Skip to Main Content

Video: Ron Lessman's Truckhenge

Truckhenge

Topeka, Kansas

In 2007, Ron Lessman took us on a tour of Truckhenge, his playful art protest, and his other nutty creations.

He knew we were coming, and his wife suggested that he wear his "You say psycho like it's a bad thing" t-shirt...


Video Transcript

Ron Lessman's Truckhenge (2007)

[Truck passing sound]

I started Truckhenge approximately eight years ago when the county told me to pick my trucks up. I figured Nebraska had Carhenge, Texas got Cadillac row, well Kansas needed something.

The county told me pick my trucks up so that was the time to pick them up. I'd been raising hogs, I got rid of the hogs - the price went down so low. Had to do something with the trucks, I didn't want to ground them up they're good, they're good examples of these old '40s and '50s trucks that nobody seemed to want anymore, so I picked them up.

And then like, well, like the wagon wheels over there - that just shows that my family lived here so long that the wagon done rot away.

Then you've heard of Easter Island, well I've only got one rock so it's Esther Island.

And then, remember the '60s and '68 Olympics, where the two black guys held her hand up, that's my wife over there where we were waving you on or flipping you off.

And then we started with the trucks up in the air, the County said I couldn't have any loose metal out here because it was gonna float down the river, like the floods gonna know if this is different, you know, than a piece of angle iron or a plow. So I concrete all my containers in. They told me to pick my trucks up because they're gonna float down the river. Boats float, boats float. [passing truck sound] Boats are made out of metal.

Therefore the trucks with 42,000 pounds of concrete aren't gonna float down the river. Okay! I picked my trucks up.

We got the truth is buried over here, that's what's buried right there and then one truck says this is a place there is no place like this place so

This must be the place. Therefore it wasn't farming, okay fine, if they don't got any idea what I'm doing here, they can always look over here. I got a bumper crop, you can tell I got a good farm down here. I got a bumper crop.

I started picking up these little street signs and started write things on them like Zone to Speak Your Mind, Watch Out, Warning, Man With Idea.

The county told me that my hubcaps - license plates I couldn't have any loose metal so I I wired all my metal together and made me a little tornado. That's because you know all the crap goes on around here.

And then this one that's what mainly was what pissed them off over there but I wrote it on the truck - If These Trucks Can't Stand Why Do We Fight The Taliban? and then the other one said A Memorial for Liberty, Rome didn't kill Jesus killed Jesus because Bureaucrats Did. And that just pissed them off too. You know, these guys can't take notes they got no sense of humor at all.

More on Truckhenge

RoadsideAmerica.com Videos | Kansas Videos

My Sights

My Sights on Roadside America

Create and Save Your Own Crazy Road Trip! ...Try My Sights

Mobile Apps

Roadside America app: iPhone, iPad Roadside America app for iPhone, iPad. On-route maps, 1,000s of photos, special research targets! ...More

Roadside Presidents app: iPhone, iPad Roadside Presidents app for iPhone, iPad. POTUS landmarks, oddities. ...More

Kansas Latest Tips and Stories

Latest Visitor Tips

Sight of the Week

Sight of the Week

Easter Island Moai in America (Mar 25-31, 2024)

SotW Archive

USA and Canada Tips and Stories

More Sightings

Favorite Quirky City Sights