Looking forward to MATS 2015

The Mid America Trucking Show for 2014 was a blur of activities and one we will never forget.  We arrived on Tuesday to get the truck cleaned up so that we would be ready to hit the ground at a run on Wednesday.   On the way to the show this year we had a build up of snow and ice.  The truck was a mess and we were glad to be able to get it washed and shined back up.
 


Wednesday was a press event in the Freightliner Booth and this was our second year of being able to attend.  It is always interesting to hear Dave Hame's speak as well as everyone else that talked about what has happened in the past and what is happening in the future with Freightliner and DTNA.    
 





Thursday we had a photo shoot with our truck before heading over for the opening of MATS 2014.   The show opened up strong and we met with several people at the Team Run Smart area inside of Freightliners booth.  On display was the prizes that will be given to users of the website when they reach certain mileages.  An example of the prizes is a fleece blanket, IPAD Cover, to mud flaps all with the Team Run Smart Logo.  It will be an exciting moment when we see our first set of Team Run Smart mud flaps attached to a truck going down the interstate!
 
Thursday night was the Trucking Solutions Group MATS Driver Health Walk over to Churchill Downs and back.  Once again FMCSA Administrator Anne Ferro walked with the group and was available to talk with drivers.  Bob and I were not able to be on this walk due to a conflict in schedules. 
 


Friday was without a doubt the most amazing day of MATS as we attended the TA/Petro Driver Citizen Lunch.  In years past the TA/Petro has had driver lunches at MATS and drivers were able to give suggestions to management that we would like to see changed or what is going right.  One year I made the suggestion that the laundry area needed a lot of help and by the time of the next MATS almost every TA/Petro had improved the laundry area.  This year though the lunch was a celebration of eight drivers that were being recognized and each would have a truck stop named after them.  What an honor to stand with all of these professionals in the trucking industry.   Our truck stops name is "Bob and Linda Caffee Petro Stopping Center” North Las Vegas Nevada.
 




The awards did not stop there as I was off to the Trucker Buddy International Press Event to receive an award for Outstanding Trucker Buddy.  Our class is in France and it has been a pleasure to work with our teacher and to hear her stories of how the students use the postcards and information I send them about the United States. Stephanie has sent pictures of posters the students have made using the postcards and their presentation they prepared around the subject.  All of this the student does in English; this improves their writing skills as well as their vocabulary.  These students are brilliant as I struggle with one language. 
 
On Saturday it was off to the Women in Trucking Salute to Women Drivers.  Each women CDL holder is given a red t-shirt to wear and it is a huge networking event.  This year was no different.  I worked with Dorothy Cox from The Trucker to take surveys on how many women get a regularly scheduled breast exam.  We are hoping that at future truck shows we will be able to have the mobile breast exam unit attend the shows.  It appears that this is a needed service.
 
Sunday we started saying our good-byes.  Each year many of the drivers meet at Cracker Barrel for breakfast to have a moment before we all head out our separate ways. Sometimes this is the only way we get to see each other each year.  After breakfast we headed back to the parking lot to start gathering up so we could pickup our load the next day.  As usual this took awhile and for the last final treat at one time there were six women truck drivers inside our Cascadia talking and visiting.  It was a fantastic way to end MATS and as always we left exhausted but with a great sense of accomplishment we headed back out to the interstate to the job that we enjoy.