OOIDA’s The Spirit heads to historical society’s annual truck show

May 30, 2018

Land Line Staff

|

Along with the cool old trucks at the 2018 American Truck Historical Society’s annual convention and truck show on May 31 through June 2 in Lexington, Ky., will be a sparkling newer truck – OOIDA’s touring trailer The Spirit of the American Trucker.

Jon Osburn, skipper of The Spirit, is headed to the ATHS show at Kentucky Horse Park. He plans to be there for the whole show, just as he was at last year’s ATHS show in Des Moines, Iowa.

Registration for the show is closed, but daily tickets are available at the gate for $15. For kids 12 and younger, admission is free, and there will be an interactive children’s area at the show.

More than 1,000 large and 50 small vintage and antique trucks will be on display.

Attendees will get several chances to see Greg Evigan, who starred as Billie Joe “B.J.” McKay in the TV series “BJ & the Bear,” which ran for three seasons, 1979-81. One of the trucks he drove on the series also will be at the show. Programs on the history of Cummins trucks also are scheduled on Thursday and Friday, and a Cummins Fly Wheel Engine Start planned on Friday.

Vendor hours are 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Thursday through Saturday. Truck show hours are 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. on Thursday and Friday and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday. The truck show will be indoors and outdoors.

Check here to see the schedule of events.

Before heading to the ATHS show, Jon and The Spirit were in Greenwood, La., where Jon said it was plenty hot and humid.

Despite the heat, the truckers he spoke with were anything but hot under the collar about a bill filed in the U.S. House of Representatives and pushed by OOIDA. That bill would exempt smaller trucking companies – those with 10 trucks or fewer – from the U.S. DOT’s electronic logging device mandate. Those trucking companies could use paper logs to record duty status instead of ELDs.

“That bill makes a lot of sense to these truckers,” Jon says.

The photos accompanying this article were taken by Jon Osburn during set up for the show.

Whenever you see The Spirit tour truck, go say hello to Jon. He enjoys visiting about the Association’s activities and current issues. You also can join or renew your OOIDA membership for $10 off the regular price there. Also, you can get vouchers for flu, shingles and pneumonia vaccines from Jon at The Spirit.