Truck Etiquette and The Big Dawg
In rural Northern New Mexico, when meeting an oncoming pickup truck, the etiquette is simple—you wave. It’s a matter of community and just plain old manners. This rule doesn’t apply on the interstate. BusyMom on the proper response to letting you merge in front of her in traffic—
In return, you must give me "the wave", although it's not really a wave, there's no flapping fingers or lateral arm movement involved. It's more just sticking your hand up in the air far enough for me to see it through your back windshield, thus indicating that you realize that I overcame my natural tendency to not let you in just because, well, just because. Non-"the wave"-givers will be persecuted.
Good truck etiquette includes a wide variety of waves. Which wave to use is up to the discretion of the driver.
When I am driving my mid-sized SUV I generally greet oncoming drivers with the five-fingered, hand-just-slightly-above-the-steering-wheel wave. Straightforward. Clean. Friendly. Seems appropriate to me for the SUV-driving mom. I may wave a little more energetically, even raise the hand and apply some elbow action, if the driver of the oncoming vehicle is a also mom with a carload of kids.
Driving my husband’s GMC 454 crew cab, a.k.a. The Big DAWG, requires slightly more aplomb. With a winch and steel cable on her nose, Dwight Yokum crooning on the CD player, Dennis’ old Stetson in the hat holder, and the DAWG’s distinctive dings, scratches, and scruffy interior that mark her as the total workhorse she is, I prefer the cool lifting of the index finger from the steering wheel, especially when pulling the Sundowner and a load of horses up to the Pecos.
I don’t persecute non-“the wave”-givers like BusyMom, but I am disappointed by their lack of manners!
Flickr photo credits: Special ; Djll ; Ideaconstructor
