I recently completed a trip around this great land of ours, and there was one thing I noticed that puzzled me. On the roofs of many mobile homes, there were old tires. The occupants (presumably) had thrown them up there. This occurred in state after state.
My question is why? Is this some sort of new and hip accessory? Is it a sport of some sort? A coded signal to the UFOs? Recycling mania?
My best guess is they are there to reduce the “rattle” the wind would make on the tin roofs. But then, why use tires? Why not use rocks, or wood, or something else? Why not use something a little less, eh, ugly?
I wonder if they were originally the tires on the trailer? I know many times the wheels/tires get left to rot off the bottom of the trailer. Maybe a 20 foot cliff with a pile of garbage at the bottom wasn’t available?
Or maybe the people living there share my son’s philisophy that if it goes on the roof, it no longer exists in what we call ‘reality’.
I’ve run into a lot of trailers and campers that develop nasty roof leaks. Not unusual to see a tarp stretched over the roof with tires used to hold it in place.
I do not have an answer to the “tire in the roof” question, so I must not be part of the group that Scylla is referring to.
Not to change the subject, but a related question:
Why do people drive around with coolers on top of thier vehicle? Is it so they can finally make some us of that expensive roof rack, or does the cooler contain freshly caught fish that would otherwise smell-up the interior? I also see Highway Wokers’ trucks with the famous yellow Igloo water cooler roasting in the midday sun, their spigots filthy with road soot. Would it not make more sense to put these items inside where their contents would stay cooler, and cleaner, longer? What gives?
That was my guess too. I’m not a redneck but do work on home repair with rural folks and plastic/tarps are held down with anything from logs to bags of sand (plastic shopping bags usually) to tires and boards.
Actually, rednecks are pretty smart people. Tires on the top of one’s mobile home help to give it a somewhat dillapidated appearance and serve to further the urban legend that only in-bred, slack-jawed, moronic hillbillies occupy the things.
In truth, tires on the top are a device used to convince drive-by tax assessors that the property has no true value. Therefore, the tax bill is greatly diminished, leaving more discretionary income for pick-up trucks, shotguns and beer.
That is the reason I throw tires on top of my trailer, anyway.