The Stovebolt Site Forums The Shop Area General Truck Talk The Wave

We all live in different types of communities. I remember, back when I lived in the country, how folks used to acknowledge each other when they met on the road. It didn't matter if it was the arm out the window "Hey!" or the "four fingers off the top of the steering wheel" or just a nod and a smile. It was a good feeling. Living in a urban area, road rage seems to be the norm instead. I think it'd be great if people could start waving to other drivers instead of just waving the finger. Personally, I always wave to people in classic vehicles. (no matter the make or condition) Any thoughts from the rest of you?

I live in the country and generally wave at every one when on the back roads and most wave back. Once I'm on the highway seems like no one notices. And in town, forget it.

When I'm on my Goldwing I wave at other bikers, town or country. Most wave back. The exception seems to be Harley riders. They are hanging on for dear life afraid if they take one hand off the bars the unstable POS will get away from them.

Hey JRod,
I agree. Seems the busier we get the less time we seem to have for just being nice. I'm guilty of it all the time. Especially when I'm "stuck" behind a slow driver. Don't know why, just don't seem to have the time to go slow and take it easy anymore. Thanks for starting this thread. Maybe we can all start taking the time to acknowledge others and being nice again. I'll make a conscious effort to change my ways.

folks jes ain't right no mo'.



I wave at folks in old trucks... but unless they have a chevy truck also, most of the time they look at me funny.

They are prolly wonderin' 'why is that guy in that old truck wavin' at me? '

-W

Hey cletis-I ride a Harley and wave at every other biker I meet. Even you Goldwing riders. And, there ain't nothing unstable about my Sportster-lean, mean, trim and ready to run. Unlike that overgrown behemoth you ride... :p

I also wave at any other classic cars and trucks I meet. I figure that it is "us" against "them". Most wave back. Some don't. Once a couple of years ago, a Model T tour group came through town. I was in the '51, and waved at every one I met. The only guy who waved back was an odd-ball Model A in the group.

I grew up in the country, and have lived there most of my life. I wave at people even when I am outside working. The long-time neighbors always wave back. We have even been known to stop and talk for a little bit. For the most part though, the transplanted city folks just stick their nose in the air and ignore you.

I agree with Woogeroo-people just ain't right.

I grew up in the country (Vermont & Maine) and we waved at just about everyone on the road. Now it seems that if someone waves, it's with one finger.

Can't we all just get along?

'The Wave' is common here in the middle of nowhere (oops, I mean rural north central Arkansas).

I find it's the ones who're "rabidly" identified w/ a more limited group, like the model T guys, who won't wave back - it's a "tribal mentality" for all of us, and some tribes are too exclusive, rather than inclusive - billet hot rod drivers who only come out on sunny days to gather some bling at a show seem to think they're waaay above wavin at a 50 year old truck

Bill

I wave at the other old vehicles too. Most wave back. This being Boca Raton, Bill's tribal types are joined by "clueless" types - those rich guys and gals who purchased their nostalgia and know nothing of the hobby and don't recognize other classics when they pass.

There are two gorgous young ladies on bicycles that I pass most days on my beach cruise to work in BillyBob. They started waving at BillyBob and I give them a short beep and a wave thru the rear window after I pass them. This has turned into a habit. One day when I was in my Renegade Jeep, I repeated the ritual and they looked at me like I was a sexual predator

Larry,
I have seen this before...they (the girls) must be "Bolt-Babes"..a Jeep just won't cut it!!


Stuart.

Whoa!! Guys on big full dress ElectrGlides wave at everybody on little cycles and Hondas also. They usually wave back also.

Country living has its benefits hands up in the air, smiles on faces, and all 5 fingers doing what they should do. In town or bypass I just get tired being pointed out number 1.

popcorn The Truth is Out There (The waving thing is good)

Here in our rural town, I like to wave at folks too... but it's not just any ol' wave it's got to be that nonchalant, casual, hand up off the steering wheel kind of acknowledgement.

Everyone waves back... of couse, we're the only store in town and everyone knows the truck. Which also means that if someone really pisses me off I have to be nice! : )

I have a theory about this. When you live in a city- or anywhere that is densly populated- there is not much appreciation for other people. They're just in your way. The irony is that though you're surrounded by more people, you probably know fewer of them.

I've heard that if you throw enough rats into a cage together, they start to eat eachother.

Oh and have a nice day!

Being a new owner of an old truck I can only use my experence from my other vehicles I've had on the wave. When I owned my 1960 VW split window bus I waved any anyone who would wave at me because majority of the time it was just normal people, driving new cars and trucks admiring an oldie. VW owners always wave at other VW owners even across the highway or interstate cause i think its the attitude that goes along with the vehicles - its a relaxed, laid back, hippie thing. Had a musle car for a while and that just makes people want to race you. Gotta be macho! Never a wave, just a rev of the engine (which was sometimes fun too). And now I'm waiting on my 1950 1/2 ton to make its way to me from the barn it sits in. I realize I dont know whats its like to drive an old truck and see other old trucks on the road yet, but the feeling i get about vehilcle from the 50's is again a cruzin thing. I look foward to waving at trucks and cars a like, just hope I get a wave back!

My kids have got to the point where they don't ask "who's that dad" took them about 15 years of "i don't know"

I generaly wave at other people in Stovebolts if I'm driving something that they are likely to understand is also a Stovebolt.

But anymore I rarely wave at my wife or most friends because by the time I recognize who it is its too late to be seen. My aging eyes can't tell one green Subaru from the eight or ten others I see everyday.

I recognize a Stovebolt in plenty of time most days. But coming home tonight I failed to notice and wave at the guy who sold me the truck I was driving. Old age... He was driving his slammed '72 Chevy that I should see a mile away!

OK Harley guys, no offense intended. Sorry you took it that way. There are exceptions but most people on Harleys don't wave back to someone on a Goldwing. It's a joke to us that they must be afraid to take their hands off the bars. We know it's really because of arrogance. Unless you've ridden a Goldwing I guess you wouldn't see it.

As far as .... I'm ready to put in an 800 mile day any time.

I find that half the time the reflective windows on vehicles these days don't let you see who's driving. Can't see if they wave anyway. No fun to wave at someone you can't see.

So many minivans and such look alike. I am to busy driving to try and remember license plate numbers too.

I mostly drive the '47 panel, and wave at anyone I catch looking, no matter what I am driving at the moment. I've made friends in my neighborhood just by waving at familiar vehicles. They soon begin to wave back and eventually stop to ask something or just say howdy.

Whoever I catch looking at the panel, when I wave, they almost always smile and wave back.

When I'm driving the panel, the people that mostly seem to notice, are people that others would consider unsavory looking. I figure they're like me, too busy working on stuff to bother getting cleaned up just to run to the parts store.

Minivan moms (especially the ones with cell-phone ear) seem to notice the panel the least.

My favorites are the little kids, slack-jawed and agape, unashamedly pointing at the strange old truck. I've even been known to pull over to let them get a closer look.

No offence taken, Cletis. Just wanted to jerk your chain a little.

There are a few "bikers" I don't wave at. Those on scooters (unless they are vintage Cushman, etc.) or those annoying little pocket bikes. Man I hate those things.

I am with you tpyle. We live on a corner lot with a picket fence all around the yard. People will beep at us and I wave. Sometimes I know them most times I don't. I just acknowledge the Beep. Heck I wave at cars/trucks that are the make and model of my buddies even if its not them. Boy some of the looks I get when I do this is funny!

The other day I was driving home from work. I was traving a busy section of 5 lane road (2 in each direction w/ center turn lane). I noticed that I was in the blind spot of the guy to the right of me. So I see his blinker come on and I give him a little Beep on the horn to let him know I am there. Traffic moved along and I passed him, gave him the wave and this guy looked [censored] or confused, oh well life is too short to worry about it. I wave to everybody.

Cletis ol friend: Just teasing a bit and you know that. Heck in the group (20) that I and Maws ride with 1/2 of them are GoldWings. Almost bought a Honda owned 2 or 3 but just down right stole this Harley! .

popcorn The Truth is Out There (Can't ride 800 mi.s a day I get to sleepy because of the smooth ride from my Glide)

Since bikes were mentioned I have to share this story with all of you. About a month ago my wife and I were downtown just watching people, going to the farmer's market, etc. At a stoplight was a guy on one of those cute little motor scooters. All of a sudden we hear the unmistakeable roar of about 8 or 10 Harleys pulling up next to him to make a right turn. Every one of those Harleys was being ridden by a woman! We laughed for an hour at our comments to each other about what must have been going through eveyone's mind at the time. We both bet that the guy felt castrated. Downtown Bend on a summer evening is a busy place and lots of people saw this. Oh, and one other thing, every one of those women saw this guy... noone waved.

Fab, Cletis, Popcorn, so I ride a Amen rigid with a springer I built with a Honda SOHC 750 motor... Who the heck waves at me...? I can't tell, I AM usually hanging on for dear life!!! Those rigid's aren't as much fun at 41 as they were at 31, I can tell you that!!! I too get snubbed by SOME Harley riders, but any more it seems like most of them can appreciate the fact that after toiling about a year in my garage, THIS bike WAS built in the USA! Other than that, I'm a waver... I teach all my patrol officers here in smalltownville to do the same thing (even tho some of them think I'm nuts!)

I’ve been waiting for someone else to tell this old story, but since no one has, maybe it’s a northern plains thing . . .

City slicker moves to the country. Everywhere he goes, drivers are giving him the finger. He finally gets fed up with it one day and asks a coworker why the country bumpkins are always flipping him the bird. The coworker is confused a moment, then laughs.

Turns out the bumpkins were giving the new guy the customary wave with the index finger from the steering wheel, which the city slicker interpreted as an obscene gesture.

The "wave" in these parts tends to be a class or group thing, and consists of two fingers (pointer and middle) extended from the top of the steering wheel.

If you're driving an old beat up farm truck, and another beat up old farm truck (or a tractor) is comming the other direction, both will wave.

If the same exact guy passes you while you're driving your fancy new truck.. he won't wave.

Harley riders don't usually wave in my experience.. they favor the head nod.. and thats a gesture usually reserved for other Harley (or the occasional Indian) riders.

When I made the 50+ mile trek back home with the '50 2 ton, I only got a few waves, all from guys in Chevrolet farm trucks.

I personally do the wave thing to just about everybody I pass on the back roads, regardless of what they (or I) am driving. Seems the wave is usually not returned unless both of us are driving an old beat up truck.

When I was livin in rural country I always waved to people I passed. When I moved to the city I soon realized that you just can't wave at everyone. Your arm gets pretty tired after the first million or so people. Eventually you just give up. By the way, what in the h$ll was I thinkin movin to the city!!? Gotta fix that mistake.

I should have added that when i bought my panel home a guy in mu$t@ng gave me a nod and a thumbs up. I wonder if he might have got converted or something???

Know what you mean. I deliver mail and KNOW most of the folks I see. If I don't wave I'm acctually being rude.

Fumblin,

My Mom and I chuckle and refer to the the two finger wave as the "friendly long-distance nose pick."

It's uncanny. You lift a couple fingers, and their head pops back as if you scored a perfect shot up both nostrils. *grin*

I'm with most of you guys. When I moved from central Iowa, to the East coast, I missed the "social driving" from home.


-Joel

How many of you have read John's "Giving the old 2 finger salute"?