If you happen to be driving through Montana and think you’ve just seen a killer whale swallowing a truck, don’t worry, you’re not hallucinating. You’ve just seen Killatrina.
Killatrina is a full-size orca built around an early-2000s Isuzu NPR box truck by Bennetto Fernandez as part of what he calls the Montana Orca Project.
The fiberglass whale appears to be swallowing the truck’s cab, complete with a cherry perched on top, turning an ordinary delivery vehicle into what may be the only mobile marine mammal in the Rocky Mountains.
Fernandez built the unusual vehicle in 2020 using metal, foam, fiberglass and a lifelong fascination with orcas.
“I love orcas because they’re powerful and they are also very collaborative,” Fernandez said. “They’re very communicative. They’re very family oriented. So, I think they’re kind of one of the best examples of what we can be as people.”
The whale isn’t just decorative. The tail opens into a service window, part of Fernandez’s long-term plan.
“I would really like to start my own ice cream factory,” he said. “I’m a ways off from that.”
Until then, Fernandez hopes Killatrina will inspire others.
“Somebody might see the orca and be like, ‘Dude, I need to make a blimp. I need to make a blimp that's an orca.’”
Smooth Recovery
For decades, cities have tried every possible strategy to fix potholes: patching them, paving over them, ignoring them, and occasionally apologizing for them.
Now scientists are experimenting with a more radical idea: roads that fix themselves.
The concept is known as “self-healing asphalt.” The material takes advantage of the fact that asphalt already has a natural ability to repair small cracks when heated. Engineers are trying to enhance that process by embedding special materials in the pavement so cracks close automatically before they grow into something much more expensive.
One of the most promising approaches comes from researchers at Delft University of Technology in the Netherlands. Their asphalt contains tiny steel fibers that allow engineers to reheat the pavement using an induction machine. The warmed asphalt softens and flows back into cracks, sealing them before they start recalibrating your suspension.
The Dutch government even built a test section of self-healing pavement on Highway A58, where researchers have been studying how the material holds up under real traffic conditions. Early results suggest that reheating the road every few years could double the lifespan of the pavement.
In the United Kingdom, researchers have developed asphalt filled with microscopic plant spores containing recycled oils. When cracks appear, the spores release the oil and help the pavement seal itself again. In lab tests, small fractures repaired themselves within an hour.
Of course, with the typical pace of infrastructure upgrades, self-healing roads should be available everywhere sometime shortly after flying cars.
High Cuisine
For a moment this February, flying cars appeared to be a reality in Frederick, Md., when residents noticed a bright yellow food truck flying over the city.
Turns out the truck was being lifted by a crane onto the third-story rooftop of The Banyan restaurant — which is somehow even stranger than the flying truck theory.
Dozens of locals gathered to watch the spectacle, which even featured a DJ playing the “Star Wars” theme.
When The Banyan opens this month, the truck — called the Hangry Rooster — will operate as a rooftop kitchen serving a rotating menu of food-truck staples and themed cuisines.
Restaurant owner Dan Caiola told the Frederick News-Post that he and his wife Staci drew inspiration from their trips to the Florida Keys, where roaming roosters have become part of the local scenery.
“Putting the Hangry Rooster up on the roof, it’s kind of like simulating having a rooster nesting up in the trees in Key West,” Caiola said. “That’s kind of our ode to Key West.”
The airborne poultry also solves a logistical problem. The Banyan’s main kitchen will sit on the first floor while rooftop seating is two stories above. Instead of building a second kitchen upstairs, Caiola opted to crane an entire food truck onto the roof.
All that’s left now is designing a giant corkscrew ramp for the drive thru.
David Matthews has been chronicling the unexpectedly humorous side of transportation news since 2000. The stories are all true.
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