I think it still might work if the highway lunch wagon offered nifty stuff to eat that wasn't available at the local beanery. Truckers might call in orders just for the novelty of it.
As far as I know, sternwheelers were only popular on the really wide rivers like the Mississippi and Ohio where they had lots of room to maneuver. I was wondering whether the legendary Proud Mary was a sidewheeler or a sternwheeler, but all that Google could turn up was
the song.
