Have you seen it all?

Life amuses me on a regular basis. I remember one day, driving to the grocery store, I saw five Canadian geese standing in a perfectly diagonal line blocking a lane of travel like living traffic cones. I like experiences like this, they remind me that life is full of surprises and things aren't always what they seem.

Today I had the chance to be surprised once again.My husband and I had a rare child-free weekend, had just picked my son up from my parents and were headed home. As we were driving along, we came across this Roman chariot driving down I-40. Driving up behind this, ahem, contraption, we were rather baffled, was it a trike, some sort of farm vehicle, a carnival ride? After we passed it, we came to the conclusion that it was a little of all three. What you can't see is there is a small stuffed jockey riding on the back of the horse.

Now it takes all kind of people to make this world an interesting place, but I have to admit that I've had a hard time trying to figure out the type of person that spends the money to turn a trike into a chariot that is road-worthy. Adding to my confusion is the fact that the driver seemed annoyed that I was taking a picture of his vehicle. (By the way, I wasn't the only one, I saw at least two other people snapping pics as they passed by.) I suppose perhaps he felt it was an invasion of his privacy, but didn't the act of driving on the road in a vehicle that looks like a ride from the state fair negate his inherent right to be left alone? I took care not to get his face, but seriously, you don't drive something like this without expecting to be noticed.

It made me think about other forms of exhibitionist behavior. I personally have no problem with it, and often don't notice things that are different about people. I think you should have the right to express yourself as you see fit (without hurting other people of course) but I think it is unrealistic to expect that others are not going to stare, comment or in this case, photograph, the differences.

At the end of the day, I don't understand it, but I kind of like it. How cool is it to be able to ride in a Roman chariot on a North Carolina highway in 2011. Life is short, do what you want. Just do me a favor, if you plan to be out on the road in a vehicle that resembles anything fun, like a hot dog, domesticated animal or other such interesting thing, please let me know. I need more random sightings in my life, it keeps me from taking things too seriously.