The week before Truck Rally is extra busy for me as I receive many phone calls for meal tickets and prepare signs, reports, and other things for the committees’ needs for the big day.

However, I took time to take a few photos.

Sunday, June 22 there was a thank you note in our church mail box that said, “Check the church refrigerator.”

Oh, wow! A fresh strawberry pie from Korina because I loaned her one of my camera lens for a wedding.

It was delicious! Call me again Korina when you need to borrow a lens. 🙂

It was a special treat during our busy week.

A bird sang to me on Monday evening when I was outside with my camera.

I could hear the distant sound of a jet flying overhead.

Before long I enjoyed a beautiful sunset.

The sky was totally different on Wednesday evening when an ominous-looking storm approached.

 We thought these clouds may produce a nasty storm, but we only got about an inch of rain.

Truck Rally week is one time we keep our eye on the sky and weather reports – and were grateful to see that the rest of the week promised fairly clear skies.

Friday was warm and sunny, and many of our daisies were in full-bloom.

The schedule for Friday night begins with supper at Quentin Restaurant for many of those who are involved in setup.

After that, one of the first jobs is to unload flowers and plants donated by Esbenshade Greenhouses.

Josiah (left) and Randy (second from left) helping unload flowers.

The little guy is also one of Randy’s sons. The other gentleman was a camper who was already set up for the weekend.

It’s nice to have a trailer with a walking floor for this job, as a walking floor moves items toward the back and is often used for unloading items like mulch.

Randy and Karen’s children did a great job of helping with this.

Another Friday evening job is when Marv and Fay, Karen (daughter-in-law), granddaughters, and Saturday supper volunteers package 900 cookies.

They also unpack the applesauce containers for easy pick up on Saturday night.

Trash barrels must be set up in strategic locations around the buildings.

I failed to get pictures of: Corby and Vanessa and their committee preparing the children’s activity area on North Lawn;  Frank and the vendors setting up in West Hall; the stage (a rig) being delivered to North Hall; Kristen organizing the information/ticket table in the entrance area; Jere, Gene, and Cerwin helping everyone with needed supplies and information; Barry directing campers to their spot; and several trucks arriving for the night.

However, I did remember to get a picture of Rose surprising Gene with a birthday cake at Randy and Karen’s camper. That was fun. 🙂

Rose serving cake and ice cream.

I am going to use this picture a second time to tell my favorite Truck Rally story this year.

Gene had an exhausting, emotional few weeks, including the sudden death of his dad. When he got home from a delivery to the south, he thought, “I have nothing left in me. There is no way I can get my truck ready for the Truck Rally.”

Sometime later (I think it was the next day), after being away for a few hours, he went out to his truck, and looked at it in surprise. It was clean and polished!

It didn’t take him long to call Randy and ask if he had been to their place. Randy soon “confessed” that he and Josiah had washed and polished it.

That’s Christian love!

Randy and Josiah you not only made Gene’s truck shine – you made Jesus shine.

As I was leaving the campground – behind the fairgrounds buildings – these trucks were beautifully silhouetted in the sunset.

Father and son’s (Marv and Randy) twin rigs.

Jason Shelly’s truck.

Tomorrow night I will post some of Saturday morning’s happenings.