Friday, May 29

After a cup of coffee in the chapel, we set up the outside display table.

Then we got a breakfast sandwich and another cup of coffee and watched the trucks arrive.

The John Deere that crossed the country last year.

At one point I looked up and said to Cerwin, “Is that a drone?”

It was – and it appears to have a camera on it.

Mid-morning was a busy time of trucks arriving.

This time I purposed to find Candy and Dave in the vendor room.

Each time I visited the vendor room, I checked the wet board to see how many trucks had registered.

This was at 10:00 AM. Their goal is 1,000 trucks and it appears they are going to make it.

When I got back to the chapel, I was surprised to see Larry and Nancy. They are old TFC friends from the ’80s – and I don’t think we have seen them since then.

They are retired and interested in reconnecting with TFC, so it was good to have Bill Menges (back to camera) there as he is the contact person for the York-Adams Chapter which is the area where they live.

More visitors

Ted Hurn, a driver from Craigsville, Virginia – came to show his wife, June, a chapel. As they were standing in the doorway and preparing to leave, he said, “Thank you for what you do for us. I don’t know where I would be without the help of Chaplain Allan. Because of his encouragement I am still walking with the Lord.”

Wow! That made my day.

This is another couple that we have know since the ’70s – Lynne and George. It was good to connect with them again. We see them at truck shows every now and then.

This vehicle makes me feel like the Beverly Hillbillies are here.

There he is again – with a different vehicle.

Shortly after we arrived on Thursday – and I was alone at the chapel – someone from ATHS asked me if there would be a chaplain who would give the invocation at the banquet on Friday night. I assured him that someone would. He said there would be free tickets.

Cerwin and I were the only ones who stayed for the night, so we were blessed with the free tickets to the meal, and were treated to bluegrass music by Durham Station Bluegrass who played for about an hour before the meal began.

There was a slideshow of trucks that were brought to this event as we waited for the banquet to begin and during the meal.

Opening by a ATHS official.

The MC for the evening was Tim Ridley of the “Dave Nemo Show.”

Cerwin invited people to visit the chapel – before praying for the meal and the entire event.

The speaker was Alex Debogorski, The Original Ice Road Trucker. He had many stories.

There were also several very interesting awards.

On our walk back to the chapel, we enjoyed seeing trucks that participated in the light show.

It was a very good day.