Slight Detour – February 2024
The calendar may have rolled over, but that hasn’t stopped the wild tales from rolling in. Here is a collection of the best for our first 2024 edition of Slight Detour.
Why not?
I have three kids. One of their favorite things to ask is “Why?” Repeatedly. To everything. While I appreciate this quest for knowledge, it does have a tendency to become a bit grating.
When it comes to setting Guinness World Records, however, it seems the question many of the record holders ask is “Why not?”
Take Grigor Manukyan, for example. The Armenian teenager recently shattered the record for pullups done on a bar between two moving trucks.
It’s a workout that would make Lincoln Hawk proud. The 18-year-old pumped out 44 pullups while dangling between two moving semis. During the attempt, the trucks were required to maintain a speed of 5 kilometers per hour (or 3.1 mph, for us here in the States).
Manukyan broke the previous record of 35 set last year by a gentleman known as “The Italian Butterfly,” who sounds like an interesting individual in his own respect. The young Armenian said he could have kept going but stopped at 44 for a specific reason.
“This record was not difficult for me due to my rigorous training,” Manukyan said. “I think I could have brought the number up to 50, but I decided to stop at 44 and dedicate my record to the bright memory of the heroes who were martyred in the ill-fated 44-day Artsakh war, in which thousands of Armenians died.”
Apparently, performing athletic feats while hanging from various modes of transportation is kind of Manukyan’s thing. In 2022, he set a record for the most chin-ups from a helicopter in one minute, with a total of 36. And he’s currently training to attempt to set the record for the most pullups from a plane in one minute.
Again … Why not?
His pullup prowess isn’t confined just to moving vehicles, either. Manukyan also holds the record for the most four-finger pullups (31) in one minute, while wearing a 20-pound pack. He formerly held the record for the most towel pullups in one minute with 33, a record that was later broken by one.
Sarcasm aside, I’m oddly impressed by this athletic accomplishment that I never knew I wanted and can’t wait to follow up about those pullups from a plane. I think the Walcott Jamboree needs to adopt this for its annual Trucker Olympics. Why not?
Home on the road
Truckers are used to making the road their home. However, one Missouri man recently took that a bit too literally.
One evening, police in Excelsior Springs, Mo., received multiple reports from motorists claiming that someone nearly ran them off the road. When officers caught up with the person causing the commotion, they were shocked by what they saw: a 2002 Dodge Ram towing a 70-foot mobile home.
Then, as police attempted to pull over the nearly 40,000-pound moving domicile that lacked brake lights or turn signals, the driver proceeded to take them on a low-speed chase.
In a fantastically narrated Facebook video released by the Excelsior Springs Police Department, Sgt. Kyle Craven takes viewers through the pursuit and eventual arrest.
“He was traveling all over the roadway; thought he might be drunk,” Craven said in the video.
Moving at around 30 mph, the driver of the vehicle – along with his wife riding shotgun – somehow managed to evade a set of stop sticks. The driver then attempted to make a hard left, bottoming out the trailer and bringing the chase to a stop.
“Then we took him to jail, like Excelsior does. Woo-wee!”
Woo-wee indeed, Sgt. Craven.
To add to the absurdity of the situation, Craven told a local radio station that his department later received a phone call from someone claiming to be the rightful owner of the mobile home.
The driver was charged with felony fleeing, failure to obey traffic signals, careless and imprudent driving, failure to maintain lanes and driving with a suspended license. His wife was arrested for an outstanding warrant, which feels particularly on-brand here.
No good deed goes unpunished
I’m continually amazed by people who stop to help when something goes wrong. Mostly because I’m fairly certain that – given the same set of circumstances – I would likely have had the opposite reaction.
Perhaps that makes me a terrible person, something we’ve established several times in this column. Maybe I’m just honest. Either way, I would wager most are like myself, which makes the heroic deeds of good Samaritans all the more impressive.
With that said, tip of the cap to a group of individuals and first responders who helped remove a trucker from his vehicle following a rollover crash in Death Valley National Park.
While traveling down a steep grade on CA-190, the driver lost control of the truck, causing it to overturn several times. The contents of the trailer, an estimated 400 beehives, were scattered along the roadway.
According to a report from the National Park Service, passersby helped pull the driver from the crash while getting stung by bees in the process. Yeah, that sounds about right.
It wasn’t only these kind souls who felt the wrath of the angry swarm. The driver, along with several emergency responders, also were stung.
Officials said the driver suffered “traumatic injuries from the rollover and bee stings” and was taken via helicopter to a nearby hospital. No update was given on his condition.
The National Park Service said 20 of the beehives were able to be salvaged.
So keep this story in mind if you’re ever presented with an opportunity to haul a load of bees. It could make you think twice, or at the very least make you ask for hazard pay. LL