as I chagrin at moments having being caught behind the diagonal row of plows clearing the highways, there's another part of me entirely that just finds it captivating. They're out there doing a job, sure, and getting paid for it too. I get that. This isn't altruism. However, if they weren't doing it, there would be a lot more issues on the roads. And the alternative? Follow the car in front of you to stay in their tracks? That's just another convoy. Six of one, half dozen of the other really I suppose. Still, I'll take the more efficient one. Plus the one that has plows and lights. I might as well get a show if I'm forced out in the weather.

I am perpetually marveled by the grand human condition - civilization, society, the prides and pitfalls of it all as a whole. I also marvel at the individual condition and what the everyday person can accomplish. I think about ideals and often wonder what we as a people could do if we all strive for something together. The modern traveling caravan is a microcosm of that ideal.

Today though, I'm just glad that the roads weren't that terrible. So carry on with the plowing and shoveling and general cleanup I say. I even like that weird machine they have they use on the side of the highways that cleans up the areas around the guard rails.

I couldn't come up with a name though.