Hello everybody... just wanted to say that I too was happy to be able to meet some of the posters from EO while at the show.
I never got a hat. Didn't know they were givin' 'em away, but those who met me know now that I'm such a big guy I don't need a hat to be seen. Smile!
I got to meet DaveKC and his wife and RichM
and Lawrence and his wife.
JohnO, Cheri, Ateam, and TeamCafee.
I never got to meet the famous LDB (Leo).
The show was great, I drove in early Friday morning. I got some sleep in the K Lot of the Expo Center. Then went into the show.
I walked the west wing and pavillion and Pride and Polish competition on Friday. Sat. I walked the rest of the show... the east wing and met and talked with some really cool people again.
Saturday after the show ended at 5pm. I stuck around, got 3 catfish sandwiches for 5 bucks in the food court, and some home made potatoe chips as well. End of the show specials were plentiful.
I'm glad I stuck around, I got to see some wicked manuevering of trucks of all kinds as they were driving out of the building. That was neat, kind of a behind the scenes show for myself.
The army of forklifts after the show was amazing!
I was out in my rig by about 630 pm. The CB was kickin' with talk of a party in the Papa Johns Stadium parking lot... so, me not wanting to feel left out... "MotorMouth" got on the squak box and next thing I knew I was part of a mini-convoy over to the stadium. about 3 or 4 of us left together.
Apparently it was started last year, O/O's and co. drivers alike got together to have a party for the drivers after the show. They said that they saw that after the show everybody seemed to forget about "the truck driver". There was a BBQ trailer cookin' up ribs, burgers, hot dogs, pulled pork. There were cakes and pies, salads, chips... a big cook-out. Put together by no "one person", just a group of drivers bringing in food and drinks. no beer or nuthin' crazy. Just good clean fun. There was a fire pit with chairs around it, we all just stood/sat and talked. Co. drivers, O/O's, OOIDA members were plentiful, as well as the co. drivers.
While the bulk of it was 18 wheelers like myself, there were a handful of expediter trucks there, though most of the expediters present were in tractor trailers. In about a 6 hour period I'd say there was at any given time, the better part of 50 to 100 people milling around the picnic area. Papa Johns Stadium gave them the corner area so they had an area were no trucks were.
That was great! The drivers that wanted to contribute were told to put their money into an envelope (that they provided) and put it into a wooden wishing well with a mail slot in it's roof... I put in 5 bucks and had to cram my envelope into that box! it was teeming full of envelopes of money. The money went to some kind of Kentucky Troopers group that helped neglected children and took kids to summer camps that could not otherwise afford to go anywhere.
So, it was all for a good cause.
And, surprisingly enough, the porta-potties were clean.
even more surprising was that when I woke up on Sunday late in the morning there was an army of drivers scouring the parking lot cleaning up and making sure that the stadium grounds were clean - therefore giving "the truck driver" a clean image.
After that, there were many drivers out detailing their rigs -
me being one of them.
Here's another thing I want to share... there was a guy from a metal polish co. out there at 130 AM selling and pushing his product on channel 19... and ya know what - he was sellin' it too! he was a former driver that used the stuff himself... he'd find your rig, demo it, and sell you a 32 oz. bottle for 20 bucks... and it works too. By the likes of the CB chatter, I bet he cleared over 300 bucks in less than 2 hours. I sure wished the tire step or bunk warmer people would have done that, they were closed up and gone before the show even officially ended on Saturday.
There were fella's I passed as they were closin' up their booth around 415 pm that said they had to leave early due to an early flight out of the airport. That doesn't seem right to me, you make a commitment to the show, but yet don't stay for the entire show?
Guess that's why I'm a "truck driver" and not a corporate person.
The fella that was sellin' his product, that's a real salesman there.
I had to laugh at some guys sellin' a CB antenna at a booth, I asked them what made their antenna better than my Wilson, they said "how much does your Wilson cost?" I said over 30 bucks I think. They said "ours is only 5 dollars and we come out to the rig and tune it"
I asked again, speaking a little slower this time, to find out exactly what made their antenna better, and the best they could come up with is that they tune it themselves. I simply told them I'm a firm believer in the saying that "you get what you pay for".
I liked the vents for the sleeper with the built in fans, those were cool. Show specials were plentiful too, and now I'd wished I'd taken advantage of some of them... like sleeper panel lights... 305 for a pair at the show versus 375+ outside of the show. I've not gotten them yet. 75 Chrome shop gave me a price of 700 bucks installed for a pair of sleeper panel lights! I basically asked them to give up whatever it was they were smokin', 'cause it's gotta be illegal, and if it wasn't that I wanted in on some.
Another thing I was amazed at... the amount of large sleepers out there and the amount of rigs out there with generators of various kinds.
Well, I suppose I've babbled on enough...
Later All,
BigBusBob
