Bote,
Thanks for your post. I just want to say--not to overemphasize one part of what you said and diminish the others--but I have spent two years of straight hitchhiking around the country (and have been hitching on and off for about 6 years), and have crossed it 8 times now, and have been across Canada once. Not to say that I need to build my credibility or anything, but just to offer that this isn't about some abstract interest.
Also, I appreciate you offering that you find the best documentaries attempt to shed the ego of the documentarians in order to fully and accurately represent the subject so far as the medium allows. That's what we're trying to do. My own personal bias as far as this subject is concerned is in regards to its relevancy. I feel that trucker culture is far more relevant to the vast majority of Americans than they'd like to admit. All of what goes on at these truckstops has to do with getting, amongst other things, food onto the tables of everyday people. In that sense, my hope is to have people look at this and realize how relevant to their daily existence this actually is. In my mind, the prostitute giving a blowjob to a trucker while he transports bell peppers across the country from Mexico to New York is no less an important part of the process of bringing those bell peppers to the table than is the migrant worker, the trucker, or the restaurateur. It's not exactly the system I want, it's just the one that we have, and I think it's important for folks to stare the truth in the face.
Peace and Love,
Dan
P.S. Thanks for your story, too.