{"id":62219,"date":"2017-01-23T14:23:21","date_gmt":"2017-01-23T12:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/?p=62219"},"modified":"2017-01-24T09:09:28","modified_gmt":"2017-01-24T07:09:28","slug":"back-to-the-60s-for-90-year-old-joe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/news-headlines\/2017\/01\/23\/back-to-the-60s-for-90-year-old-joe\/","title":{"rendered":"Back to the 60\u2019s for 90-year old Joe"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The recent makeover is to commemorate Old Joe\u2019s 90th birthday following discussions on social media relating to the rocks\u2019 history and previous outfits.<\/p>\n<p>The rock was discovered in 1927 during the construction of the first road through Schoemanskloof.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old11.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-62222\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old11-484x400.jpg\" alt=\"old1\" width=\"484\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>It was found by construction workers who thought it bore a likeness to their site supervisor Joe Barbados, who was well liked by his crew.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old6.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-62226\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old6-484x400.jpg\" alt=\"old6\" width=\"484\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>They painted and erected it along the Patatanek Pass in honor of their supervisor\u2019s dedication, passion and efficiency during the construction phase.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old3.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-62229\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old3-484x400.jpg\" alt=\"old3\" width=\"484\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Legend has it that Old Joe looks after the road users of the N4 Toll Route and therefore it is important to hoot or wave to him when passing to ensure a safe journey.<\/p>\n<p>Since Old Joe has crept into the hearts of all TRAC employees, and clearly many of the road\u2019s users, TRAC wanted to make this anniversary special and allow Old Joe\u2019s ardent fans to remanence about days gone by.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old21.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-62230\" src=\"https:\/\/mobserver.co.za\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/92\/2017\/01\/old21-520x400.jpg\" alt=\"old2\" width=\"520\" height=\"400\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>After uncovering a photo of Old Joe from 1969, well-known Lowveld artist \u2013 Ghost \u2013 set to work on the transformation. It took Ghost approximately four hours to restyle Old Joe\u2019s outfit, but the effort was certainly worth it.<\/p>\n<p>TRAC is confident that the road users of the N4 Toll Route will thoroughly enjoy Old Joe\u2019s new (yet old) look and appreciate the historical meaning behind the rock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The N4 Toll Route\u2019s most recognized rock \u2013 Old Joe \u2013 has undergone yet another transformation. However, this time the coat of paint Joe is donning is familiar to \u2018him\u2019 as \u2018he\u2019 previously wore it back in 1969. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2844,"featured_media":62221,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"hasGravity":false,"cxt_article_byline":"Tobie van den Bergh","cxt_disable_google_ads":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-62219","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local-news","category-news-headlines"],"category_labels":{"Category":"News","SubCategory":"Local news"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62219","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2844"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=62219"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/62219\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/62221"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=62219"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=62219"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/develop.citizen.co.za\/middelburg-observer\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=62219"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}