Well that’s pretty awesome guys, I’ll give ya that. This was my first one; I guess you can say my MATS cherry has been popped. I’ll just give you a brief rundown of some of the things I did.

Thursday was all business, I started in the west wing and then did the north wing. I got a lot of contacts for insurance, a total of four (I think) and I got a mattress for my truck and did NO frivolous spending. I also spent some time getting information on some possible future purchases, products I here you guys talk about. We also looked at the trucks in the competition. There didn’t seem to be too many, and a couple of people I talked to said there wasn’t as many this year as in years past. Fuel related maybe.

Friday, that’s when trouble hit. I did the south wing, which was all I had left to do, and I attended three seminars. The seminars were Compliance (drug and alcohol), Roadside Inspections, which was a good one actually, we did a mock level one with a KYDOT man on a truck in the lot. The last one was “New Trucking Authorities, Surviving the First Year”. This one was total BS, they were just trying to sell you authority packages and insurance. Two out of three ain’t bad though.

Trouble hit when I found the booth selling hats and other various items. I am a sucker for hats, I’ll freely admit it, and every time I’d pick one up there was a salesperson right there to reinforce my habit. Now I won’t buy a hat with a steep price tag, but I’ll buy many if I think it’s a deal. I’m worse than a chick in a shoe store. I came outta there with eight hats and two shirts for a total of 84.00. After I walked out of the booth the guilt set in big time, then I walked past another hat for 5 bucks and before I knew it that baby was mine too, and even more guilt. My wife really needs to slap my hand sometimes, she let’s me get away with too much.

GMAN, you’d a been proud of me up till that point cause it was all business, and very organized, but I do have my faults. :P

Saturday I did one more seminar and stopped by the OOIDA booth. The seminar was “Hours of Service.” This one was really good, with a lot of good Q&A. I need to brush up on the split sleeper berth, I had a hard time with that. When I drove before it was before the last change in HoS, so I need to revisit all that.

When I stopped by the OOIDA booth, I was asked to join. I said I was already a member (I joined a little over a year ago mainly to have access to the forums) and I had just renewed not long ago. She said I could still renew, it would just be for another year AND…………….if I did renew for 25 bucks I get a free hat……………..”Yeah sure I’ll do it.” I said.

This post is getting long so I’ll pick it up a little.

Rev………. I saw a truck out there that made me think of something you posted a while back about painting your mirror brackets, so I snapped a pic for you. I like what this guy did cause it’s so simple.


Also here is a couple 351’s that were out there. I think you like them as do
Here is inside the red one.

I couldn’t get a profile shot of the red one because too many people were in the way.

Okay, random thoughts, observations and facts.
1. I luv pork chop sammiches
2. You want how much for that bottle of water???? I’ll dehydrate to a raisin before I’ll pay that.
3. I have ALMOST enough AC/DC in my ipod to get from MD to KY and back.
4. This one was my wifes but it bears repeating. All Chinese people seem to be the same size whether they’re male or female, except sumo wrestlers of course.
5. First road trip in my P/up and it did great. A lot of fuel though.


6. Barns in KY are dark brown, in MD there red. I like brown better.
7. “One bottle of water please”
8. An RV is the way to go to the truck show.

One more thing then I’ll leave you guys alone. After talking with some people out there who are in the business, I realized how much I’ve learned from this and the other board that I frequent. I won’t go too far into it but it amazed me how some of these guys are clueless as to what they’re doing, on the business side of things, and they’re running trucks now. That made me appreciate the knowledge that is here and is given freely to those willing to seek it out, take it in, and then apply it. It’s easy to take stuff for granted in life when you’re busy and get caught up in your daily routine, but then something makes you realize what you’ve been given. So I would like to thank all you guys for your information and experiences that you give to others.

 

Sumo Wrestlers are Japanese.

Now I only wish I could have gone with you to MATS. Sounds like it was alot of fun. But I would have spent twice as much on hats.

 

Cool pics man, thanks. I am a sucker for those butterfly hoods. You're right though - just painting the mirror brackets gives it an entirely different look.

 

Sounds like a good time. I have a lot of hats also. I think it's to cover the spot where the hair is missing. :? Next year I will build a bench seat for the fifth wheel and we can put the old ladys back there. :shock:
By the way that's 359's not 351's

 

So then our theory of all Chinese people sharing the same gene is plausible.
By the way that whole thing came about because the west wing was like Chinatown. They don't just sell tires anymore.

Well, maybe next year BUT,we CANNOT! enter the hat area at the same time. :lol: I'd hate to have to explain to my mortgage company why I'm coming up short that month. :lol:

 

You're welcome Rev. I like all the old trucks but I really like that style.
You know, I'm really starting to like the simple sleek look in a truck. I like all the lights and chrome when it's not too overdone but when a truck is just painted with minimal lights and accessories, and slammed to ground it really looks good. Almost as if it's easy on the eye because it's not so busy.

 

Knock it off man you're gonna get us both killed. :shock: :lol:

 

I have to say that that place was unbelievable. We are on the road now (in a car) and we need to make a few stops so I won't get home til next week but I really want to add my thoughts on the show too.

My head was spinning from the information available there. This week I am having one of those trailer skirts put on and I was talking to the inventer/owner of Freight Wing. He gave me his card and told me to let him know what I thought of his product when I get it going.

I tell you I wish I had AllanSoh with me at times as there was so much techinical info. I am with my friend so he knows about that stuff. But I was talking to one of the engineers that works for Cummings and he lost me.

But an absolute ton of info there. We kind of went there seeing if we could drum up some business; but I see that was not the event to do that at. That was for the trucking industry, think you would have better luck finding freight though at a trade show for manufacturers.

 

Yes from a distance, but then I forgot to go over and check it out. Your post just reminded me of that. Damn!