22 10-4 Magazine / February 2025 that stood out to us were names you’ve probably heard before – names like North Coast Wine, Mike Lowrie Trucking, Hildebrand’s Black Market Express, and Central Valley Transport. Along with those larger fleet operations were several small fleets and single truck owner operators you might have heard of like CG Soza, Chris Rocha, Mike Viviano, Bruce Campbell, Mitch Railsback, Phil Miller, and Stan Silva. A few folks you maybe have not heard of but who had sweet rides at this show included Chad Hudson (a brown, orange and yellow 1985 Peterbilt 359), Mike Nelson (a caution yellow 1985 Peterbilt 359), Kirtis Burroughs (a “rusty” and highly modified 1987 Super-Liner rat rod roadster with a chopped top), and Troy Lathrop (a dark metallic green 2018 Peterbilt 389 with a standup sleeper). Along with Troy Lathrop’s green 389 bobtail, my other personal favorite was Jared Morrison’s 2020 Peterbilt 389. Painted red and silver with a classic Seminole scheme, this sweet little 2-axle hay truck was sitting just right – and screamed California cool! Two other standouts included Tom Donaldson’s white, silver, and red 1966 Peterbilt 351 (which is built on a modern Peterbilt chassis with a 2005 model C-15 CAT under the hood), and P.J. Pedroncelli’s newly built dark maroon 2024 Peterbilt 389. I would not want to be a judge, but, thankfully, they had a few seasoned pros on hand to do it – Rod and Kevin Pickett, Steve Mitchell, and Missy and Rich from Bed Rock, a company that goes way back in California’s cool truck scene. Saturday involved a lot of picture taking, a lot of talking, and a lot of those famous margaritas that are so popular at this event each year. When the day ended and the night began, the trucks turned on their lights in a dazzling display for the “official” light show. Shannon and Annette decorated our 10-4 booth for Halloween, adding all sorts of spooky lights and other fun things, and handed out candy. I love taking night shots, so I spent several hours capturing as many as I could. Admittedly, I am a little slow and meticulous when taking light show shots, but night pictures take a bit more time to do them right, so I never rush. By the time we closed down our booth and got in the car to head back to the hotel, it was well after 11:00 PM, and most of the show was pretty quiet. Sunday morning came fast, and before we knew it, we were packing our trailer and getting ready to go home. This year, the trophies were passed out inside a building, instead of outside. With the ceremony starting at 11:00 AM, I arrived early to find a place near the front to take pictures alongside my friend and occasional 10-4 contributor, Chad Violet. Chad and his fiancé Amanda came all the way from Ohio to help take pictures and videos for Madison Lowrie, the show’s founder and producer, and rumor has it, they’ll be back next year! This show has a few unique awards including “Fred’s Choice” (in memory of Fred Campigli), and “Heather’s Choice” (in memory of Heather Echarte). Both of these awards were made from a 5-foot tall piece of chrome exhaust pipe with pinstriping, and both awards went to worthy recipients. The Best Fleet award went to Central Valley Transport (CVT), and the Best of Show award, which was the biggest “trophy” we had ever seen, went to Colton Pounds of CVT and his red 2020 Peterbilt 389. Once the awards were handed out, we went outside to get a few final photos, and then off we went, headed home. Big thanks go to Madison and her crew for always taking such good care of us. Next year’s show is scheduled for October 17-18, 2025. We will be there, and we hope to see you there, too! n
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