22 10-4 Magazine / September 2025 Saturday started out with a great breakfast with Gaylon Hammett at a local restaurant near the convention site. It was a special time of fellowship with a good friend from the great State of Texas. The weather began on a good note with plenty of sunshine and warm temperatures, however, as the day went on, the clouds started rolling in, which eventually led to forecast rain. I spent most of Saturday taking photos, gathering information for this report, and then saying my goodbyes. It would not be a show report without mentioning the restaurants I sampled while in Madison. On Friday evening, I had a great double cheeseburger and fries from Liberty Station, my previously mentioned Saturday morning breakfast was at Family Parkway, and Saturday evening I got a pepperoni pizza from Glass Knife Pizza Parlor that exceeded my expectations. It was a great reward to me for a productive weekend! There were many generous vendors and sponsors that contributed products, financial, and on-site support to make this another successful ATHS event. They were located inside the Exhibitors Hall and the west parking lot. Some of the major supporters of this event included Alliant Energy, Amcan Truck Parts, California Custom Products, Cat Scale, Cummins, Daimler Truck North America, Hagerty Insurance, Destination Madison, Iowa 80, JX Enterprises, Kwik Trip, Mecum Auction, Mack-Volvo Trucks, OOIDA, Reisertt’s Machine Works, the Sercombe family, Truckomat, and Wheels Now, Inc. Thanks to all the supporters. On Sunday I was awakened to the sound of thunderstorms and hard rain beating against my hotel room window. The heavy rain that had been forecast finally came. The time had arrived for me to pack, check out, and make the four-hour drive back to central Illinois. Before leaving Wisconsin, I made one final stop for fuel at a Kwik Trip and also picked up some Spotted Cow, a beer unique only to Wisconsin, for my son in North Carolina. It was a great weekend, where I had an enjoyable time visiting with current friends and meeting new ones, admiring incredible trucks, enjoying great food, and making new ATHS memories. One of my regrets attending this year’s ATHS Convention is that I only attended the event for two days. To fully appreciate the entirety of this event, one needs a minimum of four days to take it all in. The following quote from Peter Wild, the 2025 Convention Chair, summarizes this year’s National Convention and Truck Show. “The Madison show was everything ATHS stands for. With 870 beautifully preserved trucks, hands-on demonstrations and learning sessions, trucking history came alive. Best of all, we swapped stories with friends, old and new, from around the globe.” An announcement was made on Sunday that the 2026 Convention, which was scheduled for the IX Center in Cleveland, OH, would not be held there. The reason given was that the IX Center was sold to a new owner, thus canceling the event. According to Marina at ATHS, as of now, no replacement site has been selected, but she assured me that there will be a 2026 ATHS National Convention and Truck Show. Nostalgia can mean many things to many people and can be triggered by random thoughts, sights, and sounds. For me, on this weekend, my nostalgic trip down memory lane was triggered by everything I experienced at this great event in Madison, WI. n
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