The Elephant In The Room

I love trucks. I love truck drivers.  I love truck shows.

Trucking runs deep in my family.  My great-grandfather owned a coal mine and a trucking company in the 1930s.  Several of my great-uncles were truck drivers and dispatchers.  Another great-uncle was a mechanic at Tajon Trucking. Three of my uncles were also truck drivers.

For the past forty-three years, I have worked alongside my husband at Movin’ Out, which is of course a trucking publication for Professional Truck Drivers.  Steve’s Dad was the owner of Movin’ Out until we took over the newspaper in 1991.  Our kids grew up not only going to truck shows but also working the truck shows – passing out newspapers, interviewing vendors when they were in elementary school, and taking photos.  These days, the 4th generation of our family also attend truck shows.  Our grandkids can be found handing out newspapers at the shows. Their Pap Steve is a little stingy on the pay – he gives them $5.00 but Gaga Pam always slips them some extra cash.

As I stated at the beginning of my column, I truly LOVE truck shows.  But I need to address the “elephant in the room”. Folks, I’m getting old – scratch that, I AM old. (Laughing on the outside, crying on the inside as I type out these words.)

I have photographed thousands and thousands and thousands of trucks over the years.  Some of the trucks shows can have 500-600 trucks on display and we are committed to taking photos of each and every truck and uploading the pictures on our Online Truck Show Photo Gallery for free that is available for anyone to see – again, also free!

I’ve walking at these shows – not in a golf cart, or an ATV.  I’m on foot – in pouring rain with my big old Canon camera carefully hidden under a rain poncho – or sweating my giblets off in scorching hot 80 or 90º  weather. I’ve even been out on the lots of the Kentucky Fairgrounds at MATS when it’s been 30º and snowing.

My beef is that drivers will put chairs in front of the trucks or to the side and clutter.  Hey, I get it, honestly, I do!  You’re here for the weekend and you need to be comfortable. But I can’t get nice photos of your truck when you do that.  It would be awesome if you could set up your pop up awning and chairs, etc. at the very back of your truck.

Another bone of contention with me is when you open the hood of your truck – and again, I know that people like to see your engine.  I get it, truly I do.  But if you are not around to close your hood up, I am not going to get a good photo of your truck that I can print in Movin’ Out. And if I am walking and taking photos of hundreds of trucks, I probably won’t be coming back around later in the hopes of finding you. And this makes me a very sad panda.

And I hate to tackle the subject of rude people leaning against trucks and having a chat for what feels like an eternity.  Again, I get it – ya like to BS and talk shop.  I, too, like to BS and talk shop (or birds and grandkids and weddings).  But for the love of Pete, can you hold your gab session AWAY from the truck.  You see me there, politely standing back with my camera raised, waiting for you to move so I can get my photo – but not all of you will move away.  That makes my blood pressure boil and sometimes, I just walk away in frustration because my boss, the Big Kahuna, tells me that I can’t pitch a fit and say what I am internally thinking.

Please, can we move the elephant to somewhere else when truck show season begins next season? I can help you lure them to another spot – I’ll even bring peanuts!  And we’ll have some swoon-worthy photos in both the print and online versions of Movin’ Out!