10-4 Magazine December 2022

10-4 Magazine / December 2022 29 with the help of our friends John Highley and Ellie Turner we landed The Missouri Mines at St. Joe State Park in Park Hills, Missouri for the two-day event, held on October 7-8. Featuring old mines as a backdrop, this location provided some neat opportunities for pictures. Some folks didn’t mind the location’s dirt parking lot, and even said that it added to the laid-back feel of the show, which is what we love to hear. The show opened on Friday to a beautiful, bright, and crisp 45-degree morning. Registration opened at 9:00 AM and children that were chosen from Little Learners Spectrum Center were allowed to come and pick out their favorite truck to be photographed by Diesel Addict Photos (Stephanie Haas) to be a part of a calendar benefiting the school. Don Carlos from Jackson, MO, our favorite Mexican restaurant, came to set up throughout the day and that evening Terry bought 500 tacos to do the “TRUCKN4TACOS 500” to show appreciation for the drivers that came out to support the show. Friday night’s festivities ended with the light show, which was voted on by all of the show participants. The winners were: 1st Dill McKinney, 2nd Mike Davidson, and 3rd Dalton Gebhardt. On Saturday morning, we offered a sensory friendly time (10:00 AM to Noon) in which there were to be no train horns or Jake brakes so that the children that were sensitive to those noises were able to come out and enjoy the activities. One special area that I loved seeing that was so simple was in front of David and Allye Eden’s truck from North Carolina. They set up sensory bins with different types of grains for the kids to put their hands in. This can be very therapeutic and comforting to kids with Autism. It was certainly a favorite stop for our daughter Jolie, and Adeline chose David and Allye’s truck as her calendar pick. Before the awards were presented, an auction was done by Thomas Sullivan with the Waylon Sullivan Foundation. Thomas had an Autism flag made by Simon Perez, a fellow Lowes Syndrome parent, from Ft. Worth, Texas. The flag sold for $1,500 to Josh Burch of East Texas Truck Center. We are incredibly grateful to Bob’s Chrome Zone out of Indiana who, for the second year, made our puzzle-piece-shaped trophies. Once again, these awards were voted on by their peers and issued to the top 20 trucks which were Dill McKinney, Michael Carney, Dave McKinney, Kyle Bellcock, Richard Darr, Josh Burch, Cattle Cartel, Colton Chase, Kenny Cunningham, Hull Trucking, Brandon Davis, Keith William Moore, Nick Buchheit, Shawn Dirksen, Huellinghoff Bros. Inc., Zach Glueck, Billy Sims, R.T. Clevens, James Stegall, and Moe Zurliene. There were three specialty trophies handed out, as well. Jolie, Athena, and Ari are all brilliant, sweet, beautiful, funny, little girls and all three have been diagnosed with Autism. Jolie chose East Texas Truck Center’s blue and black Disorderly Conduct truck with a fish tank under the hood, saying, “Because of the fish!” Athena is the daughter of Lynsey Gulley, who is the executive assistant to Ashley Smith, and she chose Kyle Bellcock’s “One Bad Buggy” rig. Ari is the daughter of Cory and Ashley Smith, and she chose Richard Stevens’ blue Peterbilt, calling it “the Frozen truck” because of its pinstriping.