It is currently in the middle of an expansion or major rennovation. The information contained within this article should not be considered fully accurate until this tag has been removed
"i'm gonna make a w.i.p template, it's w.i.p right now" - BartDude20
- “Dad, they're trying to kill us.”
- ―Bart Simpson
- “Oh, why do all my trips end like this?”
- ―Homer Simpson
"Maximum Homerdrive" is the seventeenth episode of Season 10.
Synopsis[]
When a steak-eating contest between Homer and a beloved trucker proves fatal for the latter, Homer (accompanied by Bart) decides to complete his final run for him, and discover a shady industry secret about truckers. Meanwhile, Lisa and Marge buy a new doorbell, but can't get anyone to ring it.
Full Story[]
Lisa announces that she is going to protest a new steakhouse which allows its customers to kill their own steak, which is called "The Slaughterhouse" (it is also decorated with hanging steer carcasses and a fountain of blood, and everything on the menu is meat - even the menu itself). Homer hears the name of the steakhouse and is astonished that nobody told him about what he thinks is an amazing place, and takes the rest of his family to eat there except Lisa who decided to stay home, where he enters a challenge with a friendly truck driver named Red Barclay. The challenge Homer and Red enter revolves around who will finish off a "Sir Loin-A-Lot" first, a 16 lb (256 ounce or 7.26 kg) steak that only two people in the history of The Slaughterhouse have finished (Red being one and Tony Randall being the other). The gargantuan steak is more than a match for Homer, as for once in his life he is unable to finish his food and breaks down sobbing. Red does so, but dies minutes later of what Dr. Hibbert calls "beef poisoning". This surprises the staff and occupants of the diner before Hibbert reassures them that it was "probably from some other steakhouse" (coincidentally informing the Simpsons beforehand that he owns a fair percentage of the steakhouse). Homer then chooses to finish Red's last delivery and brings Bart along with him, leaving the rest of the family behind.
Lamenting that Homer and Bart always get to go on exciting adventures, Marge says "Maybe it's time we took a walk on the wild side." However, she, Lisa, and Maggie end up going to a doorbell store to buy a doorbell that they install themselves, which plays The Carpenters' song "(They Long to Be) Close to You". Lisa wants to press the doorbell, but Marge insists that they should let visitors do the ringing first. Unfortunately, they barely get any visitors and they never get to ring for various reasons (Milhouse is trying to sell birdseed, but is attacked by birds, some Jehovah's Witnesses were about to ring the doorbell when they reconsider their careers). Marge desperately tries to order garlic bread from Luigi's to get someone to ring the doorbell, but unfortunately the delivery man, who is Wiseguy, prefers to knock on the door and leaves when he hears that Marge is not interested in the garlic bread. Finally, Lisa gets fed up and rings the doorbell herself. However, the new doorbell starts to malfunction, playing its tune over and over again.
Meanwhile, Homer and Bart are fishing for catfish in a stream running under a road-bridge. Homer remarks that they're ahead of schedule, to which Bart replies that they not only are way behind, but they have to cross much of the country in only 10 hours. To try and still make the deadline, Homer purchases some pills that will keep him awake overnight. He takes an entire bottle of pep pills, followed by a bottle of sleeping pills to balance it out. In the truck, he alternates between being hyper to being drowsy until he finally falls asleep at the wheel, almost heading off a cliff. The next morning, he awakes to discover a secret: the truck drove by itself with its Navitron Autodrive system. He talks it over with other drivers, who inform him that he should not mention anything about the truck driving by itself. The truck's Autodrive system also helps keep itself safe. To demonstrate the system, Homer and Bart sit on the hood. A passing bus notices this, and Homer outright tells them about the Autodrive system and its nature as a secret scam, and tells them to keep it a secret. Another truck driver behind Homer notices this and informs the other truckers about the situation.
Back in Springfield, Marge tries to cut the wires to the doorbell, but discovers that Homer has once again traded his tools for M&M's. She chooses to just pull the wires out, but this causes the doorbell to speed up and get louder, making the dogs howl and disturbing the neighbors.
Homer and Bart are enjoying themselves until a mob of truckers get in a showdown with Homer, and he survives without the help of the Autodrive system, which had ejected itself from the truck by managing to get the truck to jump over the others. The truckers briefly consider giving up scamming before choosing just to bootleg Beanie Babies. Homer and Bart finish the shipment of Artichokes and migrant workers by taking it to Atlanta, but they still need transportation home. The Lord provides one, as a freight train full of napalm headed back to Springfield needs a driver (as the original driver had quit because he didn't want to deliver a train full of napalm to Springfield).
Back at the Simpson house, the doorbell's tune grows so annoying and loud, that an angry crowd has gathered. Chief Wiggum is about to shoot it until the doorbell store's mascot, Señor Ding Dong, uses his whip to silence the noise from the doorbell. Everyone in Springfield is thankful for him, and Señor Ding-Dong attempts to make a dramatic exit, but his Chevrolet van is malfunctioning and he is instead forced to ask for jumper cables.