Go behind the wheel of the L.L. Bean Bootmobile | News

FREEPORT, Maine (NEWS CENTER) -- Winter is still a little ways away -- but over the past three months, you may have seen a giant boot rolling down the street nonetheless.

L.L. Bean created the Bootmobile to celebrate its 100th anniversary. It's been travelling all over the Northeast since June.

WEB: L.L. Bean Bootmobile

Eric Smith is an L.L. Bean Bootmobile driver -- and you should drive a mile in his shoe.

Smith has been on the run in this thing since June -- one of two drivers travelling around the country to help Bean's put its best foot forward during its 100th anniversary.

"We figure that probably somebody takes a picture of us on the road on average about once every mile," said Smith. "And we've driven about 12,000 miles of the U.S. this summer. So there's a lot of photos."

He's got his own collection of Bootmobile photos: The Bootmobile in New York's Times Square, The Bootmobile next to a giant inflatable dinosaur -- and the Bootmobile at the Shoe House in Pennsylvania.

"We took photos with the Paul Bunyon statue in Bangor. Big things. We like big things," Smith told NEWS CENTER. 

He's found people have some fun stories, too.

"People still remember that -- they remember their parents or grandparents corresponding with L.L. Bean himself about the products they're buying."

The Bootmobile is 13 feet tall and the outside is not leather and rubber -- it's actually made of fiberglass. Underneath it is a Ford F-250 Super Duty Turbo Diesel truck. It averages about 16 miles per gallon.