Truckers unwind with free rinds

“I think they’ll find any trucker will support them if they give him something free to eat.” — Truck driver Bill McDonnelWAPAKONETA — Don Noblit left Bowling Green on Wednesday morning hauling a massive John Deere tractor, bound for Melbourne, Fla. He was expecting another in a string of long and thankless days.He was half right.Noblit was one of dozens of truckers who came across a pleasant surprise Wednesday at Wapakoneta’s Travel Centers of America truck stop. It was pretty girls in Rudolph Foods T-shirts, handing out free pork rinds as a thanks to passing truckers.“I’ll take it. You don’t get that much,” Noblit said as he walked off with a bag of barbecue snacks.About a half-dozen Rudolph Foods workers spent the day at the truck plaza chatting with drivers and handing our bags of spicy, barbecue and traditional pork rinds. The giveaway was the Westminster rind producer’s way of sayings “thanks” to the men and women who work every day to make sure their product makes it to market.“We realize without truckers delivering our products they would not get into the hands of consumers. We realize how important they are,” said Amanda Helmstetter, Rudolph marketing manger.The company set up stations in two Ohio cities along with stops in all six of the markets in which they have plants, Helmstetter said. Between delivery of raw materials and transport of Rudolph’s products, the company depends on thousands of truckers each week to stay in business, Helmstetter said.But Rudolph had an ulterior motive Wednesday, beyond expressing their gratitude to drivers. The public display was another in a long list of efforts the company has made to gain public attention as they lobby for the Holy Grail of promotional opportunities, a National Pork Rind Day. “We’re really looking at the big game day, the Super Bowl. We would like to see Super Bowl Sunday declared National Pork Rind Day,” Hemstetter said. Whatever the reason, the truckers who stopped by were just happy for their freebies. For them, any days a good day for a free snack.“They want to call it Pork Rind Day and give me free pork rinds, I’ll vote for it,” said Bill McDonnel as he stopped on his way to Louisville, Ky. “I think they’ll find any trucker will support them if they give him something free to eat.”You can comment on this story at www.LimaOhio.com.