It was 7:55 a.m. on the morning of June 12; fellow staff members Dan Ward and Harley Camilleri and I were motoring down Los Angeles' 405 freeway to the tune of about 85 mph in an effort to make our 8:45 a.m. flight out of Orange County to Jackson, Mississippi. I know it sounds like we had plenty of time, but after finding a place to park our ancient project Super Crew, running to the check-in counter, and going through security, we made it to the Jetway just before our plane departed. Now that the blood was pumping, we all sat back for the flight and with a quick connection in Atlanta, Georgia, it was off to Jackson. Once our flight landed, we quickly grabbed our two reserved rentals and headed for Greenville for the '05 Showfest show presented by Assorted Miniatures. It would be my third year attending and Dan Ward's second year. Associate Editor Harley Camilleri would be experiencing Showfest for the first time. With the proper hard-rock tunes dialed in, Harley and I cruised to the ultimate hair-metal beats, including a few Scorpion tunes and some much-coveted Judas Priest hits. Dan was most likely pumping 50 Cent in the low-grade Ford Explorer factory stereo. We reached Greenville before dark, and after getting settled, Harley and I began scavenging for some grub. After a 45-minute tour of the middle of nowhere, we settled on Wendy's. After chowing down on Greenville's finest cuisine, "Big H" and I headed to the local watering hole to relax and hang out with the locals over a few adult soda pops. After peeling off a few bills and realizing that our female bartender was just looking for some big tips, Harley gave up, and it was back to the hotel to rest up for the next day's festivities.
Early Friday morning, we reached the show grounds and low and behold, our driver had unhooked the fifth-wheel trailer in the outside parking lot with no way to tow it into our display spot. The guys from Drop 'EM Wear came to the rescue and hooked our 48-foot trailer to their dualie and moved it in place. After getting the trailer parked, we sadly discovered Dan Ward's S-10 had moved in the trailer and was damaged. Don't trailers just suck! After about 30 minutes of sheer disappointment, we finished unloading the trailer and headed back to the hotel to prepare for Friday night out on the strip. For those who have never attended Showfest, it is truly an experience at night. Route 82 runs through the center of town, and with thousands of custom truck fanatics out, it is utter madness with wild burnouts and trucks throwing sparks up and down the strip. Showfest nightlife always puts my custom truck cranium on overload, and this year was no different. We enjoyed the view from our rental cars and the sweet scent of burnt rubber and the sight of glowing sparks every time tires were lit and frames or bodies hit the ground.
Saturday morning we all awoke to a 5:30 wake up call and took a quick drive to photograph a few features we had lined up the night before. Showfest always brings in a strong crop of amazing feature trucks, and the staff of Truckin' was aggressive in getting the best of the best. After clicking off some early morning photography, it was off to the show to line up some more features and check out the event happenings. The Truckin' booth was jumpin' with apparel purchases, subscription sales, and people swooping up free magazines. The afternoon hours approached quickly and with another line of sick feature trucks lined up, we headed for our photo location. Unfortunately, before we got there, thunderstorms rolled in and rain fell quickly. We were forced to reschedule for Sunday morning.
Sunday morning we were up again at the crack of dawn, and after setting up our equipment in sleep mode, it was back to work. A few clicks of the shutter woke us up, and with better sunshine than Saturday, we closed our lenses in on badass rides until about 9:00 am. Sunday brought a few more feature and cover trucks for our already impressive files, and we headed for the hotel where I helped Mini Truckin' Editor Mike Alexander execute a cover shoot.
We rolled out of Greenville at 8:00 p.m. and got back to Jackson about 10:30, just in time to stuff our bellies with, you guessed it, Wendy's. With a 5:30 a.m. (3:30 a.m. California time) flight home the next morning, there was not much time to hang out and recap the weekend. Once again, we were all up early to make our flight, and once again we were running to the plane. This is just one show weekend example of what we go through to bring you top-notch feature trucks and interesting show coverage. Until next month, keep hitting those switches, cranking good tunes (such as LA Guns and Iron Maiden) and cruising until your heart's content.