Sure, most people who have had experiences operating CNG trucks may feel comfortable talking about it with peers that share common knowledge of their particular niche within the trucking industry. What I was able to do this week went beyond my usual comfort zone and helped me to better understand the benefits that CNG trucks can have in areas other than just general freight hauling. I was invited to put my truck on display at the World Ag Expo 2015 in Tulare, CA to better demonstrate what the Freightliner Cascadia powered by the Cummins ISX12-G is capable of. You may just think this would be another truck show to share my experiences of driving this marvelous piece of machinery, but in doing so you would be assuming wrong!
Upon pulling into the expo center to bring the truck in for setup, only one word could describe 
my first impression, “Whoa!” Mistakenly having entered in at the completely opposite end of the expo center from where I was supposed to go in to set up my truck, I got to take the scenic route around the perimeter and the sheer size of show was astonishing! Once inside, I quickly realized the reason for the enormous acreage of vendor space. When you are showcasing such large pieces of farm and agricultural equipment, you take up a lot of room with these life-size, giant Tonka-like dream pieces of equipment on display. Arriving at the booth hosted by The Southern California Gas Company, I was beginning to think my Freightliner Cascadia CNG three-axle tractor would for sure be overshadowed by these massive farm implements.
The next morning when the show opened at 9am, I found out firsthand that I could not have 
been more wrong in my assumption! Being that most of my experience over twelve years of trucking revolved around more common forms of hauling like general freight, bulk commodities, and reefers, I was very interested to figure out where my conventional CNG truck would fit in within the agricultural side of trucking. With my hood up, engine fired up and humming away, I found out in a hurry where exactly my place was within this group mainly comprised of farmers 
and dairymen. Never would I have guessed that my truck would quickly draw steady crowds rivaling and even surpassing some of the largest booths at the show. With most patrons coming from areas of the central valley, in the heart of California’s most fertile growing areas, these people were also very aware that their area was known for some of the poorest air quality around. This is something the folks hosting the booth I was in were very passionate about helping to change through educating the expo attendees on the use of natural gas as a clean alternative fuel. This helped me to settle in nicely, since my views and passion for the issue very much parallel theirs!
In the end, the reception to natural gas powered truck technology was well received. Whether it was helping someone better understand how these vehicles play in to current CARB laws, or helping to better explain the ROI (return on investment) for a particular fleet’s specific operation, it was nice to see this group of milk haulers, livestock haulers, and crop haulers react in a positive way to my CNG Freightliner. One thing was very clear to me through my observations, in that some of the people I encountered are certainly willing to look at natural gas as the clean air technology of the future that is here today and that California’s central valley just might be seeing some more natural gas trucks on their roadways in the near future! A special thanks to all of the great people I was able to meet during the expo who took an interest in the natural gas technology. Most of all, a very special “thank you” goes out from me to The Southern California Gas Company for allowing me to showcase my truck in their booth at the World Ag Expo 2015!