Sema Show 2009 - Las Vegas Convention Center

Despite being with Truckin' for just about two years now, this year provided me with my first real opportunity to hop on the Vegas-bound, SEMA bandwagon. Sure, I've heard from all my fellow coworkers that SEMA is huge, and that it's simply impossible to see everything in one day. My first thought was that these guys were just a bunch of lazy bums who stopped every other minute to ogle one of the hundreds of gorgeous models strutting their stuff in any given exhibitor's booth, or to stuff their faces with hot dogs and beer. Of course they couldn't see everything in a day with a schedule like that! Come to find out, hot dogs and beer were readily available at every turn, but more importantly, these guys weren't joking about the immensity of the SEMA show-not one bit.

Feature editor Brandan Gillogly and I arrived in Vegas about 1 p.m. on Wednesday, November 4th, which is smack dab in the middle of the weeklong auto orgy. After finding a nice, free parking space across town, we rode the monorail to the Las Vegas Convention Center and dove right in. Since I didn't know my way around the showgrounds, I felt it best to intentionally get lost in the labyrinth of exhibitor booths and the countless rows of pristine display vehicles from all corners of the world. With nearly two million square feet of occupied exhibit space throughout the entire convention center, getting lost is a rather easy task to accomplish. After hearing from numerous sources that the '09 SEMA show boasted the slimmest attendance numbers in recent years, I had a tough time trying to wrap my head around the fact that this event could be any larger. I guess that is just the rookie in me thinking out loud, but I definitely comprehend what all the fuss is about each and every year.

Between myself, Brandan, and Truckin' editor, Dan Ward, we came away from the show with a not-so-tiny collection of photos.