We made it to Dallas, and have fully submerged ourselves into the madness of show days. Show days mean I spend an inordinate amount of time yelling, “We’ve got five minutes before we’re supposed to be at such and such, please stop talking to the maintenance man about drywall and come on!”
George is a friendly guy. He talks to strangers really well and can have a conversation about anything in the world. I am not gifted in this manner, and I’m going to say I’m just a little bit jealous of his abilities. That being said, it’s still maddening to be the jerk who has to drag him away from pretty much every conversation he’s had since we got here.
There are going to be a lot of stories written about the show and the things here. There are six people in the press room right now, banging out pieces about merchandise and trucks, safety meetings and the EPA hearing session, and general show fodder. All those topics are important, but there’s one I haven’t read anything about I’d like to mention, and it’s the people who make all this work like a well-oiled machine. The servers, the maintenance people, and custodial staff are the silent entities here in Dallas and they are working their butts off to make sure we all have a good time at the show.
We appreciate the hard work it takes behind the scenes — it’s easy to slip into the mode of thinking that all these nice, clean surfaces just appear out of nowhere. Kind of like how people who aren’t involved in the trucking industry think their groceries get to the store. I would be completely remiss if I failed to mention the servers, who are dealing with hoards of people who may or may not have had three too many drinks.
The show is beautiful, as always. There are so many things to see, and the Landstar Health Pavilion has been packed. I burst into tears when I rounded the corner and saw Tired Iron sitting in it’s spot on the Lincoln Chrome display. I had not expected the truck to be here, as Randy Rebillard (the owner) passed away earlier this year, and there was some talk of retiring her. His wife Jona is here with the truck and seeing her was as much of a treat as seeing the truck again. Tired Iron has always been one of my very favorite trucks, I’m so happy it will continue to be at the shows.
Come see us in Dallas – the show goes on until Saturday afternoon and if you get here before 5:30 CST today, you can watch Tony Justice open for John Anderson at the big concert tonight. Be safe out there!
