FREEPORT — From the inside, the workplace shared by Keith Smith and Eric C. Smith looks much like any other big Ford truck, with its deep dashboard and firm, bucket seats.

It’s the other people on the road who are different.

Many drivers smile and gawk. Lots snap photos. A few contort themselves in their car seats until they can wiggle a foot through an open window.

Such is life in the bootmobile.

“Whether it be New York City or Chicago or en route, they’ll honk to us and hold up their L.L. Bean catalog for us to see,” said Keith Smith, who shares driving duties with Eric Smith. (They are not related.)

“We had somebody on the capital beltway take their slipper off — their flannel-lined, hand-sewn slipper — and hold it out the window as he was driving by,” Eric said. Thankfully, the vehicles were moving at a safe crawl.

“We were in heel-to-toe traffic,” Eric said wryly.

Both men, Keith, 52, of Augusta and Eric, 35, of Portland have been sharpening their bootmobile humor for about six weeks. In late May, five months after L.L. Bean unveiled the 13-foot-tall Maine Hunting Shoe on wheels, the guys landed what have become two of the most coveted positions in the company.

The vehicle, customized in Florida, is a symbol of the company that took off from the 1912 launch of the boot created by Leon Linwood himself. In June, with the Smiths behind the wheel, the bootmobile meandered its way to all but a couple of L.L. Bean’s 18 retail stores.

The guys park in front, pose for pictures, administer games of “Bean Boot Toss” and answer lots of questions.

“We’ve heard multiple times from L.L. Bean employees at other stores and a lot of people here in Freeport that we have the best jobs in the company,” Keith said.

That’s how they see it.

“Particularly during the 100th anniversary, to be ambassadors for the company, that’s really nice,” Eric said.

The guys were hired for the jobs after experience as both L.L. Bean workers and professionals. Eric was a camp director in West Gardiner. Keith served as a ranger at Baxter State Park for 27 years and ran a Nordic ski center.

They can talk about the outdoors with authority, plan events at stores and serve as spokesmen with the press.

Some of their ready trivia includes what if a shoe this big was ever worn. Estimates suggest it would be a size 746 and fit someone who was 143 feet tall.

The Smiths also have to be good drivers, though the boot handles well despite its unique shape.

The vehicle’s chassis is actually from a Ford F-250 Super Duty truck. The doors to the cab open up and out — like a DeLorean — and even the wind on the highway causes few problems.

“It’s a pretty aerodynamic boot,” Keith said. It runs on diesel fuel and is specially configured to create few exhaust fumes.

The only specialized equipment inside the cab is a rear-facing camera, to help the guys if they need to back up, and a truck GPS, which helps them map routes with enough clearance to prevent hitting a low bridge.

The guys have managed rides down Chicago’s Michigan Avenue and Manhattan’s Broadway, often drawing Maine natives as they go by.

In downtown Chicago, for instance, a guy ran across a busy street to say he was from Camden.

“We were driving down Broadway in New York City and all of a sudden there’s a woman there saying, ‘I’m from Auburn,'” Eric said.

To them, the boot was a piece of home.

“When somebody from Maine sees this, they’re on it,” Keith said.

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