When I was your age, I used to follow the Town Highway crew around on my bike and watch the grader and loader work. Wasn't much else in the way of construction here then. I also used to watch the tractor trailers go down the highway at my grandmother's house in Pa., we didn't see many trucks here either.
That led to a 20+ year career as a truck driver in both construction and freight. I got to run machines at the construction job too, at that time, I would have paid them to do it!
I also built model cars and trucks, I spent many hours making them as realistic as possible. I even won a contest with one. Unfortunately the real world took over my life and I have no time for that anymore, but I've got about 30 unbuilt kits waiting for me when I retire!