We got us a convoy!

“Was the dark of the moon on the sixth of June

In a Kenworth pullin' logs

Cab-over Pete with a reefer on

And a Jimmy haulin' hogs

We is headin' for bear on I-one-oh

'Bout a mile outta Shaky Town

I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.

"And I'm about to put the hammer down."

These immortal lines from that now classic piece of pop music Americana from the mid-1970s, “Convoy”, by C.W. McCall, B. Fried, and C. Davis. The song played into, or helped start and fuel the CB radio craze and the mania for just regular old drivers like you and me, chattering back and forth on CBs as we “dropped the hammer” and sped down the highways of America sporting funky CB handles (nicknames) and warning one another of upcoming highway patrol speed traps (“Smokey with ears at the 141, come back!”—translation: there’s a police car with radar parked on the side of the highway at mile marker 141, please acknowledge; appropriate trucker response, “Thanks for the weather report. That’s a big 10-4 good buddy!” There was even a “Convoy” feature film made in 1978 Starring Kris Kristofferson and Allie MacGraw and directed by Sam Peckinpah (although I don’t recall any slow-motion ultra-violence).

What possible relevance, you might ask, does this bit of American pop cultural history have to do with Germany, Düsseldorf, veterinary medicine or any of the other topics more typically addressed in this Blog? Well, get your ears on good buddy and I’ll be happy to send a weather report out your way, 10-4!

I was walking home last night from catching Puccini’s La Bohème at the Deutsche Oper am Rhein. I believe this may have been the last performance of the opera season at the Deutsche Oper and the hall was supposedly sold out. In fact, as I only bought my ticket yesterday morning, I had to purchase what the teller claimed was the last seat in the house—a great seat it was too—and for €50.20, I was glad of that! It was a fine performance, however, really excellent singing from the Rodolfo, nice clear lyric tenor with an easy top. Mimi also had a stunning voice but I thought maybe a little over-powering for the role. I think they amplify in that house (although I’m not sure) and sometimes she sounded miked and her voice just cut like a knife. I was thinking she occasionally sounded like something half-way between Puccini’s consumptive Bohemian and Wagner’s Valkyrie, Brünhilde, an appropriate enough chimaera for a German opera house! I‘m always somewhat struck when seeing Bohème when the TB-ridden lungs of the dying Mimi put out this torrent of beautiful and often loud sound—but that is opera after all! But really, especially in the second half of the opera, Mimi and the rest sang beautifully (Marcello and Musetta also were excellent) and I was close to tears at the end when Mimi finally kicks off.

OK—enough about opera, what about the convoy! So I’m walking home about 11:00 along das Rheinufer, the walk and bikeway built along the bank of the Rhine running from the Medienhafn northwards to the Altstadt. I was up on the higher level of the road, above the path closest to the Rhine. There were a lot of folks out enjoying the summer weather and then, up ahead, down on the lower level, close to the ground are small, somethings, all lit up with white and yellow and red lights and these things (UFOs?) are slowly moving along in a northerly direction. On closer inspection I see that there are about four of these things and they are being closely followed by people. It turns out that the UFOs were four, incredibly detailed, radio-controlled, semi-trailer trucks, each maybe half a meter or so in length. They would drive a bit, then pull over, re-group as a convoy, and set out again closely monitored by their “drivers”. And while they weren’t exactly putting the “pedal to the metal”, the trucks were making realistic truck sounds as they motored along. The drivers, by the way, were not adolescent boys but, as near as I could tell, two middle-aged and very German looking men and two women (their wives?). I didn’t have either my camera or the camcorder with me but perhaps the convoy will roll through Düsseldorf again next Saturday?

I may have had the strains of the Puccini opera running through my head but when I saw the truckers down there on the Rheinufer, all I could think of was:

Well, we laid a strip for the Jersey shore

And prepared to cross the line
I could see the bridge was lined with bears

But I didn't have a dog-goned dime.

I says, "Pig Pen, this here's the Rubber Duck.

"We just ain't a-gonna pay no toll."

So we crashed the gate doing ninety-eight
I says "Let them truckers roll, 10-4."



'Cause we got a mighty convoy

Rockin' through the night.

Yeah, we got a mighty convoy,

Ain't she a beautiful sight?

Come on and join our convoy

Ain't nothin' gonna get in our way.

We gonna roll this truckin' convoy

'Cross the U-S-A.(or somewhere!)

Convoy!”