I got to drive the float.
Last week I was confronted by two delemas: 1) I am not hiking right now so I have to find other things to do. 2) I tend to complain about the state of politics but find I can do little about it aside from voting and when I am in Antarctica I am actually not allowed to express a position for or against any candidate in a U.S. election.
As a solution to both of these issues I spent a couple of days last week volunteering for Scudder Parker: Vermont’s democratic candidate for governor. (I voted for the Republican incumbent in the last election but his ability to do what he promises for Vermont has been disappointing)
I spent most of Thursday on the phone with volunteers getting people to commit to marching with Scudder (that is his real name) in a parade on Saturday.
On Saturday morning I showed up and was put in charge of driving the float. The float is called the “People Powered Engine” and looks like a cross between a locomotive and an Airstream camping trailer. When I first heard there was a bicycle-powered float I was a bit worried it would look as unprofessional as some of the other “great ideas” I have seen local groups enter in parades. The PPE, however, was solidly built, (even using rivets) can be towed on the interstate up to 65 MPH and is a huge hit with the parade audiences who have seen enough restored John Deere tractors to last them for a while.
Four bikes have been bolted to an old boat trailer that makes the chassis of the float. A person sits on each of the bikes and pedals to power the float. About 20 feet ahead of them a bicycle seat was welded to the frame behind a set of handle bars that turn a couple of 12-inch tires. There isn’t a floor to the float so if we needed an extra kick I could get off my seat and push but the pedal power was very effective at getting us moving. The hardest part was trying to steer while looking through a four inch hole that was four feet in front of me. The best way to keep on the road I found was to keep the yellow line on the road between my feet but that didn’t work so well on the dirt roads.
In all it was a really fun way to spend a Saturday and I’m looking forward to driving the float again tomorrow.
Pictures of the float can be found here and here.
P.S. If Simmons was in charge of confetti he obviously didn’t show up.
As a solution to both of these issues I spent a couple of days last week volunteering for Scudder Parker: Vermont’s democratic candidate for governor. (I voted for the Republican incumbent in the last election but his ability to do what he promises for Vermont has been disappointing)
I spent most of Thursday on the phone with volunteers getting people to commit to marching with Scudder (that is his real name) in a parade on Saturday.
On Saturday morning I showed up and was put in charge of driving the float. The float is called the “People Powered Engine” and looks like a cross between a locomotive and an Airstream camping trailer. When I first heard there was a bicycle-powered float I was a bit worried it would look as unprofessional as some of the other “great ideas” I have seen local groups enter in parades. The PPE, however, was solidly built, (even using rivets) can be towed on the interstate up to 65 MPH and is a huge hit with the parade audiences who have seen enough restored John Deere tractors to last them for a while.
Four bikes have been bolted to an old boat trailer that makes the chassis of the float. A person sits on each of the bikes and pedals to power the float. About 20 feet ahead of them a bicycle seat was welded to the frame behind a set of handle bars that turn a couple of 12-inch tires. There isn’t a floor to the float so if we needed an extra kick I could get off my seat and push but the pedal power was very effective at getting us moving. The hardest part was trying to steer while looking through a four inch hole that was four feet in front of me. The best way to keep on the road I found was to keep the yellow line on the road between my feet but that didn’t work so well on the dirt roads.
In all it was a really fun way to spend a Saturday and I’m looking forward to driving the float again tomorrow.
Pictures of the float can be found here and here.
P.S. If Simmons was in charge of confetti he obviously didn’t show up.
posted by Adam at 1:59 PM
1 Comments:
Wow I love the float. It's beautiful
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