Owner Driver

COOL RIGS OF KENTUCKY

“There were a few extra hoops to jump through.”

Sitting at Louisville’s Muhammad Ali International Airport (renamed in 2019) I had a couple of hours to kill before beginning the three-leg, 21-hour, 16,000km trip home. I feel exhausted but energised.

It had been two years since I last attempted to get over to the Mid-America Trucking Show (MATS) and this year’s event also happened to be its 50th show. Bonus! Yes, there were a few extra hoops to jump through to get here and get home and, yes, the flight time was a little longer than previous as the international flights are not as abundant. But I made it and I filled up more memory cards than my previous trip.

I also managed to meet more passionate truckies, tried fried pickles for the first time and saw my very first tractor pull. Now it’s time for a bit of a rundown on my adventure. I know there is a heap of fellow truckies keen to experience the lengths the Americans go to for their trucks. Literally!

This year, rather than just write about the show, I wanted to break it down a little more. The pros and cons, costs and expenses. We’ve all been locked away for so long I wanted to use this trip to encourage and inform my fellow truck devotees. So

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