On Friday, we got a load from Los Angeles to Oklahoma City (yes, we're back in CA again after a nice run from AL). Oklahoma City is close enough for us to make it to the show. We'll be there all three days. We'll stay at a hotel 30 miles away, Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights.
With the O'Connells unavailable this year due to Rene's surgery, Lawrence asked us to work a stint in the EO booth. We are honored and humbled by Lawrence's request.
Three years ago, at the 2003 show, Diane and I were trucker wannabees researching the industry. We attended MATS to gather information but had not yet heard of expediting. An odd-looking truck caught our eye. It was an expediter displayed by Freightliner of Knoxville. When we asked, "What is expediting?", Terry and Rene' enthusiastically told us and answered the string of questions that followed. By the end of the day, Diane and I knew we'd found our home in the trucking industry; thanks in large part to EO and especially Terry and Rene'.
While time in the booth (schedule unknown at this point) gives us the chance to give something back to EO and expediting, we look forward to seeing Terry and Rene' back in the booth next year, healthy as ever. We also look forward to putting faces with screen names and meeting old friends and new.
Phil and Diane Madsen