10-4 Magazine November 2023

10-4 Magazine / November 2023 63 truckers) would be Harm Speerstra, who brought out two sharp Peterbilt cabovers, and Larry Lemmons, with his fleet of two-tone green classics. Then there is the grassy area with all the featured trucks that year (mentioned previously). In this case, it was Kenworth trucks, so there was an entire field filled with KWs of all types and ages. This is where Eric Griffith and two of his fellow drivers parked their Freres Lumber company trucks, which we decided to shoot for our October cover last month. The last and now largest area is where the “working trucks” park, but there are some old ones out there, too. I say “out there” because this area is a relatively new space for parking trucks at this event, and it is located “across the tracks” (literally) out in a freshly mowed field. This is where most of the cool kids want to hang out, including guys like Gus Hulstein, Trevor Hardwick, Greg Zehner, and Troy Charboneau, who all had beautiful trucks and/or fleets out there. George Van Dyke, Gary Amoth Trucking, RAM Trucking, and JK Pickle Trucking all had impressive lineups of trucks parked in that area, as well. Our booth was situated just across from the Kenworth parking area, and we had a few cool cats around us, too. Doug Veerkamp and his crew brought out a few antique trucks, along with their stellar 1966-ish blue Peterbilt service truck, which graced ourAugust 2023 cover, and was parked right next to us. On the other side, two trucks down, was our friend and past cover trucker Norm Butler and his cool KW combo, which appeared on our May 2021 cover. Across the aisle from Norm was our friend and longtime contributor Bryan Welsh and his yellow Farwest Steel company ride everyone knows and loves. And right behind us was Dale Callen’s red, black, and white restored 1955 KW that was on our cover way back in September 2003. Seriously, we were surrounded by greatness! Throughout the day, some of the folks at Kenworth were running around the show grounds in their restored 1923 Kenworth, hauling people around on the truck’s small flatbed. That was really something to see! At around 2:00 PM, several items were raffled off in the Schott tent next to ours, with the proceeds going to a local charity. Our very own Miss Shannon and birthday girl Annette Ghidelli bought tons of raffle tickets and dropped them in the boxes in front of the items they hoped to win. After the prize winners were announced and the items were given to their new owners – many of which went to Annette but none of them went to Shannon – the awards were handed out at 3:00 PM. This is not an officially judged event, but our friends at Schott Parts and Accessories do give out some trophies to a few lucky truckers. Once the last trophy is presented, you know how it goes – the mass exodus of trucks begins, and everyone starts tearing down their displays. After we got everything taken down and put back in our trailer, we headed back to our rental house for one last BBQ with our exhausted team, and then stayed up until midnight so we could wish Annette an official happy birthday (we were all so tired we barely made it to midnight). After a champagne toast, we headed to bed for some much needed rest, because we had to be in Lyons, OR the next morning for the cover shoot with Eric Griffith at the Freres main mill facility. There is no rest for the wicked!