This young man from Redding, California had a simple wish. Parker Wilson has been fascinated with semi-trucks for as long as he can remember. The autistic young man wanted a dread ride on one of the trucks during the Eureka Trucker Parade which took place in the city on December 9, 2023. However, just when he was about to achieve his dream ride on a semi-truck, the vehicle that was supposed to give him a ride faced a mechanical failure, per ABC 7 KRCR.
Wilson was miles away from his destination until a kind-hearted fellow stepped into Wilson’s rescue. “It was my first time being part of it,” Parker Wilson told the outlet during an interview. “How come you wanted to ride, instead of just watch? What made you change your mind about watching?” his mother, Kelly Scott asked. “Because watching was boring,” Wilson answered. The young man was diagnosed with autism when he was only 2 years old and the doctors back then informed his parents that he is less likely to become completely verbal.
However, the doctor’s diagnosis did not get in the way of Wilson pursuing his passion and remained fascinated by semi-trucks. Wilson has even started his own YouTube channel where he documented his love for semi-trucks in the Redding region. Gradually, he became a regular face in the trucking community of the city. Parker had dubbed his love for semi-trucks as “truck-spotting.”
The annual Eureka Truck Parade brought an opportunity for Wilson to finally ride one of those semi-trucks he loved. The community readily jumped in to fix him a ride. “I just put out a quick Facebook post that said ‘Hey trucker friends, anybody interested in helping Parker out?” Kelly recalled. “And the response was incredible. Within two hours, we had to put a stop to it.” Wilson received offers from over 30 different companies and independent truck drivers but the one truck that was about to give Parker a ride during the parade ended up malfunctioning just days before the truck parade event.
“Unfortunately kind of putting us in a mini-panic,” Kelly said. “But again, in hindsight, it wasn’t a panic at all. We just put two feelers out and that’s where we got Mike Divine.” Divine, a Redding local was one of the first truckers to offer to take Parker, and when he heard things had fallen through, he stepped up. Divine spoke to the outlet and reminded people that “everybody needs to be loved.” “They want to be loved and accepted, and if I can make his night why not? It’s all about him,” he mentioned. Divine drove to the Blue Lake area in the city where Wilson lived and started to decorate the truck for the event.
“I would hand Wilson the lights from up on top of the load, well his job was to feed it down through it,” Divine shared, breaking down the process of decorating his truck. Wilson’s mom was incredibly happy and overwhelmed to see the trucking community and others at the event welcome her son with love and warmth. “Not just the truck drivers but the mill workers as well,” she quipped. “They are always watching out for him, honking, waving.”
Divide recalled watching Wilson’s videos when he was filming trucks on the side of the road in Blue Lake. As a father of a child with special needs, Diving was eager to connect with Wilson. “If you saw that boy run up and down the boulevard filming all those trucks, you know he loves trucks,” Divine shared. “And to see his face when he climbed into that cab, it was just awesome.” Wilson got his dream ride at the event and he continues to pursue his passion for “truck spotting.”
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