"I had no idea how much I was going to enjoy people laughing and smiling at me," said Steve Braithwaite after cruising into Downtown Flint in his giant, motorized banana and parking it on the bricks of Saginaw Street. The Coopersburg, Pa. resident with Flint ties brought the former pickup truck back through the area Thursday, more than two years after buying the original vehicle from a junkyard in Argentine Township. No, he doesn't work for a fruit company, he told passersby. There's no corporate sponsor. He isn't making any political statement or crusading against potassium deficiency. He just decided one day that he wanted to turn a Ford F-150 into a banana and travel the world in it. "I just had a crazy desire to do something ridiculous," he said. Braithwaite spotted a banana in a fruit basket one day while in line to pay for fuel at a gas station. The idea made its way into his mind as he stared at the fruit until the customer in line behind him had to tap his shoulder. Read Full: US (PA): Giant banana cruises through Flint area
